SAT to ACT Score Converter: Official Concordance, Percentiles and Section Scores
Convert any SAT score to its ACT equivalent using the official 2018 ACT/College Board concordance tables. Instantly see SAT and ACT percentile ranks alongside your converted score. Includes section-level conversion and the full concordance table with ranges. Free, no signup required.
Enter in multiples of 10 (e.g. 1200, 1350, 1490). Works for Digital SAT and paper SAT.
Section concordance is approximate (Table B/C). Enter section scores for estimates only.
Enter your SAT or ACT score above to see the converted score, percentile ranks, and quality label.
Each row shows one ACT composite, its single-point SAT equivalent, the full SAT concordance range, and both tests’ percentile ranks. Source: 2018 ACT/College Board concordance study.
| ACT | SAT (single point) | SAT Range | ACT Percentile | SAT Percentile |
|---|
Why SAT and ACT Scores Cannot Be Directly Compared Without Concordance
An SAT of 1200 and an ACT of 25 both sound like respectable scores, but how do they stack up against each other? Most students and parents have an intuitive sense of the 4.0 GPA scale, but the relationship between the SAT and ACT composites is not obvious because the two tests are not the same test. They cover similar academic domains but use different question formats, time structures, and scoring mechanics. Without a statistically validated concordance, you cannot meaningfully say whether a 1200 SAT is better or worse than a 25 ACT.
The official answer comes from the 2018 concordance study conducted jointly by ACT and the College Board. Researchers identified students who took both tests within a short window, then mapped each test’s score distribution to the other. The result is the official concordance table that this converter uses: a lookup, not a formula. The key implication is that you cannot calculate a concorded score by multiplying or dividing — you can only look it up. Tools that use a formula like (SAT / 1600 times 36) produce incorrect results at almost every score level.
How the Official Concordance Table Works
The concordance has two directions. Table A1 maps SAT total scores to ACT composites, and Table A2 maps ACT composites to SAT totals. Importantly, the ACT-to-SAT conversion provides not just a single number but a range of SAT scores — typically spanning 20 to 30 SAT points — that are statistically equivalent to a given ACT composite. This range exists because the tests are not perfectly correlated: two students with the same concorded score might perform differently from each other if they switched tests, even when both are equally skilled academically.
ACT states explicitly that concorded scores “are not equivalent scores” and are “not a prediction of a student’s performance on the other test.” This caution matters for practical use: do not tell a college you scored a 1400 SAT when you actually scored a 31 ACT even if those scores concorde. Concordance is a comparison tool, not a substitution tool.
Digital SAT Uses the Same 2018 Tables
When the Digital SAT launched in the US in March 2024, many students asked whether their digital scores would convert to ACT differently. The College Board addressed this directly: after two comprehensive concordance and vertical scaling studies, they confirmed a straight-line concordance between digital and paper SAT scores. A 1200 on the Digital SAT is as comparable to ACT 25 as a 1200 on the paper SAT was. No separate conversion logic is needed, and this converter handles both interchangeably.
The Enhanced ACT in 2025 Introduced a New Wrinkle
The Enhanced ACT, which became standard for all administrations in September 2025, changed the composite calculation so it is now the average of only three sections: English, Math, and Reading. The Science section is now optional and reported separately alongside a STEM score. This is a meaningful structural change — the previous composite averaged four sections. However, as of mid-2026, ACT has not released an updated concordance reflecting the three-section composite. The 2018 tables remain the only official reference, which means concorded scores for Enhanced ACT test-takers carry additional statistical uncertainty compared to scores from the pre-2025 format.
How to Use This SAT to ACT Converter: From Score Entry to Decision
The converter defaults to SAT to ACT direction. Type your SAT total score in the large input field. The score must be a multiple of 10 between 400 and 1600 — the same format as the actual SAT score report. The converted ACT composite appears immediately alongside two percentile figures: the SAT User Percentile, based on the scores of recent actual test-takers, and the ACT National Rank Percentile, the rank provided on official ACT score reports.
To convert the other direction, click the ACT to SAT tab and enter your ACT composite from 1 to 36. The converter returns the single-point SAT equivalent from the official Table A2 and also shows the SAT range — the full band of SAT scores that concorde to your ACT. This range matters when comparing candidates: a college comparing an applicant with a 1310 SAT to one with a 28 ACT should understand that 1300-1320 all map to ACT 28, so a 1300 and a 1320 are both equivalent to that 28.
The optional section score converter provides approximate ACT Math and English/Reading equivalents from your SAT Math and EBRW section scores. These are based on the official Table B (Math) and Table C (EBRW) concordances. Section concordances are rougher than composite concordances because the tests structure their sections very differently. Use these estimates as rough directional comparisons rather than precise predictions.
Three Real Score Conversion Scenarios from US College Applicants
Maya took the Digital SAT in March of her junior year and scored 1310: a 670 in Math and a 640 in EBRW. Her school also offers the ACT as a school-day test in April. She wants to know whether her SAT score is strong enough or whether switching to the ACT could improve her prospects.
Concordance result: SAT 1310 converts to ACT 28. A 28 ACT falls in the 91st national rank percentile and the SAT 1310 sits at the 85th user percentile. The slight percentile difference reflects test population differences. Her Math section score of 670 concords to approximately ACT Math 28. The conversion suggests she is a consistent test performer across formats. Whether she should take the ACT depends on whether she is more comfortable with the ACT’s format: more questions per section, a science reasoning section, and no Extended Thinking problems.
Maya takes a free ACT practice test and scores 27. The practice result suggests her real performance is roughly concordant with her SAT — neither test gives her a dramatic advantage. She decides to submit her SAT score, which she can still improve before the December submission deadline, rather than committing to an unfamiliar test format under time pressure.
James took the ACT in 2022 and scored a 32. He is now applying to transfer from a community college to a four-year university that requests standardized test scores for transfer applicants. He does not want to retake a test but needs to know what his ACT 32 means in SAT terms.
From the concordance table: ACT 32 corresponds to SAT 1430 with a range of 1420 to 1440. The 32 ACT sits at the 97th national rank percentile. The concorded SAT 1430 falls at approximately the 95th user percentile. Both scores indicate strong academic performance well above the median for most four-year universities, including many selective programs.
James includes his official ACT score on the transfer application and uses the concordance to reference the SAT equivalent in his personal statement when discussing his academic preparation. He notes correctly that his ACT 32 is statistically comparable to an SAT of approximately 1430, which the university also recognizes as a competitive score for transfer admission.
Sofia is setting her SAT target score for the spring sitting. She wants to be competitive at UC San Diego, where admitted students have median SAT scores around 1400 and median ACT composites around 32. She scored 1280 on her first attempt and wants to understand what she needs to improve.
Current score: SAT 1280 = ACT 27. Target: SAT 1400 = ACT 31. The gap from her current score to her target is 120 SAT points or roughly 4 ACT composite points. On the concordance table, this gap spans several distinct skill levels — it is not a trivial improvement but it is achievable with targeted preparation over two to three months.
Sofia uses the concordance to understand that her Math section score of 590 (concorded to roughly ACT Math 24) is the weaker area. Improving her Math score from 590 to 680 or above would contribute roughly 90 points to her composite and move her significantly closer to the 1400 target. She focuses her prep on advanced algebra and problem-solving strategies that address the specific question types in her lower-scoring area.
What Your Converted Score Actually Means for College Admissions
If you took the SAT, you can only submit your SAT score. If you took the ACT, you can only submit your ACT score. You cannot convert an SAT score to an ACT and then submit that concorded number as if you took the ACT. Concordance is for comparison purposes only. If you want colleges to see both tests, you must take both tests and receive official scores from College Board and ACT respectively.
A significant number of US colleges and universities made test-optional policies permanent following the COVID-19 admissions cycle. At test-optional schools, your SAT or ACT score is one factor, not a gating criterion. If your concorded score is below the median for your target schools, a strong GPA, compelling essays, and meaningful extracurriculars may outweigh the test score. Check each school’s specific policy rather than assuming your standardized test performance is determinative.
The absolute numbers on the two scales have no inherent relationship — a 24 ACT and a 1180 SAT are statistically equivalent not because 24 relates mathematically to 1180 but because roughly the same fraction of students score at each level. When evaluating whether your score is competitive at a specific school, compare your percentile rank to the school’s published middle 50% range, not the raw score numbers, which carry no inherent meaning across the two tests.
Some students consistently perform better on one test format than the other for reasons unrelated to overall academic ability. The ACT has more questions per section, a science reasoning component, and less extended reading. The SAT has calculator access on all math questions and longer passages. If your concorded score suggests you are borderline on one test, it is worth taking a full-length practice test on the other to see whether the format difference produces a meaningful score improvement rather than just retaking the same test again.
National Merit Scholarship recognition is based on the PSAT/NMSQT, not the SAT — but many students use their SAT score as a rough proxy for PSAT performance since the tests are closely related. National Merit Semifinalist cutoffs, called Selection Indexes, vary by state and typically favor students with composite SAT scores above 1450-1520 depending on the state’s competition level. If you are near that range, the PSAT and its concordance to your SAT is worth researching specifically rather than using the SAT-to-ACT concordance as a substitute.
Many colleges superscore the SAT by combining the highest Math score and highest Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score from different test dates. Many also superscore the ACT by taking the highest composite from multiple sittings, or the highest individual section scores across sittings. These superscored values are official and can be submitted. There is no official way to concordance-convert a superscored SAT to an ACT or vice versa, because superscores are calculated from multiple test events and the concordance is designed for single complete test administrations.
Frequently Asked Questions About SAT to ACT Score Conversion
Enter your SAT total score in the converter above and click Convert or simply type — it updates live. The tool uses the official 2018 ACT/College Board concordance table to return the corresponding ACT composite. The converter also shows the SAT user percentile and ACT national rank percentile alongside the converted score. The same converter works in reverse: switch to ACT to SAT direction to find the SAT equivalent of any ACT composite from 9 to 36.
No. College Board conducted two comprehensive concordance and vertical scaling studies and confirmed a straight-line concordance between digital and paper SAT scores. Both use the same 400-1600 scale, and a given score on the Digital SAT is statistically equivalent to the same score on the paper SAT. The 2018 concordance tables apply to both formats. If you took the Digital SAT and want to convert to an ACT equivalent, use the same table as someone who took the paper SAT — the conversion is identical.
A 30 ACT composite corresponds to an SAT total of 1370, with a concordance range of 1360 to 1380. This places a student at the 94th national rank percentile on the ACT and approximately the 89th user percentile on the SAT. Both scores are strong and would be considered competitive at many selective universities, including mid-tier selective schools. The median SAT for admitted students at schools like UCLA, UNC Chapel Hill, and Georgia Tech is roughly in the 1380-1500 range, so a 1370 SAT or 30 ACT is competitive for those schools but not at the center of their distributions.
A 1400 SAT converts to a 31 ACT composite. The concordance range for ACT 31 spans SAT scores of 1390 to 1410. A 1400 SAT falls at the 93rd user percentile, and a 31 ACT sits at the 96th national rank percentile. Both are genuinely strong scores. The slight percentile difference reflects differences in the test-taking populations, not a difference in academic ability.
A 1200 SAT converts to a 25 ACT. The ACT range for 25 covers SAT scores 1200 to 1220. A 1200 SAT falls at approximately the 75th user percentile and an ACT 25 is at the 83rd national rank percentile. A 1200 or its ACT equivalent is sufficient for admission consideration at many four-year universities, though it is below the median for the most selective schools. The national mean SAT total for the class of 2025 was 1029, so a 1200 is meaningfully above average.
The 2018 ACT/College Board concordance is based on a national study of students who took both tests under real testing conditions. The concordance is statistically valid in aggregate but ACT explicitly cautions that concorded scores are not equivalent and do not predict individual performance. A student with a concorded ACT of 28 from an SAT of 1310 would not necessarily score exactly 28 if they actually sat the ACT — they might score anywhere from 26 to 30. Use concorded scores as a rough reference, not a precise prediction.
A perfect 1600 SAT maps to a perfect 36 ACT. The official concordance includes SAT scores from 1570 to 1600 all corresponding to ACT 36. Both are top-of-scale scores that place a student in the 99th percentile or above on both tests. Achieving a perfect score on either test is extremely rare — fewer than one percent of all test takers accomplish this — and signals that a student is near the ceiling of what the tests measure.
Use the concordance as one input. If your SAT score is well below your target school’s median, check whether your section scores suggest a format switch might help. Students who score significantly higher on Math relative to EBRW sometimes prefer the ACT because ACT Math is calculator-optional and more focused on procedural fluency. Students with strong reading comprehension sometimes find the ACT’s shorter passages easier to manage under time pressure. Take a free official ACT practice test and compare the result to your current SAT performance. If the practice ACT exceeds your current SAT by more than one or two concorded points, the switch may be worthwhile.
The Enhanced ACT changed the composite structure starting in 2025 — English, Math, and Reading only, with Science optional. ACT has not released an updated concordance for the new format as of mid-2026. The 2018 tables remain the only official concordance and are still used for all comparisons. This introduces some additional uncertainty for students who took the Enhanced ACT: their three-section composite may relate to the SAT scale slightly differently than the old four-section composite, but there is currently no official guidance on exactly how much this matters. ACT has indicated they are studying the question.
A 1000 SAT converts to a 19 ACT composite. The concordance range for ACT 19 covers SAT scores from 990 to 1020. Both scores are near the national average — the mean SAT for the class of 2025 was 1029 and the mean ACT for the class of 2024 was 19.4. A score at this level is sufficient for admission to many colleges and universities but is below the median for more selective schools. If you are near this range and targeting competitive four-year universities, focused preparation on one or two SAT or ACT sittings is likely to produce meaningful improvement.
A 1400 SAT is at approximately the 93rd user percentile, meaning about 93 out of 100 test takers scored at or below this level. A concorded 31 ACT sits at the 96th national rank percentile. The slight difference between 93% and 96% at the same concorded score is typical — the two tests have different score distributions and the populations of students taking each test differ slightly, which causes percentile differences even at concorded score levels. For comparison to college admissions ranges, use the percentile figures rather than the raw scores.
No. Colleges require official scores directly from College Board (for the SAT) or ACT (for the ACT). A concorded score is not an official score on the other test. If a college asks for SAT scores and you only have ACT scores, you must submit your actual ACT scores and the college will either accept them or ask you to take the SAT. Do not use concordance conversion to substitute one test for another on an official application — that would be inaccurate and potentially dishonest. Concordance is for research, comparison, and planning only.
A 1500 SAT places you at the 97th user percentile and concords to a 34 ACT, also near the 99th percentile. By virtually any measure, this is an excellent score. It meets or exceeds the middle 50% SAT range for most Ivy League schools and their peers, though at the most selective schools (Harvard, MIT, Princeton) the middle 50% extends to 1580-1600, so a 1500 is slightly below the median. For schools like Vanderbilt, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, and UC Berkeley, a 1500 SAT is well within or above the typical range for admitted students. NCES provides institution-level admissions data for public reference.
The official Table A2 concordance gives each ACT composite a single-point SAT equivalent and a range. The range shows all SAT scores that are statistically equivalent to that ACT composite. For example, ACT 28 maps to SAT 1310 as a single point but the range is 1300 to 1320 — any SAT score in that band is equivalent to a 28 ACT. When colleges compare SAT and ACT applicants, they typically use the single-point value, but understanding the range helps you see that a 1300 and a 1320 are effectively the same score relative to an ACT 28. A 10-point SAT difference below or above the midpoint of a range does not typically indicate a meaningfully different ability level.
The official Table B from the 2018 concordance maps SAT Math section scores (200-800) to ACT Math scores (1-36). Approximate conversions: 800 SAT Math = 36 ACT Math, 710 = 31, 630 = 27, 600 = 25, 540 = 22, 480 = 17, 400 = 15. Section concordances are rougher than composite concordances because the tests structure their Math sections differently — ACT Math covers more content with 60 questions in 60 minutes, while SAT Math emphasizes fewer problem types with more open-ended grid-in responses and calculator permitted throughout. Use section concordances as rough estimates, not precise equivalences. Enter your section scores in the optional section converter above to see estimates.
There is no universal minimum SAT score in the US. Open-enrollment community colleges accept all applicants regardless of test scores. Most public four-year universities have broadly accessible admissions with median SAT scores in the 1000-1200 range. Moderately selective schools typically enroll students with 1150-1350. Highly selective schools (top 50 nationally) generally have medians from 1350 to 1550. With many schools maintaining test-optional policies permanently, students with scores below these ranges can still gain admission when supported by strong grades, essays, and activities. The College Board’s BigFuture tool lets you search schools by admissions selectivity and score ranges.
Related Free Calculators for College Planning and Test Prep
The SAT to ACT Score Converter on USCalculators.com uses the official 2018 ACT/College Board concordance tables. Concorded scores are a statistical comparison and are not equivalent to, nor a prediction of, scores on the other test. ACT and College Board explicitly state that concorded scores should not be used as substitutes for actual scores on the other test in official applications or academic records.
This tool is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to ACT, Inc. or the College Board. SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board. ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Percentile data reflects published ACT national ranks and College Board SAT user percentile tables; actual percentile rankings vary by graduating cohort and update periodically. The Enhanced ACT (2025+) section content changes have not been accompanied by an updated official concordance as of the publication of this page; scores from the Enhanced ACT format may have additional conversion uncertainty.
Content on this page was written and reviewed by the USCalculators editorial team using official published concordance data. If you believe any conversion or content is inaccurate, please contact us through the site feedback channel.