Hi guys,
I just got my act scores back. I got 36 on Math and English, 34 on Reading, and a 31 on Science with a composite of 34. I am definitely satisfied with my Math, English, and Reading scores. However, my score on the science section was frankly terrible compared to how I did on practice tests. I wanted to know how much of an impact this would have for MIT.
@random91123 I got a 30 on science so don’t sweat it. Your grades in your science courses, the rigor of those courses, and the math or science recommendation often mean more.
Okay, thanks for the help!
I was thinking about taking the test again as this was my first time taking it. However, if the general consensus is that the science subsection doesn’t matter that much, then I guess I’ll just submit this. Also, I took the SAT once and got a 2230: 800M 740W, and 690R. I’m guessing that my act looks more impressive, but I’m not sure.
It’s not strongly weighted in our process because it’s not as predictive as e,g. the math section.
@MITChris ah okay gotcha. I guess now I’m deciding whether to retake or not. I’m confident that if I take the exam again I can get a 34+ on the section, but I don’t know if it’s worth the pain of having to study/take the exam. I guess it’s not worth it if that section isn’t as weighted as math and English, especially because I got perfect scores on those sections, but I am unsure. I’m just imagining someone reading my app and seeing great test scores and great subject test scores, and then they see a 31 on the science.
From our perspective there’s no need to retake it.
How important is the ACT writing score? My son took the ACT in April and got a composite 35 (36 M, E, S) and a 22 on the essay. Some schools don’t really look at essay…especially recent version. Should my son retake ACT due to the essay score?
No
@brazos21 MIT focuses on math and english, especially math, as it’s the ‘best predictor of success at MIT’ according to admissions staff. Would love to see a graph of that correlation (GPA at MIT vs. ACT Math score). In any case, don’t retake for that reason.
I obviously can’t speak for MIT, but if I ran the zooadmissions anywhere, I’d be suspicious about the relevance of any essay scores this year. I mean, admissions will be seeing and trying to compare all the following essay scores:
– old SAT essays – 1-12 score but also folded into SAT Writing
– new SAT essays – different prompt style and not part of the “Reading and Writing” score
– old ACT essays – kids who took it in 10th grade (scores up to 12)
– new ACT essays for this year – scores up to 36, %iles way different than expected, new prompt style
– new, new ACT essays for fall 2016 – same prompt as last year but back to 2-12 scoring
And, adcoms can’t tell whether ACT essays from this year were rescored. People report rescore increases of up to 7 points out of 36. But, many kids won’t know that was an option. It seems like the error bars for the essay are just too large.
tl;dr I’d say don’t bother retaking the ACT over the essay score.
We also have application essays to read ourselves, too, which is one of the nice parts about running t̶h̶e̶z̶o̶o̶ admissions