Here is the situation. My S is not an elite student going after the very top colleges, so please keep that in perspective. Three of his top 6 colleges of interest are Colorado Boulder, Virginia Tech and Appalachian State, and these three colleges apparently superscore both for the SAT and ACT. So, S made a “solid” (for him) 24 Composite on the September ACT, and it presents well across the board, as he had a 21 English, 25 Math, 23 Reading, 25 Science (and an 8 in Writing, 23 in ELA, and 25 in STEM), and it shows as “college ready” in each subscore and “proficient” in understanding complex texts.
He can get to a 25 Composite if he submits his October (just got results today) ACT score, as he will pick up a 27 in English, which nicely shores up his weakest subscore. But his October score report would show a 23 Composite and, in addition to the 27 in English, a 20 in Math, 23 in Reading and 22 in Science (no Writing), and thus two of those subscores do not show as “college ready” and it also shows “below proficient” for complex texts. (If asked, he could just say he was trying to shore up English only, which is pretty much true, but they won’t ask.) If he sends his February ACT score as well, he would pick up a 26 in Science, but that would move him only from 25 to 25.25 on the Composite calculation, and thus would still show as a 25 Composite (so since February was only a 22 Composite, with a 21 English, 19 Math, 21 Reading, 26 Science, 24 Writing, and would not increase his 25 Composite superscore from using only the September and October tests, I’m guessing the February scores should not be sent (but please chime in).
Based on what I’ve seen, a 24 Composite is in the 74th national percentile, and a 25 is in the 79th percentile. Perhaps importantly, a 21 in English is in the 58th percentile, while a 27 is in the 85th percentile. For each of the three colleges at issue, a 24 Composite would be at the lower end of the 25th -75th percentile midrange for admitted students, and obviously the 25 Composite would push him a bit closer to the middle.
So, does he leave it alone and just have the “solid” 24 Composite from the September test before the admissions offices, or does he submit one or both of the October test (to pick up the 27 English and the 25 superstore Composite) and the February test (to move his Science only from 25 to 26 and not move the needle on the bottom line superscore Composite above the 25?? Does he gain more than he risks? Will the colleges focus on some of the negative aspects from the other test reports, or will it be more of a “blind” plug it into the computer situation and he will just be viewed with a 25 Composite instead of a 24? Thanks for your views!