Key Takeaways:
- In most situations, employers do not ask or care about your ACT / SAT score.
- Generally you should only include your ACT / SAT results on your resume if you have limited work experience or you’re submitting the resume to a college.
- If you need to list your scores, place them in the education, accomplishments, or skills portions of your resume.
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Usually, you shouldn’t need to include your SAT/ACT scores on your resume, and employers generally won’t ask. These standardized tests are designed to evaluate your college-readiness, not job-readiness. Except in specific situations and industries, they’re not a strong indicator of your ability to take on job responsibilities. However, you may want to include your SAT/ACT results if you’ve recently graduated high school, have limited work experience, or you’re scored very high.
Should You Put Your SAT/ACT Score on a Resume?
Most candidates shouldn’t put their SAT or ACT score on their resume. You should usually only supply it if you’re asked during an interview or on the application. In many cases, though, employers won’t ask or expect you to supply the information.
However, there are certain situations where you may want to include your results on your resume:
- You’re a recent high school graduate. You should state your SAT/ACT score if your college requires a resume. You might also want to include it for entry level jobs or internships.
- You have limited work experience. If you have little work experience, your SAT/ACT scores can highlight your strengths and academics.
- You scored extremely high. If you received the National Merit Scholarship, you could include your results under your achievements or education history.
Do Employers Care About Your ACT / SAT Scores?
No, employers usually don’t care about your ACT/SAT score. Standardized exams test your college-readiness. They don’t typically showcase your skills as related to your job responsibilities.
There are a few exceptions. Some employers ask about results to assess recent high school and college graduates with limited work experience or to sift through large volumes of applications. The question is also more common in select industries. For example, you’re more likely to give your SAT/ACT results if you’re pursuing a job in education, consulting, and banking.
What Should You Do If Your Employer Asks for Your SAT/ACT Score?
If your employer asks for your SAT/ACT score, it’s usually up to you if you’d like to answer. In most cases, you won’t lose out on the position because you don’t want to answer or you don’t know.
Should you need proof of older scores, you’ll can contact College Board or ACT.org. Not, you could have to pay a processing fee to access archived results.
How To Include Your SAT / ACT Score on Your Resume
You may need to list your ACT or SAT results if you have limited job experience or your college asks for a resume. In this case, you’ll want to state your score under education history, accomplishments, or skills. Here are a few examples.
Education History
One of the best places to include your SAT / ACT result is under your Education History section with your high school information. After you graduate college and have some work experience, you’ll usually remove your high school as you need more space for relevant experience.
Here’s an example:
Evergreen High School – Hillsboro, NH
- Graduated 4th in the class in 2024
- Student Vice President (2023-24)
- ACT composite score of 34 (99th percentile)
Accomplishments
If you won the National Merit Scholarship or another award for a high SAT/ACT score, “accomplishments” or “honors” are great places to list your result. Use your accomplishment section to highlight awards not previously mentioned in the job and education portions of your resume.
For example:
- 8 weighted GPA
- Alyssa Barnes Cinematography Award (2024)
- 1590 SAT score – National Merit Scholarship Winner
Skills
Your skills section highlights your technical and workplace abilities. As with accomplishments, these should not already be listed elsewhere on your resume. You should generally name skills relevant to the position.
For example:
- Javascript
- Video editing
- SAT score of 1480 (97th percentile)
Unless you’re applying to college or you’ve recently graduated high school with little work experience, you shouldn’t need to list your SAT/ACT results on your resume. In most cases, employers won’t care and won’t ask about them. In the event that they do, you can choose to answer the question based on the position and its relevancy.
While employers might not care about your SAT/ACT score, colleges usually do. With a higher SAT/ACT score, you could open the door to better schools – and better job opportunities after you graduate. Use College Match to find out what results you should be aiming for.
