SAT to ACT Score Converter

What is a SAT to ACT score converter?

This SAT to ACT converter turns an SAT total score into its ACT composite equivalent, or an ACT composite into an SAT total, using the 2018 ACT/SAT concordance tables developed jointly by ACT and the College Board. The two organizations describe these as the only official ACT/SAT concordance tables and the single source of reference for comparing SAT scores with ACT scores.

Choose a direction and enter your score. The converter returns the Concorded score on the other test, the Score range behind it, and a Note with the official single-score equivalent. Every value comes straight from the published tables; nothing is estimated or interpolated.

The tables were built from the scores of 589,753 students who were high school seniors graduating in 2017 and who took both the ACT and the redesigned SAT between February 2016 (ACT) or March 2016 (SAT) and June 2017. After the sample was weighted to reflect the wider population of test takers, scores with the same percentile rank on the two tests were matched. So a concorded score tells you where your result would sit on the other test's scale, not what you would actually score if you took that test. Use it to compare two scores, to decide which one to send, or to read a cutoff written for the other test.

Formula

There is no equation behind the conversion. A concordance links two score scales by matching percentile ranks in a group of students who took both tests, so the converter is a lookup in the official tables:

• SAT → ACT (Table A1). The converter rounds your SAT total to the nearest 10, because SAT totals are reported in steps of 10, and finds the ACT composite whose SAT range contains it.
• ACT → SAT (Table A2). The converter looks up your ACT composite and returns its single SAT score and the range of SAT totals concorded with it.

The official ACT composite and SAT total concordance

This is Table A2 of the 2018 tables. The SAT range column is Table A1 read the other way: every SAT total in a row's range converts to that row's ACT composite. The tables stop at ACT 9 and SAT 590, so lower scores show "Below the table".

Single score or range?

Each ACT composite corresponds to a range of SAT totals, not one number. For anyone who needs a single point, the tables also mark the most appropriate SAT score within each range, the score to use "when a single score point comparison is needed". That single score is the Concorded score in the ACT → SAT direction and the figure in the Note in the SAT → ACT direction. Use the single score when a form or spreadsheet needs one number, and the range when you want to see which SAT totals share an ACT equivalent.

How precise is a concorded score?

Less precise than the single numbers suggest. The College Board and ACT guide gives a standard error of about ±2.26 ACT composite points when the table is used to estimate an ACT composite from an SAT total, and about ±79.57 SAT points when it is used to estimate an SAT total from an ACT composite.

Worked example

Example 1: SAT 1200 to ACT

SAT 1200 falls in the range 1200–1220, so the converter shows:

• Concorded score: ACT 25
• Score range: "SAT 1200–1220 all convert to ACT 25"
• Note: "Official single-score equivalent of ACT 25: SAT 1210."

A 1200, a 1210 and a 1220 all concord to ACT 25, and 1210 is the single SAT score the tables pair with a 25.

Example 2: ACT 30 to SAT

• Concorded score: SAT 1370
• Score range: "SAT range 1360–1380"

Use 1370 when one number is needed; any SAT total from 1360 to 1380 is concorded with ACT 30.

Example 3: why a round trip does not return your score

Convert SAT 1260 and you get ACT 27, because 1260 through 1290 all concord with 27. Convert ACT 27 back and you get SAT 1280, the single score for that range. Nothing went wrong: the four SAT totals 1260, 1270, 1280 and 1290 share one ACT composite, so the conversion cannot tell which one you started from. This is one reason a concorded score is a comparison, not a precise new score.

Example 4: comparing your own SAT and ACT

Suppose you have SAT 1340 and ACT 30. SAT 1340 converts to ACT 29, and ACT 30 converts to SAT 1370. On the concordance, the ACT result is one composite point, or 30 SAT points, higher. That gap is smaller than the standard errors above (about 2 ACT points or 80 SAT points), so the concordance alone does not show that one result is clearly stronger.

Edge cases

• An SAT total that is not a multiple of 10 is rounded first. SAT 1205 gives ACT 25, with the note "SAT 1205 rounded to 1210."
• An SAT total below 590, such as 550, or an ACT composite below 9 returns "Below the table", because the official tables do not go that low.

How to use this calculator

1. Choose the Direction: SAT → ACT if you are starting from an SAT score, or ACT → SAT if you are starting from an ACT score.
2. Enter your SAT total (400–1600) or your ACT composite (1–36). Use the total or composite score, not a section score.
3. Read the Concorded score, then the Score range and the Note for the range and the official single score.
4. To compare two of your own scores, convert one onto the other test's scale and keep the margin of error in mind.

What concordance does and does not mean

• It does match scores that held the same percentile rank among students who took both tests at about the same time.
• It does not predict exactly what you would score on the other test. The ACT and the SAT measure similar, but not identical, content and skills.
• It is meant for individual scores. The guide advises against converting aggregate figures such as a mean, median or score range, because that can add error.
• It does not combine tests. The guide strongly discourages merging SAT and ACT scores into a single superscore.
• It covers totals only here. The official tables also concord SAT Math with ACT math and SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing with ACT English plus reading; this converter handles only the SAT total and the ACT composite.

The enhanced ACT and the digital SAT

ACT says it believes the concordance will hold for its enhanced test, and the College Board says digital SAT scores can be used in the same manner as paper SAT scores, so the converter applies the 2018 tables to both. No new official ACT/SAT concordance has been published; the questions below explain the details.

For more background, read how the concordance tables work and SAT vs ACT: which test should you take? The guide also cautions against decisions based on a concorded score alone; grades matter too, and the GPA calculator and cumulative GPA calculator can help you work those out.

Sources

• College Board and ACT — Guide to the 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance (Tables A1 and A2, method, standard errors, limitations)
• ACT — ACT Test Enhancements for Higher Education
• College Board — Digital SAT Suite Concordance and Vertical Scaling Studies