<p>How important is the ACT- is it just as important as your GPA? The thing is my ACT isn't that great- 27, I'm retaking but my GPA is 3.9. And I wasn't sure what a good ACT would be for schools I want to apply for (Ex. University of Michigan). I've heard that 30 is the magic number, but the main difficulty I have is in Science I couldn't even finish that part. Any advice would be awesome please??</p>
<p>I decided to finally register an account because I think I can actually give you advise. First off, you had a good first score. It’s good that you are taking it again because odds are your score will go up. My daughter is a senior and just finished the whole ACT testing phase. In February she took it for the first time and got a 29. We signed her up to take it again in June, but something came up and it was impossible for her to take it that day. Her two lowest scores were in math and science so we bought her a prep book for those two subjects. In the month leading up to the September test she did the practice tests in that book and that was about it. She got a 31 on her September test. Her score went up in every category, but science was still her lowest. We are of the perspective that a 31 is great and will get her into the schools she is interested in and will put her in the position to get great merit awards. There will be no taking it a third time. Every friend of hers that has taken the test a second time has gone up at least two points and they weren’t doing major preparation to take it again. For the most part, they did nothing other than just be students. Just being familiar with the test will help you. I’d recommend getting a book of practice tests and working your way through it. If there is a class offered in your area, it would be smart to take advantage of that. Everything I have read is that they look at both your ACT and GPA. They also look to see what kind of courses you took in school. </p>
<p>For a given school, Google for “<school name=”"> Common Data Set". There is a section in the Common Data Set (it is a table with "x"s in it) that says how important different components like test scores are for that school. The things to remember about test scores are:</school></p>
<ul>
<li>They are the only way colleges have to compare students across widely varying high school environments.</li>
<li>They are something colleges like to brag about. They love having a 25% - 75% test score range higher than their competitors. It is an easy, quantitative way to boast about the academic prowess of their students.</li>
</ul>
<p>So yes… it is important.</p>
<p>Have you tried the SAT? There is no science section…</p>
<p>Thank you 
</p>
<p>Try <a href=“http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/colleges-by-test-score/#.VCncq_ldWSo”>http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/colleges-by-test-score/#.VCncq_ldWSo</a>
Use both by GPA and by ACT to see what schools pop up. Schools that pop up on both lists for your GPA and ACT score are probably good ones for you</p>
<p>Interesting website. </p>
<p>DS has high GPA, and top 1% of graduating class, but he didn’t do as well as hoped on SAT. Didn’t do any prep.</p>
<p>He just took ACT and scored 33. He did two practice tests. That score, with grades, has opened up a few full tuition scholarships.</p>
<p>So ACT score was beyond important, it opened up affordable possibilities, that weren’t there with just the SAT. </p>