How to Talk to Your Child About a Disappointing ACT® Score
Read time: 4 min · Last updated: June 21, 2026
Your child just got their ACT® score back, and it wasn't what either of you hoped for. The number is sitting there on the screen, and now you have to figure out what to say.
This is one of the harder parenting moments in the college prep process. Say too little, and your child feels alone in it. Say too much, and you risk making them feel worse, or making them dig in and resist any help. The conversation matters. Here's how to have it.
First, Give It a Beat
If you're reading the score at the same time your child is, or you're processing your own feelings about it, give yourself a moment before you speak. Parents sometimes telegraph their disappointment before they mean to, and that lands hard on a teenager who already feels like they failed.
This doesn't mean pretending the score doesn't matter. It means choosing the right moment to talk, with the right tone.
Lead with the Relationship, Not the Score
Your child almost certainly knows the score wasn't good. They don't need you to confirm that. What they need to know, first, is that you're not disappointed in them. You're just looking at a number together, and numbers can change.
Something like: "I know that's not what you were hoping for. I'm not worried. Let's figure out what comes next."
That sentence does a lot. It acknowledges reality, it takes the catastrophe out of what truly should not be a catastrophe, and it moves forward. It also signals that this is a solvable problem, not a verdict on who your child is.
Don't Make It About College Admissions Right Away
Even if your first instinct is to think about target schools and scholarship cutoffs, try not to lead with that. That's the high-stakes version of the conversation, and it tends to shut teenagers down rather than open them up.
The more useful conversation is about the test itself: what sections felt hard, what felt manageable, whether they ran out of time, whether they felt prepared. These are questions that generate actionable information. The college conversation can come later, once you have a clearer picture of what needs to improve.
Understand What the Score Actually Means, and What It Doesn't
One low score is not a ceiling. The ACT® can be taken multiple times. Many students improve their score significantly from one sitting to the next, sometimes within just a few weeks of targeted preparation. A score of 19 today does not mean a score of 19 in three months.
It's also worth knowing that many colleges accept the best composite score from multiple test dates, and some accept superscores, combining a student's best section scores across different sittings. This is worth looking into for any school on your child's list, because it changes how you think about retaking the test.
The score that just came in is a data point. It tells you where your child is right now and, when you look at it in detail, it can tell you exactly where to focus between now and the next test date.
Use the Score Report, Not Just the Score
The ACT® sends back more than a composite number. The score report shows performance by section and by reporting category, things like "Production of Writing" on the English section or "Integrating Essential Skills" on the Math section. This is useful.
Instead of treating the score as a single piece of bad news, treat it as a map. Where did your child lose the most points? That's where the preparation needs to go. A disappointing composite score often comes from one or two weak sections, not uniform struggles across the whole test. Identifying those sections is the first step toward a plan.
Talk About What Kind of Help Makes Sense
Once the emotional part of the conversation is behind you, the practical question becomes: what's next?
Some students can make real progress self-studying with the right materials. Others benefit from working with a private tutor who can look at the score report, identify the specific gaps, and work through them efficiently. The self-study option is worth trying first if your child is motivated and has time. A good tutor becomes most useful when a student already knows what they're weak on, because then the sessions can be targeted, rather than starting from scratch.
If your child is resistant to doing anything about the score, that's worth addressing too. Some resistance is just embarrassment or frustration; it usually eases once the test feels less recent. Some resistance is a sign that they don't believe the score can change, and that belief is worth challenging directly, because it's not accurate.
What to Avoid Saying
A few things tend to backfire in this conversation:
- Avoid comparing the score to siblings, classmates, or what you got on your own tests. Comparison doesn't motivate most teenagers; it just adds a layer of shame.
- Avoid framing the score as a reflection of effort alone. Sometimes students work hard and still don't score as well as they hoped, because they were preparing for the wrong things. Blaming lack of effort when that's not the real issue can make a student feel like no amount of effort will ever be enough.
- Avoid treating one test date as the final word. It isn't.
The Bigger Picture
The ACT® score matters. It matters for college admissions, it matters for scholarships, and it matters as a data point about where your child is academically. None of that is worth dismissing.
But it's one test, on one day, measuring specific skills that can be learned. For almost every student, there is meaningful room to improve. The conversation you have with your child in the next few days will shape how motivated they are to close that gap, or whether they write the whole thing off.
Keep it calm. Keep it forward-looking. And make sure they know that you're in it with them.