How to Get a 20–23 on the ACT
Read time: 9 min · Last updated: June 14, 2026
How do I get a 20? A 21? A 22? A 23? This page answers all four, because the ACT doesn't actually work one point at a time - it works in bands. A 20–23 is a single band with one coursework floor and one set of skills. This is the page for a student whose section score is somewhere in that range, or below it and climbing toward it.
First, you need a real, official score broken down by reporting category. Without it, you're throwing darts at a board you can't see. Take a free official practice test, then use my ACT diagnostic test guide to score it and split the result into categories. If the category names on the report still look like a wall of jargon, start with ACT reporting categories explained.
A score in this band almost never means a student is uniformly "a 22." Far more often they're a 20–23 in one or two sections and higher or lower in others. So work section by section. Below are the exact skills the ACT publishes, grouped under the categories that print on the score report. Everything here is the ACT's own wording, drawn from its College and Career Readiness Standards. After each category, I've linked the free lesson pages that drill those exact skills.
Because this is the entry point of the cluster, each category below shows the full cumulative stack: the foundational 13–15 skills, the 16–19 skills, and the 20–23 skills, in order. A student aiming at this band needs all of them. When your child has the whole set down cold, the next stop is how to get a 24–27, which shows only the skills new to that higher band.
English: The Skills Through 20–23
The English score report groups everything under three categories: Production of Writing, Knowledge of Language, and Conventions of Standard English. Each list below runs from the foundational skills up through the 20–23 band. For the full topic-by-topic breakdown and free practice, see the ACT English guide.
Production of Writing
- Delete material because it is obviously irrelevant in terms of the topic of the essay
- Determine the need for transition words or phrases to establish time relationships in simple narrative essays (e.g., then, this time)
- Delete material because it is obviously irrelevant in terms of the focus of the essay
- Identify the purpose of a word or phrase when the purpose is simple (e.g., identifying a person, defining a basic term, using common descriptive adjectives)
- Determine whether a simple essay has met a straightforward goal
- Determine the most logical place for a sentence in a paragraph
- Provide a simple conclusion to a paragraph or essay (e.g., expressing one of the essay's main ideas)
- Determine relevance of material in terms of the focus of the essay
- Identify the purpose of a word or phrase when the purpose is straightforward (e.g., describing a person, giving examples)
- Use a word, phrase, or sentence to accomplish a straightforward purpose (e.g., conveying a feeling or attitude)
- Determine the need for transition words or phrases to establish straightforward logical relationships (e.g., first, afterward, in response)
- Determine the most logical place for a sentence in a straightforward essay
- Provide an introduction to a straightforward paragraph
- Provide a straightforward conclusion to a paragraph or essay (e.g., summarizing an essay's main idea or ideas)
- Rearrange the sentences in a straightforward paragraph for the sake of logic
Drill these skills: main idea & purpose, logical order of sentences, kept or deleted, and answering the question asked.
Knowledge of Language
- Revise vague, clumsy, and confusing writing that creates obvious logic problems
- Delete obviously redundant and wordy material
- Revise expressions that deviate markedly from the style and tone of the essay
- Delete redundant and wordy material when the problem is contained within a single phrase (e.g., "alarmingly startled," "started by reaching the point of beginning")
- Revise expressions that deviate from the style and tone of the essay
- Determine the need for conjunctions to create straightforward logical links between clauses
- Use the word or phrase most appropriate in terms of the content of the sentence when the vocabulary is relatively common
Drill these skills: word choice and simplest is best (redundancy & wordiness).
Conventions of Standard English
- Determine the need for punctuation or conjunctions to join simple clauses
- Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense between simple clauses in a sentence or between simple adjoining sentences
- Form the past tense and past participle of irregular but commonly used verbs
- Form comparative and superlative adjectives
- Delete commas that create basic sense problems (e.g., between verb and direct object)
- Determine the need for punctuation or conjunctions to correct awkward-sounding fragments and fused sentences as well as obviously faulty subordination and coordination of clauses
- Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense and voice when the meaning of the entire sentence must be considered
- Determine whether an adjective form or an adverb form is called for in a given situation
- Ensure straightforward subject-verb agreement
- Ensure straightforward pronoun-antecedent agreement
- Use idiomatically appropriate prepositions in simple contexts
- Use the appropriate word in frequently confused pairs (e.g., there and their, past and passed, led and lead)
- Delete commas that markedly disturb sentence flow (e.g., between modifier and modified element)
- Use appropriate punctuation in straightforward situations (e.g., simple items in a series)
- Recognize and correct marked disturbances in sentence structure (e.g., faulty placement of adjectives, participial phrase fragments, missing or incorrect relative pronouns, dangling or misplaced modifiers, lack of parallelism within a simple series of verbs)
- Use the correct comparative or superlative adjective or adverb form depending on context (e.g., "He is the oldest of my three brothers")
- Ensure subject-verb agreement when there is some text between the subject and verb
- Use idiomatically appropriate prepositions, especially in combination with verbs (e.g., long for, appeal to)
- Recognize and correct expressions that deviate from idiomatic English
- Delete commas when an incorrect understanding of the sentence suggests a pause that should be punctuated (e.g., between verb and direct object clause)
- Delete apostrophes used incorrectly to form plural nouns
- Use commas to avoid obvious ambiguity (e.g., to set off a long introductory element from the rest of the sentence when a misreading is possible)
- Use commas to set off simple parenthetical elements
Drill these skills: commas, apostrophes, punctuation, participles & modifiers, comparatives & superlatives, prepositions, who vs. whom, pronoun antecedents, and countable nouns.
Math: The Skills Through 20–23
Math is reported a little differently. Five categories - Number & Quantity, Algebra, Functions, Geometry, and Statistics & Probability - sit under one umbrella called Preparing for Higher Math. The report also shows two more categories, Integrating Essential Skills and Modeling, but the ACT doesn't map those to clean skill codes: Modeling is double-counted from real-world questions in the other five, and Integrating Essential Skills is earlier math (rates, percentages, area, averages) tested at higher complexity. So the skills below are organized by the five mappable categories, running from foundational up through 20–23; IES and Modeling are spread across them. The ACT math guide is built around exactly these topics.
Number & Quantity
- Perform one-operation computation with whole numbers and decimals
- Recognize equivalent fractions and fractions in lowest terms
- Locate positive rational numbers (expressed as whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers) on the number line
- Recognize one-digit factors of a number
- Identify a digit's place value
- Locate rational numbers on the number line
- Exhibit knowledge of elementary number concepts such as rounding, the ordering of decimals, pattern identification, primes, and greatest common factor
- Write positive powers of 10 by using exponents
- Comprehend the concept of length on the number line, and find the distance between two points
- Understand absolute value in terms of distance
- Find the distance in the coordinate plane between two points with the same x-coordinate or y-coordinate
- Add two matrices that have whole number entries
Drill these skills: number definitions, fractions, exponents, scientific notation, order of operations (PEMDAS), positive & negative signs, and matrices.
Algebra
- Exhibit knowledge of basic expressions (e.g., identify an expression for a total as b + g)
- Solve equations in the form x + a = b, where a and b are whole numbers or decimals
- Substitute whole numbers for unknown quantities to evaluate expressions
- Solve one-step equations to get integer or decimal answers
- Combine like terms (e.g., 2x + 5x)
- Evaluate algebraic expressions by substituting integers for unknown quantities
- Add and subtract simple algebraic expressions
- Solve routine first-degree equations
- Multiply two binomials
- Match simple inequalities with their graphs on the number line (e.g., x ≥ −3/5)
- Exhibit knowledge of slope
Drill these skills: slope, inequalities, quadratics & binomials, rate & ratio, percent, and problems with no equations.
Functions
- Extend a given pattern by a few terms for patterns that have a constant increase or decrease between terms
- Extend a given pattern by a few terms for patterns that have a constant factor between terms
- Evaluate linear and quadratic functions, expressed in function notation, at integer values
Drill these skills: functions & function notation and arithmetic & geometric sequences.
Geometry
- Estimate the length of a line segment based on other lengths in a geometric figure
- Calculate the length of a line segment based on the lengths of other line segments that go in the same direction (e.g., overlapping line segments and parallel sides of polygons with only right angles)
- Perform common conversions of money and of length, weight, mass, and time within a measurement system (e.g., dollars to dimes, inches to feet, and hours to minutes)
- Exhibit some knowledge of the angles associated with parallel lines
- Compute the perimeter of polygons when all side lengths are given
- Compute the area of rectangles when whole number dimensions are given
- Locate points in the first quadrant
- Use properties of parallel lines to find the measure of an angle
- Exhibit knowledge of basic angle properties and special sums of angle measures (e.g., 90°, 180°, and 360°)
- Compute the area and perimeter of triangles and rectangles in simple problems
- Find the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle when only very simple computation is involved (e.g., 3-4-5 and 6-8-10 triangles)
- Use geometric formulas when all necessary information is given
- Locate points in the coordinate plane
- Translate points up, down, left, and right in the coordinate plane
Drill these skills: angles, triangles, polygons, volume & dilations, quadrilaterals, the distance formula, and translation, rotation & reflection.
Statistics & Probability
- Calculate the average of a list of positive whole numbers
- Extract one relevant number from a basic table or chart, and use it in a single computation
- Calculate the average of a list of numbers
- Calculate the average given the number of data values and the sum of the data values
- Read basic tables and charts
- Extract relevant data from a basic table or chart and use the data in a computation
- Use the relationship between the probability of an event and the probability of its complement
- Calculate the missing data value given the average and all data values but one
- Translate from one representation of data to another (e.g., a bar graph to a circle graph)
- Determine the probability of a simple event
- Describe events as combinations of other events (e.g., using and, or, and not)
- Exhibit knowledge of simple counting techniques
Drill these skills: averages, tables, diagrams & charts, probability & expected value, factorials, permutations & combinations, and statistics terms.
Reading: The Skills Through 20–23
The Reading report uses three categories: Key Ideas & Details, Craft & Structure, and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas. The 20–23 band is where a student crosses the college-readiness benchmark (22) and core reading habits become solid. Each list runs from foundational skills up through this band. The ACT reading guide breaks each of these down further.
Key Ideas & Details
- Locate basic facts (e.g., names, dates, events) clearly stated in a passage
- Draw simple logical conclusions about the main characters in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Identify the topic of passages and distinguish the topic from the central idea or theme
- Determine when (e.g., first, last, before, after) an event occurs in somewhat challenging passages
- Identify simple cause-effect relationships within a single sentence in a passage
- Locate simple details at the sentence and paragraph level in somewhat challenging passages
- Draw simple logical conclusions in somewhat challenging passages
- Identify a clear central idea in straightforward paragraphs in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Identify clear comparative relationships between main characters in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Identify simple cause-effect relationships within a single paragraph in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Locate important details in somewhat challenging passages
- Draw logical conclusions in somewhat challenging passages
- Draw simple logical conclusions in more challenging passages
- Paraphrase some statements as they are used in somewhat challenging passages
- Infer a central idea in straightforward paragraphs in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Identify a clear central idea or theme in somewhat challenging passages or their paragraphs
- Summarize key supporting ideas and details in somewhat challenging passages
- Order simple sequences of events in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Identify clear comparative relationships in somewhat challenging passages
- Identify clear cause-effect relationships in somewhat challenging passages
Drill these skills: main idea & theme, inferences & conclusions, summarizing information, and relationships.
Craft & Structure
- Understand the implication of a familiar word or phrase and of simple descriptive language
- Analyze how one or more sentences in passages relate to the whole passage when the function is stated or clearly indicated
- Recognize a clear intent of an author or narrator in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Analyze how the choice of a specific word or phrase shapes meaning or tone in somewhat challenging passages when the effect is simple
- Interpret basic figurative language as it is used in a passage
- Analyze how one or more sentences in somewhat challenging passages relate to the whole passage when the function is simple
- Identify a clear function of straightforward paragraphs in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Recognize a clear intent of an author or narrator in somewhat challenging passages
- Analyze how the choice of a specific word or phrase shapes meaning or tone in somewhat challenging passages
- Interpret most words and phrases as they are used in somewhat challenging passages, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings
- Analyze how one or more sentences in somewhat challenging passages relate to the whole passage
- Infer the function of straightforward paragraphs in somewhat challenging literary narratives
- Identify a clear function of paragraphs in somewhat challenging passages
- Analyze the overall structure of somewhat challenging passages
- Identify a clear purpose of somewhat challenging passages and how that purpose shapes content and style
- Understand point of view in somewhat challenging passages
Drill these skills: words & phrases in context, rhetorical effect & text structure, purpose & point of view, and information sources.
Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
- Analyze how one or more sentences in passages offer reasons for or support a claim when the relationship is clearly indicated
- Make simple comparisons between two passages
- Analyze how one or more sentences in somewhat challenging passages offer reasons for or support a claim when the relationship is simple
- Make straightforward comparisons between two passages
- Analyze how one or more sentences in somewhat challenging passages offer reasons for or support a claim
- Identify a clear central claim in somewhat challenging passages
- Draw logical conclusions using information from two literary narratives
Drill these skills: constructing arguments, authorial claims, and evidence & connections.
Science: The Skills Through 20–23
The Science report has three categories: Interpretation of Data, Scientific Investigation, and Evaluation of Models, Inferences & Experimental Results. The science section barely tests science content - it tests how a student reads data, experiments, and competing models. Each list runs from foundational skills up through the 20–23 band. The ACT science guide covers the section parents most often misunderstand.
Interpretation of Data
- Select one piece of data from a simple data presentation (e.g., a simple food web diagram)
- Identify basic features of a table, graph, or diagram (e.g., units of measurement)
- Find basic information in text that describes a simple data presentation
- Select two or more pieces of data from a simple data presentation
- Understand basic scientific terminology
- Find basic information in text that describes a complex data presentation
- Determine how the values of variables change as the value of another variable changes in a simple data presentation
- Select data from a complex data presentation (e.g., a phase diagram)
- Compare or combine data from a simple data presentation (e.g., order or sum data from a table)
- Translate information into a table, graph, or diagram
- Perform a simple interpolation or simple extrapolation using data in a table or graph
Drill these skills: analyzing data, interpolate & extrapolate, and reasoning mathematically.
Scientific Investigation
- Find basic information in text that describes a simple experiment
- Understand the tools and functions of tools used in a simple experiment
- Understand the methods used in a simple experiment
- Understand the tools and functions of tools used in a complex experiment
- Find basic information in text that describes a complex experiment
- Understand a simple experimental design
- Understand the methods used in a complex experiment
- Identify a control in an experiment
- Identify similarities and differences between experiments
- Determine which experiments utilized a given tool, method, or aspect of design
Drill these skills: experiment design.
Evaluation of Models, Inferences & Experimental Results
- Find basic information in a model (conceptual)
- Identify implications in a model
- Determine which models present certain basic information
- Determine which simple hypothesis, prediction, or conclusion is, or is not, consistent with a data presentation, model, or piece of information in text
- Identify key assumptions in a model
- Determine which models imply certain information
- Identify similarities and differences between models
Drill these skills: conclusions & predictions and validity of scientific information.
What to Do With This List
Don't try to drill all of this at once. Pull your child's category breakdown, find the one or two categories where they're losing the most points, and work those skills until they're automatic - then retest. That targeted approach is the whole method, and it's laid out in full on the pillar guide, how to improve your ACT score. Before any of it, make sure you've settled what score your child actually needs, because a 23 may already clear the bar for the schools on the list.
Once this band is solid and your child is genuinely bought in, the next climb is getting to a 24–27. And if you've done the groundwork and want a specialist to map the remaining gaps, that's exactly what a consultation is for.