<p>I wanted to take the April 14th ACT just to practice, but I've read that my scores get sent to 4 colleges. If I do bad, how will the colleges treat it? And if I do good, is that the one that I can use for admissions. I am very confused about the whole thing, so if somebody could explain how this ACT will affect me, that would be great.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t think colleges will actually consider it because you didn’t apply to those colleges. And no, it’s not the one they use for admissions. Most colleges will consider your highest score, even if they see other, lower scores, (assuming this won’t be your lowest score)</p>
<p>Your scores don’t get sent anywhere if you don’t enter codes for them to be sent. My son took a practice test last October and we didn’t even report them to his high school.</p>
<p>Should I send my scores to colleges? I’m thinking that for the first test I won’t do anything and on a later one I might consider to do so.</p>
<p>You don’t even have to send your scores until long after you take the test. If you are a junior, you can wait to send the scores until when you apply to college next fall.</p>
<p>Taking a practice test is a good idea, but some extremely selective schools require that you send them all test scores, which is something that may be important just to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Aren’t there other ways to obtain practice tests that don’t run the risk of having to send all scores somewhere? I took dozens of practice tests from prep books I bought, and raised my score from a 23 to over a 30 with no other prep but those practice tests…</p>
<p>There are a bunch of websites, and one can even get free tutoring. I think that there are some sites that allow one to print off practice tests, and there are also test books that one can purchase for probably 20 or 40 dollars. </p>
<p>However, I do understand the benefit of taking practice tests in the actual testing environment, so one can see how they perform under pressure. My son did this with the SAT, and did not do as well as he’d hoped on the practice test. Had he submitted his SAT rather than his ACT, he might have had to submit his bad testing grade to some schools.</p>
<p>The ACT organization sells a full year of online access to their test prep program for only $20. That includes practice tests. Do those over the next couple months, so you can treat the April test as a real test. Remember, there are no standardized tests available during the summer.</p>
<p>If you have to take any SATII tests, they should be taken in June - for subjects that you are already studying for, for exams and/or AP tests.</p>