SAT 1200 vs ACT 25: How to Compare Your Score the Right Way
If you took the SAT and want to know "what that would be" on the ACT — or the other way around — the honest answer involves a statistical table, not a formula. Here's what the official 2018 concordance table actually shows, and where its limits are.
Short answerA concordance table lines up an SAT score and an ACT score that correspond to roughly the same percentile rank among test takers — it isn't a currency-style conversion rate. The current standard is the 2018 College Board / ACT concordance table, built jointly by both organizations from students who sat for both exams after the SAT's 2016 redesign.
The SAT reports a total score from 400 to 1600 (in steps of 10), combining Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) and Math, each 200-800. The ACT reports a composite from 1 to 36, the rounded average of English, Math, Reading, and Science. Because the two scales don't share a common unit, there's no arithmetic shortcut — the 2018 table exists specifically to solve that problem by matching percentile standing instead of raw numbers.
Key fact: the SAT has far more possible totals (121, in 10-point steps) than the ACT has possible composites (36). That's why converting ACT → SAT usually produces a small range of SAT scores rather than one exact number, while SAT → ACT produces a single ACT value.
A worked example: SAT 1200 and ACT 25
Short answerOn the official 2018 table, an SAT total of 1200 concords with an ACT composite of about 25 (with a corresponding range of roughly 1190-1210 mapping to that same ACT 25). These two scores represent similar percentile standing, not identical content mastery.
Say, purely as an illustration, a hypothetical student scores 1200 on the SAT. Looking that up in the concordance table places it alongside ACT 25. A few other well-known anchor points from the same table:
Selected SAT total ↔ ACT composite equivalents (2018 official table)
SAT total
ACT composite
1600
36
1400
31
1200
25
1000
19
800
14
Notice the jumps aren't perfectly linear — going from SAT 1000 to 1200 (+200) moves the ACT equivalent from 19 to 25 (+6), while 1200 to 1400 (+200) moves it from 25 to 31 (+6 again), but the exact gap at other points on the scale can vary slightly. That's expected: the table tracks percentile matching, not a straight-line formula.
Comparing section scores, not just the total
Short answerBeyond the overall total/composite, the official 2018 study also published section-level concordance: SAT EBRW against the ACT's English + Reading average, and SAT Math against ACT Math — useful if a student's strength (or weakness) is concentrated in one area.
For example, a student whose SAT Math section score is 600 can look up its ACT Math equivalent directly, separately from how their EBRW score maps to ACT English + Reading. This matters because a student's SAT total and ACT composite can concord neatly overall while their section-level strengths look quite different — a useful thing to know before deciding which test to focus retake prep on.
What concordance can't tell you
Short answerA concordant score is a comparison aid, not an official score, a guaranteed admissions outcome, or proof a student would perform identically on both tests. Colleges evaluate the actual score submitted — nobody is required to convert one test into the other.
The SAT and ACT differ meaningfully in structure: the ACT includes a dedicated Science section and moves at a faster per-question pace, while the SAT has no Science section and gives more time per question on Math. Two students with "equivalent" concordant scores may have gotten there through very different strengths. Concordance also says nothing about superscoring policies (which vary by college) or about how either test handles the optional ACT Writing section, which sits outside the composite entirely.
Also worth remembering: the 2018 table replaced an earlier interim table used right after the SAT's 2016 redesign, and it's the version colleges, counselors, and test-prep resources currently reference. If you see an older concordance chart, it may be based on the pre-2016 2400-point SAT scale and won't line up correctly.
Enter your SAT or ACT score — or a section score — for the concordant value in seconds.
A concordance table is a statistical cross-reference showing which SAT score and which ACT score correspond to roughly the same percentile standing among test takers. It doesn't mean the two scores measure identical content — the SAT and ACT are different tests with different section structures — but it lets you compare performance on one test to performance on the other. The current standard table was published jointly by the College Board and ACT, Inc. in 2018, based on the scores of students who took both tests.
How accurate is the SAT-ACT concordance table?
It's a reliable statistical approximation, not an exact science. The SAT reports scores in 10-point increments on a 400-1600 scale while the ACT reports whole numbers on a 1-36 scale, so several SAT scores can map to the same ACT score (and vice versa) — that's why the ACT-to-SAT direction on this tool shows a small range rather than a single number. Treat the result as "in the same ballpark," not a precise substitute for taking the test.
What SAT score is roughly equivalent to an ACT 25?
Based on the official 2018 concordance table, an ACT composite of 25 corresponds to an SAT total in the 1190-1210 range, with about 1200 as the representative value.
Do colleges use concordance tables to compare my application scores?
Some colleges and scholarship programs may reference concordance tables informally when comparing applicants who submitted different tests, but admissions offices evaluate the actual score you submit — you are not required to convert one test's score into the other, and both tests are accepted independently at essentially all US four-year colleges. Concordance is a personal comparison tool, not an official substitution used to reinterpret your score.
Can I convert SAT section scores like EBRW and Math to their ACT equivalents?
Yes. A section-scores mode uses the official 2018 section-level concordance tables to convert your SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) score to an ACT English + Reading average, and your SAT Math score to an ACT Math score, in either direction. These are separate tables from the total/composite concordance, since each SAT section (200-800) is matched against a different ACT section pairing (1-36).
Methodology note: Figures referenced here come from the official 2018 College Board / ACT, Inc. concordance study. This article is for general informational purposes only and is not admissions, financial, or test-prep advice — always confirm current scoring policies directly with the College Board, ACT, Inc., or the colleges you're applying to.