ACT Composite score and essay score discrepancy - retake? 35 Composite - 7 essay

So my son is a Junior and took the September ACT. Composite 35 with a 36 on Reading and Science, 35 on English and 33 in Math. He just received his essay score and it is a 7 - ouch. He is actually a decent writer. June ACT composite 31 - essay 8. Will apply in International Relations/ Global Studies. SAT subject tests 800 World History and 730 E/M Biology so far, GPA 4.3 W/ 3.92 UW. 5 on AP World History. He is applying to both match and highly selective school. He wants to retake but I have read essay scores don’t matter much. Very tough year with 5 AP’s and Pre-calculus, varsity sport and several EC’s. What is your opinion? TIA

Which colleges are you looking at that still require the essay?

I would not retake even if a school requires the ACT with essay, a 7 and/or 8 are fine especially if English course grades are high.

UC’s require, Duke and Stanford recommend.

English grades are good - will take AP English and Comp AP test this year. 5th in a national essay competition this summer - also a timed writing - so he can write.

I would not have him retake, but some may recommend differently! Have you asked his GC?

I had a kid in a similar circumstance. The average on essays at ivy schools is not particularly high. You can google common data set on that. My kid had a’s in 2 dual enroll comp classes and a glowing reference letter from that prof. And good essays. I wouldn’t worry about it. Lots of schools are dropping essay. Scoring on them is weird and inconsistent.

Big school - out GC is less than helpful.

Since he is only a Junior and you are looking to apply to some of the top universities in the U.S., I would retake the ACT with Writing and make sure to focus on what they are looking for in both format and content of the essay. As you know his 7 is 65th percentile which is not consistent with his 99th percentile ACT composite. For example, at Duke and UC Berkeley the lowest 25th percentile has a 8 score.

Also, if he gets his math up to a 35, he will superscore to a 36 (which some colleges on his list will consider best score in each section even if taken on different test dates).

Since this discussion started, I’m not sure where your son landed on his decision to retake the ACT, but with a test date coming up this Saturday, he might find value in reviewing the recent article CC posted this morning. It’s a quick read about how to prep for the ACT essay and where to get extra help: https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/master-act-essay.

Might be good to review what the ACT is looking for to optimize score.

google “ACT Writing Tips: 15 Strategies to Raise Your Essay Score” for ideas.

My child has the exact same score situation from the 12/19 test. My CC told me no problem. If she wants to retake start 9/20 they can sign up to just retake a section of the ACT - do not have to retake entire test. She will just retake the essay and the math section as it was the lowest score and could bump up her ‘superscore’ to a 36.