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How To Cancel ACT Registration Or Test Scores

The ACT is an extremely important standardized test for many high school and other students across the United States and, in some cases, across the world. Many students spend weeks and months studying, attending tutoring sessions, and preparing to put themselves in the best position to succeed on the ACT exam.

However, despite many students’ best efforts, sometimes, for one reason or another (sometimes even for a reason outside the control of the student), the ACT doesn’t work out, and they find themselves wondering if they can cancel an ACT test. In this article, we will discuss the ACT cancellation policy, how to cancel your ACT test or how to cancel ACT registration, and other topics related to cancelling ACT scores.

How To Cancel Your ACT Test Registration Completely

Very few students want to have to cancel their ACT Test Registration. In many cases, students have spent weeks or months putting in significant effort into studying, tutoring sessions, reading, practice exams, and other forms of preparation, all in anticipation of taking the ACT exam on the date they had already registered for. 

However, for many different reasons, ranging from a potential unforeseen emergency to a last-minute change of plans regarding your goals or standardized test plans, many students may find themselves feeling like they are forced to cancel their ACT test registration. Naturally, the next question that often comes to mind for students in that situation is: “How do I cancel my ACT test registration?” We will discuss some ways to go about cancelling your ACT registration next up in this article. 

ACT Student Services

Unfortunately for the student in some cases, there is no way to receive a refund for ACT test registration fees. This means that once you’ve registered for the ACT, there is no way to recover the money you spent on test registration.

However, you can still cancel or reschedule your registration for the ACT, which we will discuss in the next section. Still, it is worth noting that you can receive a refund for any additional or optional ACT services you paid for, such as the ACT writing test or score reports. To do this, mail your unused ticket with the word “REFUND” on it to the ACT or email ACT and include “REFUND” in the subject line of the email.

MyACT Account

In terms of cancelling or rescheduling your actual ACT registration (keeping in mind that this money cannot be refunded), you need to go to your MyACT account online. 

Once you have successfully logged in to your MyACT account, you need to select “Make Changes To Your Registration” prior to the deadline for changes/registration deadline for the ACT test dates in question. You would be charged a change fee and a registration fee for the new test if you are rescheduling your ACT test date. You can go through the same process (except, choose cancel instead of reschedule) to cancel your registration entirely, but again, you will not receive a refund in this scenario.

How To Cancel The ACT Test And Get A Refund

As we mentioned, unfortunately for the student, the ACT’s policy is that, regardless of when you cancel ACT test registration or if you cancel ACT test registration at all, you cannot get a refund for the registration/test fee for the ACT. However, as mentioned, you can still cancel ACT test registration. This can be beneficial if you want to get a refund on other, optional test services you may have already paid for, such as additional score reports, or if you want to reschedule your ACT test date in the manner we described above,

While you cannot get a refund, ACT cancellation can still be beneficial in some instances, as described above. Now that you know the answer to the question of “How do I cancel my ACT test registration?” We can discuss some other logistics of ACT cancellation.

Is There A Cancellation Fee For The ACT?

The question of how to cancel ACT test registration naturally leads to many students wondering what happens when you cancel ACT test registration.

One consequence of ACT cancellation, for example, is the cancellation fee included in ACT cancellation policy. There is a $40 ACT change fee. This means that, if you want to cancel ACT test registration and also reschedule to take the ACT on another date (which is one of the most important and popular reasons to cancel ACT test registration), you will have to pay a $40 ACT change fee in addition to the registration/basic test fee for the new ACT test registration. 

How Do I Cancel My ACT Test Scores?

Now that you know how to cancel ACT test registration, you may also be wondering about other aspects of ACT cancellation and the ACT cancellation policy. Specifically, beyond the question of how to cancel ACT registration is the question of how to cancel ACT scores after having taken the ACT test.

Many students work hard for weeks and months, studying and preparing to take the ACT, but for one reason or another, sometimes students may feel like test day didn’t go their way. Perhaps something unforeseen occurred, like being sick on test day, running late, or making some mistakes on the test. Or perhaps a student may not be quite as prepared to take the test as they had imagined. Whatever the reason, some students may unfortunately feel the need to cancel their ACT test scores after taking the test so as to avoid those scores being on their ACT test score transcripts.

In this scenario, the process to go about cancelling your ACT test scores is to ask ACT via email or phone for a special form. This allows you to cancel any ACT score and remove it from your record at any time, provided you didn’t already send those scores to colleges. In that scenario, you can see your scores before canceling them. However, if you used the free four college reports on test day and then want to cancel your scores for that test, you must submit the request by the Thursday after the Saturday test, so you cannot see your scores first and thus must be sure you didn’t do as well as you’d hoped before deciding to cancel, so as to avoid a potentially unnecessary retake if you actually did well. You wouldn’t want to cancel good scores, but you also wouldn’t want to keep a score if you’re sure they’re worth canceling, so be sure to choose wisely.

Can I Cancel The ACT Writing Score Only?

Unfortunately, you cannot cancel just the ACT Writing Score or any other individual section once you’ve taken the test. As we already mentioned, you can choose to drop the ACT Writing section prior to taking the test (and before the appropriate deadlines), and even receive a refund for that individual section. But once you’ve taken the test, you can either cancel or remove all scores from that date (by the appropriate deadlines in the case of canceling ACT scores) or none at all. Don’t worry, however. Rarely if ever is a relatively poor score on the ACT Writing section worth canceling or removing an otherwise good (for your goals) ACT composite score for. 

The Changes You Are Allowed To Make In Regards To The ACT

We’ve discussed how to cancel ACT test registration and how to cancel ACT test scores, as well as ACT cancellation policy in general terms. But now, many students may be wondering the specifics of what changes you can make besides simply deciding to cancel ACT test registration or cancel ACT test scores. We’ll discuss those possible ACT registration changes in some more specific terms in this next section of our article. 

Changing Your ACT Test Date

As mentioned before, you can in fact change your ACT test date. This can be done by logging into your MyACT account and going to select “Make Changes To Your Registration” prior to the deadline for changes/registration deadline for the ACT test dates in question. From there, you can choose a different test date for the ACT, provided it is before the registration deadline for that ACT administration. Note that you will have to pay the change fee and the registration/basic fee for the new test date, and that, as mentioned, you cannot get a refund for the old ACT test date.

Changing Your ACT Test Location

Similarly, in order to change your test location, you can log into your MyACT account and then you need to select “Make Changes To Your Registration” prior to the deadline for changes/registration deadline for the ACT test dates in question. You can also call ACT to do this. Similarly, you need to complete this process prior to at least the late registration deadline for the test date in question. If you follow all these steps correctly, changing your ACT test location shouldn’t be an issue. But make sure you familiarize yourself with the new test location and how to get there prior to ACT test day to avoid any potential problems!

Adding Or Removing The ACT Writing Test

As we also mentioned, you can add or remove the ACT Writing section after your initial registration in many cases. You generally need to do this prior to the late registration deadline, and if you are adding the ACT Writing section, ACT will bill you for the additional fee. 

If you are removing the ACT Writing section prior to the late registration deadline, then you can request a refund from ACT (for the Writing section only) following the procedures we discussed earlier in this article.

If you decide to add or remove the ACT Writing section after the late registration deadline, your only option is to try to make the change on test day, but there is no guarantee of this working. It is generally easier to drop the writing section than it is to add it on test day (since adding it requires there to be space available at the testing center, among other factors), but you may still risk losing out on the potential refund if you wait until after the late registration deadline to make this change. Plus, it can add unnecessary stress on test day. So while it’s not impossible, and things do come up, it’s best to try to plan earlier in regards to adding or removing the ACT Writing section.

Updating Or Changing Your Personal Information

Updating or changing the personal information you entered on your ACT registration could be very important. If you made any kind of mistake or anything changed, you want to be sure it is updated prior to test day. To do so, just follow the same procedure of logging into your MyACT account and going to the “Make Changes To Your Registration” tab prior to the deadline for changes.

Adding Or Changing Your College Choices

On a similar note, adding or changing your college choices could be critical. If your college choices have changed, you want to be sure that your ACT registration reflects that, particularly if you’re using your 4 free score reports to send scores to any new college or any other college impacted by the change. You can also do this via a similar procedure in your MyACT account or calling ACT, and you have until 12 PM central on the Thursday following the Saturday national test date to do so.

Correcting Or Editing Your High School Code

Provided you took a national test date, you have until 12 PM central time on the Thursday following the Saturday of the test to change your high school code if the one you entered on your registration is incorrect for any reason. You should absolutely be sure to double check your high school code and change it if it is incorrect. You can follow a similar procedure through MyACT or contacting ACT like you would to change college information to undertake this process.

Popular Reasons For ACT Cancellation

Now that we’ve already discussed in detail how to cancel ACT test registration or cancel ACT test scores when necessary (if possible, depending on the scenario, as mentioned), you may find yourself wondering: “Why would I choose to cancel ACT test registration or cancel ACT test scores?” 

We have touched on those reasons to some extent, but in the next section of our article, we will discuss popular or common reasons why students cancel their ACT registrations. 

Emergency Situations

Generally, nobody expects emergencies to come up. And nobody wants them to. But things happen. If you have an emergency, the first thing you should do, of course, is take care of the situation, and hopefully everything is alright. But this is a common reason many people may choose to cancel ACT test registration or reschedule ACT test registration. If you’ve been studying and feel prepared, rescheduling for the next available date may be ideal.

Not Quite Feeling Ready For The ACT

Many students, despite significant time and effort put into studying and preparing, just don’t feel ready when their ACT test date comes. Other students may simply realize they did not study or prepare as much as they could have. Of course, nerves could be a factor in this. But keep in mind that you can’t get a refund and you can usually cancel ACT scores if necessary, so perhaps going through with taking it for practice at this point may be worth it. And you may even surprise yourself with a better score than you expected.

Deciding To Take The SAT Instead

Many students eventually realize they may be better suited for the SAT than the ACT (and in some cases, vise versa), and choose to cancel ACT scores or cancel ACT registration as a result. But keep in mind, if you’ve spent months or weeks preparing for the ACT and can’t get a refund, it may still be worth it to take the ACT and see how you do. You can always not send your ACT scores to colleges if need be, provided that is permissible in your situation.

Already Hit Your Target Score

In some situations, you may realize you already have the ACT score you need for your goals from a previous take. In this case, it may actually be wise to not take the ACT again, because if you don’t have anything to gain, it may not be worth risking a lower score. But like all things mentioned in this article, your personal situation and preferences dictates what you should do.

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Additional ACT Resources

About the Author

William Grossman

William Grossman is a student at the University of Florida studying Economics. He scored a 1500 on his SAT and a 32 on his ACT. While it may seem unorthodox, William always reads the last chapter of a new book before going back to read it from the beginning — that way, he can see if the book will be any good before deciding to read the whole thing!

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