<p>my friend has a ?- her daughter took ACT and scored very high in all but science-didn't finish in time- do schools take top scores from each subtest for ACT? She is taking it again soon- she is a junior Thanks</p>
<p>No, they take composite score.</p>
<p>Thanks- I told her that but wanted to doublecheck</p>
<p>Actually a couple of my son’s colleges did superscore the ACT (these colleges also superscored the SAT) so best to “ask.”</p>
<p>Some do superscore, and more do than did a few years ago. Check with the individual college. I never could understand why they superscored SAT and not ACT. That just doesn’t make sense to me.</p>
<p>There’s a whole list here and the guy seems to keep it very current (see comments) but I would also check with each school to be sure.</p>
<p>[Colleges</a> that super score ACT | College Admissions Counseling](<a href=“http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/college-testing/colleges-superscore-act/]Colleges”>Colleges that superscore the ACT - BS/MD Admissions by College Admissions Partners)</p>
<p>The ACT science test is, for some kids, the easiest one on which to raise their score. Kids go into it thinking that since it is a science test they are supposed to use their knowledge to answer the questions. They over think it! In actuality it is a reading test and every piece of info they need to answer the question is in the chart or graph given. They just have to isolate the important information to answer the question correctly.</p>
<p>If your friend’s D knows this and practices the science test a few times between now and the retake she will likely be able to raise her science score and therefore her composite to an even more impressive number.</p>
<p>Best study guide for the Science section is AP Stats and a course in Evelyn Wood speed reading. It’s all about reading graphs & charts FAST! Practice at home with a timer.</p>
<p>hohum’s list is a good starting point, but I’d echo other posters who say to check individually with each school. There are several schools that I know superscore the ACT but which aren’t on that list. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that many schools WANT to superscore since it boosts the SAT/ACT scores that they can report for their freshman class. :)</p>
<p>Yes,
Science is easy, it is not actually science portion, it is slower reading. But the easiest of them all is English. Do not need to prep for either.</p>
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<p>Why would a parent say such a thing? Obviously what is easy and not easy varies tremendously by student-- if not, the test would be utterly pointless, wouldn’t it? Everyone could do well, and it could not possibly be used to predict anything. </p>
<p>No doubt easy for you, for me, for our children perhaps…but to generalize that to some kind of global, objective assessment about a test makes no sense whatsoever.</p>
<p>We didn’t see many schools that superscored the ACT.</p>
<p>Science is a reading test, but a lot of it involves reading charts and graphs and answering questions based on them.</p>
<p>A lower science score happens a lot. My S ran out of time also and had to guess on the last passage, I believe it brought his composite score down a full point. Some test advice says skim or skip the reading and go straight to the questions, then go back to find the answers. He didn’t care enough to do a retake.</p>
<p>“Why would a parent say such a thing?”</p>
<p>I just wanted to share experience that can save time and made one focus on something that could make a difference. There is no need to know any science to be prepared for science postion of ACT. Look for yourself. And any native speaker would agreethat English part is basically using your natural knowledge of English. Kid can look at these to get familiar with format, but there is no way to prepare for either and most kids have highest score in English section. The one the makes the most difference is preparation for math and mosre so for kids with strong math background. Most math (not all, but a lot) is middle school material which is not as fresh in memory as one (especially one who is strong in math and had algebra in middle school) might think. I am telling from experience but nobody need to listen, just follow your own plan.</p>
<p>^ What are you talking about now?</p>
<p>I’m not questioning the content of the sections nor how easy or difficult they are.</p>
<p>What I am questioning is the fact that you said they were easy. If that were so, everyone would be doing very well, it would not be a differential test and completely pointless. </p>
<p>And saying they are easy in no way whatsoever communicates that study and practice does not help with those sections. That may or may not be true, but I imagine there is data to support or refute it. I think one’s personal opinion is irrelevant. </p>
<p>You have a tendency to provide your ‘personal’ experience as if it is generalizable: that is, if it is true for you personally or your children, you offer global advice as if it would apply to everyone. That is not helpful.</p>
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<p>Perhaps if you are in a really advanced school district. ACT math always includes four trig problems (Senior year of high school for many districts), and another handful+ of Alg II problems. The rest are Geom and Alg I. (middle school?)</p>
<p>While for the most part I agree that the science portion really does not test science knowledge, students can luck out on science portion if they are familiar with one or more of the sections. There is no way to study for this since you can’t cram a ton of science knowledge into your head and hope to fully comprehend it, however, it really helps you time wise if you are fortunate enough to be in this situation.</p>
<p>And about the math, although it is not uncommon for a student to cover all of the ACT math material by the time they are done with middle school on cc, it is far from the norm.</p>
<p>Just speaking from my own observation. My daughter prepped about 30 hours with Princeton Review (spread over 2 months). She’s a top student, but definitely works for it, and is not the quickest kid when taking tests.</p>
<p>On her 2 practice tests, she got 31s both times.</p>
<p>On ACT, she got composite 34.</p>
<p>I’m just sayin’…for some kids, preparation is tremendously helpful.</p>
<p>It looks like most of you are not familiar with content of different sections of ACT. I wanted to help my D. with productive advice during her prep. when she wanted to discuss it with me. I actually have read all sections and did a lot of math problems and has helped D. with her mistakes in math. There is no science whatsoever in science section of ACT, there is no need to “cram a ton of science knowledge into your head and hope to fully comprehend it”, and that was a reason that we did not know how to prep. for it, and at the end it appeared that it was not needed anyway.</p>
<p>My son went from a 24 to a 33 in science with no direct prep (just the info that he would have gotten in his physics class in the 6 months between tests) just by listening to my advice to relax and read the questions, info that I got on this message board. Like many kids who had not been familiar with the test, he panicked and thought that he needed to learn advanced science. When he realized that it was mainly technical reading, his score went up.</p>