All Ohio juniors take either the ACT or SAT at their high school in late winter just as many in other states also do. The majority of Ohio schools opt for the ACT in a pencil to paper format; those taking the SAT or testing online have different dates.
Students who’ve taken the ACT before on their own have noticed these school day testing results are slower than national test date results to arrive.
When the test scores do arrive, they won’t be by the usual method. So when and how will you get your scores? If you have an existing ACT account, how will they magically make their way over there? LEAP has your answers!
Prior to test day, students completed a form that included their name, birth date and home address among other pieces of personal information. This is key to getting state results and the merging with your existing account, if you've taken the ACT before.
As always, scores are released in batches over a period of weeks; this is why a friend may already have his or her scores, and you don’t have yours. A call to ACT in Iowa revealed the window for receiving state scores will be 3 – 8 weeks post-test date with most in the 4 – 6 week window. For national test dates on Saturdays throughout the year, scores can be received as early as 10 days post-test.
Another difference is state results will be sent via paper to your home mailing address provided on test day; your high school is also receiving a paper copy.
Highlights from what really happened last year with school day testing ACT score release:
- Smaller schools tended to receive scores way before larger schools
- Some students (at the smaller schools) received their scores online first then weeks later received paper scores in the mail
- Larger schools tended to receive paper scores in the mail before the online scores were received which follows what ACT said would happen
- For the very limited number of schools who did online testing, their scores were the slowest to come in; in some cases over 2 months with NO explanation provided by ACT.
- We know of a school where the entire set of answer sheets from one classroom were lost in the mail by FedEx or UPS or USPS (doesn’t matter who – they are gone forever!). These students are out of luck and will have to test again. By the way, this is not an isolated, one-time incident!
- ACT will still tell testers that they have up to 8 weeks to release scores – don’t panic until post 8 weeks.
Don’t badger your school counselor about your scores!
They have no control over this.
Call ACT Customer “Care” if you need to: 319-337-1270
FAQs on ACT Score Release
What if you already have an ACT account due to testing prior to the state test or already registering to test at a later date? Your state scores should get matched to your existing account within two weeks of your paper report being received. The computer is looking at the personal information you provided on test day to match with that in your existing account.
What if your state scores never magically appear in your existing account? First, give it two weeks from the time of receiving your paper report for the “magic” to happen. If it hasn’t happened in that time frame, call ACT Customer Care at 319-337-1270 for assistance. Your school counselor can’t fix this for you, so please don’t bring them this question during this busy time of year.
What if the state test is your first test or interaction with ACT? How do they get into an online account? Wait until your paper report is received. On this report is an I.D. #. Once you have that number, go to the ACT website and create an account. Students are asked if they’ve ever taken the ACT before. Answer “yes”. You’ll then be prompted to provide your I.D. #. This should set-up your account you can use to register for future test dates and all scores should be in this account moving forward.