I just took the act. The short version is that I completely bombed it and I almost certainly did significantly worse than my 1st test (probably 10 points less.) I’ve read that only certain selective schools require all scores and that I can potentially “hide” this score by not sending it in. Objectively I want to know: If the schools I’m applying to “only look at the best score,” will I truly be safe from them seeing this horrible test performance? (As in they won’t also see this score?)
The other question is: should I cancel my test scores? The long version of why I did so bad (I guess) would be a mix of forgetfulness, lack of concentration, and recovering from a small sickness… The past 2 days I’ve been having trouble sleeping, I had a very slight fever yesterday (only 100.5), and I’ve had an annoying stuffy nose and burning eyes. I debated not taking the act at all but I took some meds and was feeling a little better today (no fever, at least.) However, once I started to take the test, I couldn’t concentrate, I felt tired and unfocused. On the math, reading, and science sections I had to guess on the last 10 questions, while in comparison I was able to answer everything on my last act. I’m not sure if the test was just harder, I was still feeling sick, or both. Also after the horrible math section, I kept thinking “I need to cancel my scores, can I cancel them?, etc” which obviously didn’t help me focus. So should I cancel my scores? Or is there no real negative to keeping them for reference and such later as long as I am not applying to an all score school?