should i retake act?

Test Preparation
1

I took the 2015 september act and got:
E:33 M:35 S:35 R:28 W: 24 (33 composite)

My essay score is wayy to low… I know I should bump my reading score to 30. and I’m sure i can get a 36 in math cuz i didn’t bring a calculator to the september one hahahha

I got my score a few days ago and I’m debating if I should take the october act or not… Cuz it’s in like a week.

I’m a senior and my october one will definitely be my last one. I don’t want to take the risk of my score dropping since some of my colleges require all scores.

Do you guys think I should take the risk of taking it again?

2

No

3

My daughter got a 35 on Sept ACT and got a 24 on writing. Wow. We were very surprised. It is interesting that you got the same number and also had a high composite. She had also planned on being done and now she doesn’t know what to do.

4

Does anyone know if colleges look at your ACT essay score a lot? or is it just the composite that’s important

5

I spoke to ACT reps about the writing scores. Apparently, in preparation for the new essay, the ACT established composite scores that were very low historically - for example, if you got 11 on each writing rubric, your composite would be a 31, whereas for previous tests as well as the ACT sample test, that would have gotten you a composite of 34. I have no idea why they did this, or what they were thinking, but I am assuming that schools will discount the writing composites and will just look at the raw scores if they look at anything. So 8s across the board would probably be fine.

6

I would imagine the college will be able to interpret the new scores once ACT Inc issues their new summary of scores by %ile. It will be obvious what happened.

7

Do not take it again. Work on the other aspects of your application.

8

Your composite score is very good. Instead of looking at whether or not to take it again, look to see if the score you received is likely to be acceptable for admission to the schools you want to attend. Look at the data readily available online to see where your score puts you (25th-75th) in terms of likely admission. If you’re on the fence and think you can improve it, give it a go, but if it’s highly likely it’s good enough to get you admitted - relax and as HereToHelpYou said “…work on other aspects of your application” like the supplementary essays.

9

@midatlmom omg that’s so weird! How is a score of 11 a 31?? Okay hopefully the colleges will know the September ACT essays are messed up!
I was just worried that I’m the only one with a super low essay score… Since I’ve been getting 11s on my SAT essays.