ACT Retake

Hi, My son is a Sophomore and got 35 Composite score on ACT(Eng-36, Math-34, Reading-35, Science-35). He want to study engineering and is looking to join top colleges. This is his first attempt, should he retake again and try to get a 36 and also improve his Math score?Please advise, thanks!

I would not retake. Depending on the schools on his list, taking the Math 2 subject test could make sense, or even be required/highly recommended.

Also, did he do the ACT essay? Although the number of schools requiring the essay is declining, you still need to pay attention to what each school’s requirements (which may change from now to fall of his senior year).

Thanks You! Math 2 subject test idea is great, do we need to take both Math 1 and Math 2 subject tests or taking just Math 2 is sufficient? He did take ACT essay, still waiting for results.

Take Math II only, he should shoot for an 800 as it’s only 78th percentile (i.e. many, many kids get a perfect score and will be the one’s he is competing with during selective college admissions)

Math 2 only.

Regarding percentiles for ACT essay and Subject test…most schools will not care one iota of said percentiles.

MIT, Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd and schools of that ilk will want to see a 780+ Math 2.

His strong subject is Math, but somehow he didn’t score well in Math section in ACT. Thats the main reason he started thinking of retaking ACT to get a 36 in Math and Composite Score and is not sure whether its worth a retake or not.

Have him take the SAT near the end of his junior year in high school. Maybe he will get a 1600 perfect score on that one…and you can stop fretting.

In the meantime, hope he is prepped for the PSAT which he will take a year from now.

I disagree as they would not require or recommend you to submit the essay and subject test scores if they didn’t care how you did on them in comparison to your peers. And on the common data sets (CDS) many colleges actually list the SAT/ACT essay scores by percentile. For example, UC Berkeley 25th percentile is 8 and 75th percentile is a 10. If they “do not care one iota” then why even require these scores at all. This “logic” makes not sense to me…

His grades and EC’s are far more important. He jumped the first hurdle successfully, now help him find his passion(s) and develop it over the next few years.