Is 29 a Good ACT Score?
An awful lot of preparation and practice goes into getting yourself ready for applying to schools, and the tests that you take are certainly a big part of that puzzle. When you’re taking practice tests and figuring out your targets then you may be asking: is 29 a good ACT score?
If you achieve a 29 when you take the ACT, you usually be within the top 10% of people who take the test, depending on the year. It is definitely considered a good score, but there are still some educational establishments that expect even more from those who apply.
Take a look at the rest of this article to get a better picture of how a 29 really stacks up to the competition, and whether it will be enough to get you in to the school of your dreams.
How Does 29 Compare To Other ACT Scores?
You might be looking at your 29 and finding it hard to tell what it really means, and whether it will be enough to beat out the other applicants that you will find yourself up against when you start looking at schools.
To really know how a 29 compares, you need to see what test takers typically get each year, and see which percentile you are likely to come under. The percentile will tell you what proportion of those who sat the ACT scored lower than you, and therefore which percentage of the applicants you would be competing with.
For example, being in the 75th percentile means that 25% of those who also took the same test got that score or more for that year.
Have a look at the table that we have put together below to see how 29 would stack up. This table uses the information for the ACT for 2022 through to 2023, so be aware that these percentiles may change for the year that you actually take your test.
| ACT Scores | Percentile |
| 12 – 16 | 7 – 32 |
| 16 – 20 | 32 – 56 |
| 20 – 24 | 56 – 76 |
| 24 – 28 | 76 – 89 |
| 28 – 32 | 89 – 96 |
| 32 – 36 | 96 to 100 |
To be specific, a 29 as a composite ACT score would be in the 91st percentile for the year 2022-2023, which means that only 9% of the people who are taking the test in this academic year would be expected to score any higher.
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What Would 29 Be For The SAT?
As you will already know, the other big test you could take when you are applying for further education is the SAT, but the scoring system is completely different. Fortunately, you can calculate a rough conversion between the two to see what you would be likely to get if you sat the other test.
This table shows the equivalent SAT scores for what you might have achieved when you took the ACT.
| SAT Score | ACT Equivalent |
| 860 – 1020 | 16 – 20 |
| 1020 – 1100 | 20 – 22 |
| 1100 – 1240 | 22 – 26 |
| 1160 – 1310 | 24 – 28 |
| 1310 – 1450 | 28 – 32 |
| 1450 – 1600 | 32 – 36 |
If you managed to get 29 out of 36 points on the ACT then you would expect to fall in the range of 1350 to 1380 out of 1600 if you were to take the SAT instead. These numbers are not exact, of course, but they do give a relatively good idea of how well you might do.
Which Schools Can a 29 Get You Into?
Being in the top 10% of test takers will give your application a certain amount of weight, so you can definitely expect to have a pretty good selection to choose between. Many excellent schools will happily consider applicants with a 29 or lower on the ACT, so you will have a lot of options.
These are a selection of the highest-rated institutions in the country whose intake has an average ACT score of 29 or lower.
- Purdue University, Main Campus
- Syracuse University
- University of Kentucky
- Pennsylvania State University, Penn State
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, Irvine
- University of Central Florida
- Mississippi College
- Indiana University, Bloomington
- Auburn University
Which Schools Is a 29 Low For?
While scoring 29 is not easy, there will be other students who are applying to schools with even greater scores, so some institutions may be a little harder to successfully make an application to. Many have an expected ACT score that is well into the 30s, so you might find it hard to stand out.
Some of the institutions that usually take students with a score of between 30 and 33 are:
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Florida
- Boston University
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Washington, Seattle Campus
- Ohio State University, Main Campus
- University of Georgia
- University of Miami
- Clemson University
What Score Do I Need To Get?
Maybe the question that would be more important to consider is not whether 29 is good, but what you actually need to score to get where you would like to go.
For some people, 29 will easily give them the opportunity to successfully make their way into the school of their dreams and move into the academic field that they are most interested in. For others, 29 might not be enough to make your application rise to the top of the pile, especially when you are looking at very prestigious institutions.
You may want to push yourself a little harder and try to aim for an even better score, but you might equally want to put your efforts into the other aspects of your application – like the essay and interview or the portfolio that you might be expected to send.
Summary: Is 29 a Good ACT Score?
So, is 29 a good score for the ACT? It’s a really good score, and it would put you in good standing for a lot of schools, but it’s not the best that you can achieve. There will be many applicants that will score 30 or higher, and Ivy League schools tend to expect a score greater than 33 from those who apply.
At the end of the day, it depends on your goals. 29 might be perfect for the schools you are dreaming of, or it might not quite be enough to take you where you want to go.
