When Do ACT Scores Come Out? 2026-27 Dates

ACT scores start posting about 10 days to 3 weeks after each national test date, and ACT says over 97% of scores are available online within 1-4 weeks. For the 2026-27 testing year, the first release dates are October 6, 2026 (for the September 19 test), October 22 online / October 27 paper (October 17 test), and December 17 online / December 22 paper (December 12 test). You check scores by signing in to your MyACT account at my.act.org; there is no email with your score attached, and multiple-choice scores usually appear before writing scores.

The dates below come from the official ACT score release table on act.org. Treat each one as the day scores begin appearing, not the day every student sees them.

2026-27 ACT score release dates

ACT publishes an "initial score release date" for each national test date. Online test-takers usually get scores a few days earlier because ACT receives an online test the moment you finish and can start scoring sooner.

Test date	Registration deadline	Late deadline	Online initial score release	Paper initial score release
September 19, 2026	August 14	September 1	October 6, 2026	October 6, 2026
October 17, 2026	September 11	September 29	October 22, 2026	October 27, 2026
December 12, 2026	November 6	November 29	December 17, 2026	December 22, 2026
February 27, 2027	January 22	February 9	March 16, 2027	March 16, 2027
April 10, 2027	March 5	March 23	April 15, 2027	April 20, 2027
June 12, 2027	May 7	May 25	June 17, 2027	June 23, 2027
July 10, 2027	June 4	June 22	July 15, 2027	July 20, 2027

Source: act.org test dates and scores pages, checked August 2026. Deadlines close at 11:59 p.m. Central Time. These timelines apply to ACT National testing (and Special Testing where applicable); school-day and state testing follow their own schedules, so check with your school if you tested on a weekday.

Why scores come out in batches, not all at once

The release date is when the first batch posts. Per ACT, the initial release includes any test that has been received, processed, passed all validation checks, and was not affected by an irregularity. Everything else keeps processing during business hours over the following days and weeks, and scores post as they clear. Most online test-takers and a large share of paper test-takers see scores on release day; ACT's headline number is that more than 97% of scores are out within 1-4 weeks of the test date, and a small remainder takes longer for the reasons in the "missing score" section below.

There is no published release time of day. Scores appear during ACT's business hours (Central Time), so checking once in the morning and once in the afternoon is enough.

Multiple-choice scores vs. writing scores

If you took the ACT with writing, expect two moments rather than one:

1. Multiple-choice scores first. Your English, math, reading, and (if you added it) science scores, along with your Composite, post as soon as they are available.
2. Writing score later. ACT says writing takes longer because of additional steps in the score verification process. It often lands one to two weeks after the multiple-choice scores, though ACT does not commit to a fixed gap.

This matters for application deadlines: ACT does not send your scores to colleges until every score from that test date, including writing, is available. If you took writing and a deadline is tight, build that lag into your timeline.

How to check your ACT scores in MyACT

1. Go to my.act.org and sign in with the ACT account you used to register. For school-day or state testing, use the login details your school gave you.
2. Open your dashboard. Scores for each test date appear there as they are released, with section scores and your Composite.
3. If you have tested more than once since September 2016, MyACT also shows your Superscore (more below).

ACT does not email or text scores; MyACT is the only place to see them. Scores from before September 2011 are not in MyACT and must be requested from ACT directly.

My score is missing: what usually happened

A blank spot on release day is normal and rarely means something went wrong. ACT lists the specific reasons a score can be held out of the initial release:

• Your answer document arrived late. A mailing delay, a rescheduled test center, or testing late in a Special Testing window pushes you into a later batch.
• Your matching information did not match. The name, date of birth, and other identifiers on the answer document must match your registration; a mismatch triggers manual review.
• An irregularity was reported at your test center. A room's scores can be held while ACT investigates.
• Additional equating analysis. ACT sometimes runs extra statistical checks before releasing a form.
• Online Special Testing windows. These scores are not released until the whole window closes.

What to do: wait at least a week past the initial release date, confirm you are signed in to the correct account, and contact ACT (contact options are on act.org) if your score still has not posted a few weeks after release. Have your ACT ID and test date ready.

Score reports and what colleges receive

Your registration fee covers reports for you, your high school, and up to four colleges if you entered their codes when you registered. After that, act.org lists $20 per test date, per report (as of August 2026; confirm before budgeting). You choose what each college gets: scores from one specific test date, or your Superscore. All scores from a test date travel together, so you cannot send only multiple-choice or only writing, and reports go out once every score for that date is ready.

To see which questions you missed, ACT sells My Answer Key for certain national test dates and centers (act.org lists $36 before the test, $44 after). It is the best item-level feedback you can get from a real administration if you plan to retest.

Superscoring: how it works

ACT automatically calculates a Superscore for anyone who has tested more than once since September 2016. It averages your highest section scores across all your test dates, and if two section scores are tied, ACT uses the more recent one. ACT also allows you to combine a writing score from one date with multiple-choice scores from another.

Whether a college uses the Superscore is up to the college. Many do; a few consider only your single best test date. Check each school's testing policy before choosing which report to send.

Should you retake the ACT?

ACT reports that 43% of test-takers take it more than once and that more than half of them improve. That does not make a retake automatic. The decision usually comes down to three questions:

1. Is there a section you can realistically move? At superscoring colleges a retest cannot lower your best section scores, so ask whether a focused month on math or reading can add two or three points there.
2. Does a test date fit your deadlines? Count backward from the release date, plus up to two more weeks if you took writing. For early deadlines in the first half of November, September is the safe choice and October is the last realistic one.
3. What will you do differently? Retesting without changing your preparation tends to reproduce the same score. My Answer Key or a timed practice section shows you exactly where to focus.

If you retest, register by the regular deadline (about five weeks out) to avoid the $42 late fee act.org currently lists.

Turn the waiting weeks into a plan

The weeks between test day and score release are the easiest time to lose momentum, especially if you suspect you will retest. Put your next test date, its registration deadline, and its release date on a calendar, then let Scholarly's free study schedule generator build a week-by-week plan around that date so each week targets a specific section and skill.

Then make practice diagnostic. Upload official ACT practice tests, prep book chapters, or your own notes and use the practice test generator to create timed question sets from that material, or the quiz generator for quick drills on one weak topic such as comma rules or linear functions. Retrieval practice from material you have already studied is what moves section scores; re-reading mostly does not.

Quick answers

What time of day do ACT scores come out? ACT does not publish a time. Scores post during business hours (Central Time) as they are processed, starting on the release date.

Do online test-takers get scores faster? Usually. For most 2026-27 dates the online release is five days before paper; for September and February the two are the same day.

Why is my writing score missing? Writing scores take longer to verify and post after multiple-choice scores. Colleges receive the full report once writing is in.

Can colleges see all of my ACT scores? Only the test dates or Superscore you choose to send. All scores from a single test date are sent together.

The bottom line

Your 2026-27 ACT scores begin posting in MyACT on the initial release date for your test, earlier for online than paper, and multiple-choice before writing. Most students see scores in that first batch; the rest follow over the next few weeks, and a missing score usually means a late answer document or a routine check. Use the release dates to plan your application timeline, decide on a retake with the Superscore in mind, and spend the wait on targeted practice rather than refreshing the page.