I’ve only taken one ACT so far. Ended up getting a 33 composite, with a 28 in math(yikes), 33 in science, and 35 in reading and writing. As you can probably tell, I am a whole lot stronger in English than in math. However, I ended up getting a 36 on the essay, which from my understand is really, really good? I didn’t really study for this one which was a stupid mistake, and I’m pretty sure I can improve my composite to a 34 or even a 35 after reviewing math. I’m not sure if keeping the perfect essay score would perhaps be better though, because that seems more exceptional than a higher composite score would. I have read other people’s posts saying that colleges don’t really look over the essay and mainly just check off that the student did it, which would mean that I should retake?
I would study and try to improve your overall score, especially if you feel that with some study you could significantly increase your math score. If your essay is not as good on the re-test you can always send both scores to colleges (even if if the school doesn’t super-score they will see the first essay score).
Retest! I was in a very similar situation after my first sitting. I got a 36 E, 35 R, 33 M, 27 S & a perfect essay (for a 33 C) on my first try, and I was scared of losing the perfect essay in retaking to improve science… I even considered taking my second test without essay! On my second try, I got a 36 E, 35 R, 33 M, 34 S… and a perfect essay (for a 35 C). If you make a perfect essay score the first time, I’d say it’s pretty likely that you make it again, and if you don’t, I think that a 34-35 with a near-perfect essay is just as good (if not better) than a 33 with a perfect essay.