Should I bother retaking?

<p>In June, I took the ACTs with pretty much zero prep and ended up with a 35 (Math 32, Science 36, English & Reading 35). Was expecting a bad score in math because I always make a lot of mistakes, but was pretty happy with the composite score. My writing score was only a 31, though, (essay = 8), which seems pretty bad compared to my composite. </p>

<p>After taking the SATs and only getting 2170 (ACT equivalent of 35 is around 2300+), I almost ENJOYED taking the ACTs. Is it worth it to take it again to improve my math and writing score? I'm planning on going into a STEM career, and already have pretty good SAT IIs.</p>

<p>Why would you bother retaking a 35?
Sometimes I don’t understand the people here on CC. 35 is usually in the 99th percentile. There is no point in retaking it. Thee best you can do is a 36 if you miss about 1 question on each section. The difference between 35 and 36, to me, is negligible. As of the writing, the essay is doesn’t count that much when it comes to admissions. Officers will probably look and your application essays to see how good your writing is. The SAT/ACT writing portion are not indicators by any means of how well someone writes.
Unless you are going into a math heavy field (i.e. engineering) I would say don’t retake it. Not worth it.</p>

<p>Oh, I get that a 35 is a good score - I’m very happy overall.
I do want a science/math career, though, and I think it’s safe to say the science section isn’t the best judge - it was just reading graphs/charts, really. I checked and a 32 in math was a 97%ile, though, so I’ll likely take your advice and just leave it be. Thanks.</p>