Official ACT to SAT (New 1600 and Old 2400) Conversion Charts

One of the first thoughts you might have after getting back your ACT or SAT score is how well you would have done on the other test. Luckily, SAT to ACT conversion (and ACT to SAT conversion) is possible!

In this post, we provide conversion charts from the test makers themselves to help you with score conversions between both the current and old versions of the SAT and the ACT. We also look at whether certain colleges go easier on the SAT or ACT—and what you can do about it.

Digital SAT and ACT

Both the SAT and ACT are moving in a digital direction—the College Board began converting all of their assessments to digital delivery in 2023, and the SAT is now completely digital .

ACT, Inc. has also announced that they're going to offer a digital version of the exam for all students starting in 2025. Both companies insist that scores on these digital tests will be totally comparable to the paper versions, but we won’t know for sure until SAT and ACT score data comes out later in 2024.

We'll update this article as soon as more information becomes available.

ACT to SAT Conversion Tool

We took the College Board's official concordance tables and made a tool for you to automatically convert your ACT scores into SAT scores.

We've only included the current 1600-point Digital SAT conversions (long gone are the days the SAT was scored out of 2400). If you’re curious about how your ACT score would have compared to a pre-2016 SAT score, you’ll first need to convert your pre-2016 SAT score to see what it would be on a 1600-point scale.

To compare a Digital SAT score to an ACT score, just enter your ACT score on the left to get your SAT scores on the right:

You'll probably want to see how your ACT and SAT subscores compare, too. For that, simply read our guide to converting subscores. Also, if you're converting to see which test you should take, we recommend checking out our guide to see whether you're a good candidate for taking both the ACT and SAT.

SAT to ACT Conversion Tool

Want to go in the other direction? Here are two tools to go from current 1600 SAT to ACT, or from old 2400 SAT to ACT.

Note that the vast majority of high school students these days will have taken the 1600 SAT, but if you took the SAT before 2016 and are curious about how your scores would have converted to an ACT score (perhaps you're applying for an educational job or are casually comparing scores with friends), our conversion tool can lend you a hand.

SAT to ACT Conversion

Old 2400 SAT to ACT Conversion

Why Convert Between the SAT and ACT?

ACT to SAT conversion can be extremely helpful for figuring out which test you're better at. It’s smartest to focus your efforts on just the SAT or ACT to maximize your score, rather than trying to score well on both tests. But if you take just one test, it’s useful to know how your score translates so you can better understand your performance as well as your chances of admission at various colleges.

For example, by taking a practice test for both the SAT and ACT, you can figure out which test you're naturally better at. If you score dramatically higher on one test vs the other (say, the equivalent of 2 ACT points), you'll know to study for and take that test instead.

As we explore below, ACT-SAT conversion doesn't always line up exactly at schools. Understanding what converting is and why it is not always even at certain schools can help you maximize your admission chances.

Finally, be aware that converting composite scores won't give you the most accurate data. As a result, always convert your section scores, too.

SAT-ACT Conversion Tables

The most accurate SAT-ACT concordance tables come directly from the makers of the SAT and ACT (the College Board and ACT, Inc., respectively). These are the only official conversion charts you can use to translate your ACT score into an SAT score (and vice versa).

Table 1: SAT-ACT Conversion Table

*Use this SAT score when a single score point comparison is needed
Source: The College Board, 2018

Note that this is the most up-to-date conversion and recommended by both the College Board and ACT, Inc. (as opposed to the 2016 initial concordance from the College Board); this chart is what schools will be using to compare SAT and ACT scores.

Table 2: Old SAT-ACT Conversion Table

For those of you who want to compare an ACT score with an old SAT score out of 2400, use the table below. Because the current version of the SAT has been in effect since 2016, most readers will want to use the conversion table above.

In other words, only use the following table if you took the ACT or SAT before 2016 and want to know how your scores would have translated at the time you took the test.

All estimates below are calculated using the above table and this SAT composite score conversion chart.

Is There an “Easier” Test at Certain Schools?

Now that we've learned about the SAT-ACT conversion tables made by the test makers themselves, you might think that if you look at admission statistics for various colleges, their SAT and ACT middle 50 percent ranges will match the official SAT-ACT conversions.

Before we jump into this idea, though, what is the "middle 50 percent"? For a school, this phrase refers to the SAT/ACT score ranges for the middle 50 percent (or 25th to 75th percentile scores) of admitted students. For example, if a school has an ACT middle 50 percent range of 24 to 28, this means that 25% of admits had 24 or lower, 50% had between 24 and 28, and 25% had 28 or higher on the ACT.

Schools report this data since it's a clear way to present the average test score ranges of admitted students. Reporting the full range of scores would be much less helpful as schools might have an admit or two with an extremely low test score, or a few admits with perfect scores. In other words, telling potential applicants that admitted students usually get ACT scores between 16 and 36 is not particularly helpful!

So do these ranges for the ACT and SAT match up according to the conversions above? The truth is, at many colleges, the SAT and ACT middle 50 percent ranges don’t match up exactly. Thus, for some schools, you'd have to do slightly better on one test to be a competitive applicant.

We'll go over a few examples below. You can use this information as a guide when looking up the schools you're applying to.

Notice as we go through these examples just how small the differences tend to be. We are not showing that you can game the system by taking the “easier” test for a certain school. As you'll see, the differences are quite small in most cases, but they can help you aim for the most competitive target score possible.

Harvard

We'll start with a prominent East Coast school. Harvard's middle 50 percent ranges are as follows:

Using Table 1 to compare the scores, we see that ACT composite scores of 33-34 match up to SAT composite scores of 1450-1520. Harvard's actual SAT range is slightly lower than that, which means you'd need a comparatively higher ACT score to be within Harvard's 50 percent range.

Yale

For another highly competitive East Coast example, let’s look at Yale. This school has the following SAT and ACT middle 50 percent ranges:

According to Table 1, these SAT scores match with an ACT score range of 34-35, which is very close to Yale's actual ACT score range. At Yale, then, there is not a slight ACT score advantage like there is at NYU.

University of Florida

Here are the University of Florida’s middle 50 percent ranges:

Table 1 shows that these ACT scores convert to an SAT range of 1200-1380. In this case, you'd need to score slightly lower on the ACT than you would on the SAT to be in Penn State's middle 50 percent.

Georgia Tech

According to Table 1, Georgia Tech’s SAT range would match up with 29-34 ACT composite. This is very close to their ACT range of 28-34, so you won’t be more or less competitive at Georgia Tech just by choosing one test over the other.

Cornell

Here are Cornell's middle 50 percent ranges for the SAT and ACT:

By converting these ACT scores into SAT scores using Table 1, we get an SAT score range of 1450-1560. As we suspected, this suggests that your SAT score needs to be slightly higher than your ACT score does to be competitive at Cornell.

How To Maximize Your Converted ACT/SAT Score

So what can we take from all of this? There are definitely some slight but noticeable differences in certain colleges’ SAT and ACT middle 50 percent ranges compared with the expected conversions. However, there are plenty of exceptions as well.

Here's the thing: even in schools that seem to go slightly easier on one test, the differences are nominal. This means that it doesn't make sense to base your testing strategy entirely on whether a school appears to go easier on ACT or SAT scores. Instead, it’s much smarter to focus on the test you can do better on to maximize your score.

In our test cases above, ACT and SAT ranges did not deviate from expected values by more than 10 -40 SAT points or 1-2 ACT composite points. These are minor score differences you can easily overcome with smart studying, especially if you're taking the test better suited to your strengths.

For example, say you're a better SAT taker, but you notice that some Ivy League schools go a bit easier on ACT scores. If you took the ACT and got a 30 when you were capable of scoring between 1450 and 1550 on the SAT, you'd decrease your chance of getting in.

In the end, there is no substitute for smart studying.

But it's still useful to look up the middle 50 percent test score ranges for your target schools. You can even use the conversion charts like we did to see if the school favors one test. Then, use this info to form your own target score.

For example, if you’re applying to a school that goes a bit easier on the ACT, aim for an ACT score in the upper end of their middle 50 range to ensure that, even with ACT-SAT conversion, you are still well within their typical ranges.

Remember, the bottom line in college admissions is to play up your strengths. Maximizing your ACT or SAT score is by far the best advantage you can give yourself on the standardized testing front!

What’s Next?

Sure, we’ve argued that colleges don’t give a huge advantage to either the SAT or ACT, but is one test easier than the other? Find out whether the SAT or ACT is easier. Also, check out the 11 key differences between the two tests to help you decide which one to take.

If you already know which test you're taking, use our SAT or ACT goal score guide to develop a target score based on the schools you're applying to.

Curious about what it takes to get a perfect SAT or ACT score? Read our perfect SAT and ACT guides, written by our resident full scorer!