<p>My son got a 32 composite on his ACT but missed the cutoff for a scholarship by 1 point (requires a 33). I know it can be difficult to raise a fairly high score, but can you look at the scores he received on the subsections and help us devise a strategy for getting that 1 extra point? I don't understand enough about the different subsections and scoring to know what would actually be required to raise the composite by 1 point. Here are his scores:</p>
<p>Reading: 31
Social Studies/Sciences: 17
Arts/Literature: 16</p>
<p>Science: 31</p>
<p>His combined English/Writing score was 29 with a writing score of 8. If he retakes the test, he is not required to take the writing section again.</p>
<p>My thoughts are that he should focus on getting his science score up a couple of points. Would that be fairly easy to do with some focused studying? Of course, he would have to do this without decreasing any of the other scores.</p>
<p>Will the scholarship accept a superscore? If so, retaking to get that score into scholrship range is reasonable. And having him practice testign strategies to get it accomplished within the time limits is helpful too. Good luck!</p>
<p>He most likely won’t improve much on english and math. I would make him take 10 practice sections of science and 10 practice sections of reading if you really want a 33.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments. Where we he get the practice sections to work from? He actually has a couple of the ACT study guide books that I don’t think he ever really did much with. Is that where the practice sections are or is this something he can find online?</p>
<p>The real ACT Prep (“Red Book”, has 4 actual released tests in the book)
ACT online course (they sell on their website, it has 2 practice tests)
Barron’s 36 ACT (book)
Princeton Review 1296 ACT (book)</p>
<p>Great, thank you. I just went and found the books he has. They are all math study guides with the exception of the big red SAT guide book…none of which will help him here. Will check out those additional resources. Thank you.</p>
<p>My son is using AdvantagePoint to prepare for the ACT. What I REALLY like about it is that it separates out all the subtype questions and offers review materials specific to each type. This way you don’t waste a lot of time focusing on areas that you are already excelling at and you can get real specific about which subareas require continued focus. It comes on a CD program and you can score it and instantly get the score conversion (which does match the Red book - I checked just to make double sure). It will also tell you how many additional questions in each section you need to get correct in order to raise your composite score by 1, 2, 3… points. I have erally noticed benefit in my son’s preparation and he is at about a 31 composite right now (up from a 28 when we started).</p>