<p>Do colleges (competitive colleges) look at sectional scores or just composite scores?
If they look at sectional scores, which sections are most important? (like for SAT, CR and Math are usually more important than Writing)</p>
<p>bump</p>
<p>From what I have learned, I believe that the composite score is the most important factor. Why are you asking this? Is it because you did poorly on a section? If so, have you heard about supersocring?</p>
<p>@HADES98 Yes. My lowest section was 6 points lower than the second lowest section (other sections were little bit higher) and that makes me worry.
I did hear about superscoring, but not that many schools superscore ACT compare to SAT</p>
<p>@Aguileon What was your lowest section, just wondering? I actually have no idea if any sections are considered more important in the eyes of admission officers. However, I would assume that Reading and Math would be weighed heavier as well? Anyhow, I’m sure that colleges DO look at your subsections, im just not positive on the depth.
And obviously, having a higher composite score will draw their eyes to your application.</p>
<p>@HADES98 Unfortunately, my lowest section was Reading. Actually, I posted this thread because I wanted to know how admission officers weigh Reading and English. Some say that Reading is more important than English while others say English is more important than Reading unlike SAT where CR is more important than Writing. I know that Georgia Tech converts English to SAT CR and Math to SAT Math and don’t care about Reading and Science. I don’t know about other scools though.</p>
<p>@Aguileon In my understanding, ACT English is more structural and mechanical and less inferences and ideologies. If I were an admissions officer, I would probably weigh Reading heavier than English, just because Reading is more reflective of a student’s appitude, and whereas ACT English’s mechanical components can be memorized easily. In fact, in my mind, I tend to draw a parallel between ACT English and SAT Writing. However, all this is just if I was the admissions officer looking at your test scores, and I say this not to bring you down, but to give you my thoughts on the situation.</p>
<p>@HADES98 That was what I thought at first. I’m hoping to raise Reading score by at least 3 points. I wonder why some people say the officers weigh English section more on ACT but weigh CR more on SAT. Thank you for the answer!</p>
<p>@Aguileon Might I ask what your Reading subscore is at right now?</p>
<p>@HADES98 I got 27. I forgot to guess one question that time, and if I guessed that question, I could got 28 because I always guess B or G and the answer was G. I heard competitive colleges want 30+ for all sections.</p>
<p>@Aguileon Where did you hear this information? I suppose it is true that a college wants a well rounded student.</p>
<p>@Aguileon that is not true, but it would help. it depends on your major. If i am going for math tommorow, I wud need to have great math scores, and good science scores. Other scores should show that I am fine in english and reading, but I dnt HAVE to have great scores in those sections.</p>
<p>@HADES98 I don’t have URL address, but I read about it from this website (I think it was written by a past MIT admission officer, but I might be wrong… maybe just a MIT student?) and from several Asians.</p>
<p>@manas1997 thanks. I want to go to an engineering school, so I hope they care more about my math and science scores.</p>
<p>@Aguileon what was your score and breakdown?</p>
<p>@manas1997 I got 33 Composite, 33 English, 36 Math, 27 Reading, 35 Science, 30 English/Writing (8 Essay)</p>
<p>@Aguileon Oh, ■■■!!!, your fine, I thought you had a similar score as mine(29), your fine then. </p>
<p>My breakdown:
E:29
M:35(silly error)
R:28
S:25</p>
<p>Any tips for science, I am improving in english, have gotten a 32 on 2 PR tests(english section only) and a kaplan test. (Are the english sections of these tests accurate?). Struggling in reading though, staying at a 28 :(</p>
<p>@manas1997 well, your reading score is better than mine. I can’t read fast… I did not use PR or kaplan, so I can’t tell you if those tests are accurate.
I do not want to give you tips because I might have to compete with you. Just kidding. (sorry) For science, I don’t know your strategies, but I read questions before looking at graphs or passages. And do you know 5-6-7 method? Solve 5 questions per passage first (there are 3 of those), then 6 questions per passage (same with this), and 7 questions per passage last (only 1 passage has 7 questions). This method helped me a lot. Also, read the quetions carefully and make sure you are looking at the right graph or table. I made so many mistakes at first because I was not paying attention.</p>