"The ACT’s recent announcement that students will be able to retake individual sections sounds like good news, and as a test prep tutor, I can say with confidence that lots of students will be better off under the new policy. While students usually get scores pretty much in line with their practice scores, the ACT, like other tests, has a margin for error.
As a result, it’s common for students to max out on some of the sections and underperform on others. Until now, students who did well on three of the four ACT sections would usually be better off not taking it again unless the other section was a total disaster. The hassle of maintaining one’s skills across so many dimensions is considerable, and while they might do better on the one bad section, they would likely do worse on some of the others. Even when colleges superscore (consider only the best sections), they can see the other performances, and you don’t want colleges to see you crash and burn just to have a chance at a modest improvement on one section.
Now, though, I’ll change my advice. If you can take only part of the test, you can focus only on your weak section(s), and so you’ll be better off taking more shots at the ACT in the hopes of getting a score in line with (or even better than) your real skill level. This sounds like a good thing, because lots of students will be able to improve their admissions chances with less hassle. But it’s more complicated than that.
Consider this:" …