How to Cancel Your ACT Registration or Test Scores

What’s Covered:

• How to Cancel ACT Scores
• Should You Cancel Your Test Scores?
• How Does My ACT Score Affect College Admissions

You just took the ACT—that all-important college admissions exam—and now you’re in a tailspin. You’re convinced you bombed it completely. What now? Is there a way to cancel your scores before colleges see your scores?

The short answer is that you can cancel your scores, but you have to do it quickly. Keep reading to find out how to cancel your ACT scores and when you should do it. 

How to Reschedule Your ACT

To reschedule your ACT, log into your MyACT account and choose “Make Changes to Your Registration” by the stated deadline on the ACT website (this varies by specific test date). You will be charged both a fee for the change and the entire fee for the new test date. You cannot make this change after the late registration deadline, although you can request standby testing.

How to Cancel ACT Registration Before Test Day

You can use the same selection via your MyACT account to cancel your test registration entirely. But, you should bear in mind that ACT registration is nonrefundable.

You may receive refunds for optional services, including score reports for your fifth and sixth college codes, the Test Information Release, and the addition of the ACT writing test. To request a refund for these services, either mail your unused admission ticket with the word “REFUND” written on it to ACT Registration or email act-reg@act.org with the subject line “REFUND.”

How to Cancel ACT Test Scores

In order to cancel your ACT test scores after you’ve broken the seal on the test itself or past the late registration deadline, you will need to let the ACT know in writing. If you’re actually at the test center, you should inform your proctor, and they will be able to give you more information about deadlines. After you alert the ACT, they will send you an official form.

Should You Cancel Your Test Scores?

In the vast majority of cases, you should NOT cancel your ACT test scores. However, there are some scenarios in which this is the best option.

If you really, truly believe you did terribly on the test, then it’s a good idea to cancel your scores. But know that you may have done better than you think, unless you were unable to finish a large portion of the questions. Or, perhaps you got sick in the middle of the test or had an emergency.

If the ACT suspects cheating, they will cancel your scores.

What if I Miss the Deadline and Can’t Cancel My Score?

While you can cancel your supplementary reports to colleges if you miss the deadline, your free score reports will be automatically sent to the colleges you initially listed on your registration. But you can take advantage of options like Score Choice, meaning you send only your best test day scores, or superscoring, meaning your top scores from each sitting are combined to form a single score. 

Not all colleges allow Score Choice or superscoring, Remember, though, that most schools are test optional this admissions year, so it shouldn’t be a huge concern.

How Does My ACT Score Affect College Admissions?

How will your ACT scores affect your chances of admission to your dream schools? Find out with CollegeVine’s chancing engine. This free tool will estimate your real odds of acceptance to hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, taking into account factors like standardized tests, GPA, extracurriculars, and more.