I have a 34 superscore (my two sittings combined). All my reach schools (with the exception of one) superscore the ACT. Is it done through a computer or superscored by hand? And, as the title asks, is a single sitting 34 seen as better than a superscore of 34?
Done by computer. Otherwise, there would be so much room for error, and so much wasted time.
Schools super score for a reason. Take advantage of it. At most colleges, the superscoring takes place before the admissions officers see your application.
A 34 single sitting is only better than a 34 superscore if the school doesn’t super score.
I disagree. The OP asked if the single score is “seen as better”? It is.
It’s not. Frequently the admissions panel will just get the data provided by computer. The superscore is provided and FWIU looks the same as a one time test.
@sherpa It is still not “seen as better” if computed because college doesn’t know how many times you have taken the test to get that score.
I don’t think we really know how each school processes the scores. One major reason schools superscore is to make their summary statistics look better to the public.
I think there’s a bit of speculation going on here. Some colleges might show a summary with only the superscore, others might show superscore and best single sitting. In that case clearly the single sitting score will look better.
In any event I agree with @hzhao2004’s theory about schools’ doing this to pump their stats.
I wonder if a single sitting may be considered in the context of a low income student who may not have the resources to take the test thirteen times. So a school that is deliberately looking for economic diversity might see a single sitting 28 from a low income student as being on par with a superscored 30 among their other applicants. (Just a guess…it would seem fair.)
Interesting, Otterma.
I think what I’ll do is ask every admissions officer with whom I sit in the next three years this question, report what I am told here at CC, repeat that every time this question comes up and then come to a draw.
(For the record, I was told information regarding the SAT component parts and not the ACT, by a college admissions officer in a room filled with other parents on a visit to an Ivy. The parts did not matter to that school, only the composite, which was equal to the whole even if done in one sitting.)