Brigham Young University ACT Scores and What the 28 to 32 Band Means

Half of the Brigham Young University students who enrolled and submitted an ACT composite scored between 28 and 32, and the reported midpoint is 29. That band is only 4 points wide, so a single point moves you across a large share of it. BYU admitted 68% of applicants institution-wide in the most recently reported year and enrolls 32,952 undergraduates in Provo, Utah, which means a tight band here is describing a very large group of students. Below is what those figures mean, what they cannot mean, and how to measure your own gap against them.

The three numbers BYU actually reports

Federal data for Brigham Young University carries three ACT composite figures and nothing more detailed than that. Taken out of context each one is easy to misuse, so here is exactly what each covers.

None of these numbers is a cutoff. A percentile describes students who already enrolled. It is not a minimum, a requirement, or a line you clear. Scoring 28 does not put you at a threshold, and scoring 27 does not put you outside one.

The population matters as much as the values. These are enrolled students who submitted an ACT. Applicants who were not admitted are not in the figure. Students who were admitted and went somewhere else are not in it. Enrolled students who submitted no score are not in it either. It is a portrait of one slice of one class, and it is the only score information this data set carries.

Four points wide: what a tight band changes

The middle 50% runs from 28 to 32, so half of the reporting group is packed into five whole composite values: 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32. A band twice that width would spread the same half of the class across nine values. Narrow bands behave differently, in two ways worth knowing before you set a target.

• Each point is worth a quarter of the band. Moving a practice composite from 29 to 30 covers 25% of the entire distance between the two reported percentiles. In an 8-point band, one point covers about 12%. Small, boring gains show up more clearly against a span this short.
• The band is crowded. When half a class sits inside five score values, many students share the same composite. A 30 does not separate you from other 30s, and this data set contains nothing else that would separate anyone.

The trap is reading tightness as a hard floor at 28. A quarter of the reporting group scored at or below 28, and the data does not show how their scores are spread below that mark. Students who enrolled with composites under 28 exist in this cohort. What the narrow band does tell you is that the group clustered high and clustered close, so if your goal is to sit inside it, you are aiming at a small window rather than a wide one.

68% admitted and 28 at the 25th percentile: both are true

These two numbers surprise people when they sit next to each other: 68% of applicants admitted, and an enrolled score band that starts at 28. They are not in conflict. They measure different populations.

The 68% is institution-wide. It counts every applicant to the university in the most recently reported year, and it is a historical ratio, not a forecast. It does not become 90% because your composite is 33, or 40% because it is 24. An institutional rate cannot be converted into a personal probability of admission, and any page that tries to do it for you is guessing.

The 28 to 32 band counts a much narrower group: students who enrolled and submitted an ACT. It says nothing about who applied, who was turned away, or who was admitted and chose a different school.

What you can take from the pair honestly is this. A majority-admit rate does not mean scores at BYU run low, because the reported band runs high. And a high band does not mean a narrow door, because 68% is a long way from the rates at schools that admit roughly one applicant in ten. Why these two figures combine the way they do at a university with 32,952 undergraduates is not something this data explains, and we are not going to invent a reason for it. For how percentile bands work in general, see our guide to ACT scores.

Locating your score inside the reported band

Once you have a real practice composite, the useful question is not "is this good" but "where does this sit relative to the two reported percentiles." The table below answers only that. It does not predict a decision.

Two cautions on using this. First, place yourself with a scored practice test, not an estimate. Convert raw correct counts with the free ACT score calculator so the number you are comparing is a real composite. Second, position inside a band is context for your list, not a verdict on your application. Nothing in this data set speaks to essays, coursework, or any other part of a file.

The arithmetic underneath a 29 and a 32

Under the Enhanced ACT 2025 format, the composite is the average of English, Math and Reading. Science is optional and reported separately. That makes the composite pure arithmetic: to average a given number, your three section scores have to sum to three times it.

To be explicit: BYU reports no section-level data. There is no English figure, no Math figure and no Reading figure in this data set for this school. Any page that hands you a "BYU Math target" is inventing it. The sums above are just what averaging three numbers requires, and uneven splits reach the same total. A sum of 87 can be 31 + 30 + 26 as easily as 29 + 29 + 29, which is why a weak section can be carried by a strong one.

The format details that matter while you practice: English is 50 questions in 35 minutes, Math is 45 in 50, Reading is 36 in 40, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so nothing should be left blank. Full breakdown in the Enhanced ACT 2025 guide.

Measuring the gap, then closing it with free material

A 4-point band gives you three clean landmarks: 28, 29 and 32. Here is the distance from a few starting composites to each one.

No site can promise you any of those gains, and Prep36 will not. What we can do is make the measuring free and repeatable, which is the part most students skip.

• All 1,026 original practice questions are free, with an instant explanation on every answer. They are Prep36 questions, not official ACT questions.
• 6 full-length timed forms exist and 2 are free, so you can retest under real timing rather than guessing at progress. Start with the practice test guide.
• The free study plan builder and score forecast turn a gap like +4 into weekly work. Method notes live in how to improve your ACT score and how to study for the ACT.
• Short on time before a test date: the free Enhanced ACT Cram Kit. Check timing against ACT test dates.

Planning more than one sitting? Read how superscoring works in general, then confirm with the university how it treats multiple dates. This data set says nothing about that.

What is not in this data, and where other pages invent it

The rule on this page is that anything absent from the source stays off the page. Here is what that rules out, so you know what to go get elsewhere.

• Section targets. No English, Math, Reading or Science figures are reported for BYU here. A page quoting one is fabricating it.
• Testing policy. Whether the ACT is required, optional or recommended is not in this data, so we will not state it in either direction. BYU's own admissions pages are the source for that.
• Deadlines, scholarships, honors and program cutoffs. None of it appears here. Score thresholds attached to money or to specific majors are especially common inventions.
• Trends. This is one reported cohort, the most recent one available. It is not a direction of travel, and last year's band is not next year's.
• Anything about applicants. The band covers enrolled students who submitted a score. It excludes applicants who were not admitted, admitted students who enrolled elsewhere, and enrolled students who submitted no score.
• Your outcome. The 68% rate is institution-wide, and no percentile is a personal probability. Nobody can tell you from these six numbers whether you will be admitted.

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, IPEDS data, most recent reported cohort. Prep36 is not affiliated with ACT, Inc. To compare this band against other schools' reported figures, see college ACT scores, or start practicing free in the app.

What these composites cost in raw questions

A composite is not a number you score directly. On the Enhanced ACT it is the average of English, Math and Reading, so reaching one means hitting that scaled score across three sections. Science is optional and reported separately, so it is left out here.

Below is what each scaled score actually costs in correct answers, and how many questions you can afford to miss to still land on it.

Read this correctly. These are not section targets for this school. The College Scorecard reports composite percentiles only, with no section-level data, so nobody can tell you what English or Math score this school expects. What the table shows is the raw cost of a 28 and a 32 in each section, whoever you are aiming at. Build your own section goals from your own practice results.

Turn your practice raw scores into a composite with the free ACT score calculator, then drill the sections costing you the most in the free question bank.

Frequently asked questions