<p>Unfortunately, the morning of my ACT I forgot that I had lost my graphing calculator, which meant I had to do the math section without it. They gave me a little, useless calculator that I ultimately didn't find the need to really use. I feel like there could be a small chance that my Math score was lowered due to not having a calculator, and I was wondering if I should retake it. My math score on the SAT has typically been my highest score, and because it was my lowest this time I feel like could do better, especially with a calculator this time. You can imagine how bad I feel (though maybe, the calculator wouldn't have helped, haha) If I had only found my calculator...</p>
<p>My scores were:</p>
<p>35 English
34 Math<--------
36 Science
36 Reading
10 Essay</p>
<p>Is it too risky to retake? I feel like my other scores might go down, however this was my first try at it. </p>
<p>Please let me know what you would do. Is a 36 THAT much better than a 35? I'm looking at schools in the 10-30 US news University range and 5-20 LAC range (though I'm not limiting myself by rankings, this is just the simplest way to categorize the caliber of institution I'm looking at). I've also got a 4.0 and a bunch of leadership positions and community service, if that helps.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading!</p>
<p>Any input would be appreciated</p>
<p>Short answer: No. Long answer: Still no.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response!</p>
<p>lol to both of your posts</p>
<p>I’m only asking because my friends want me to retake it.</p>
<p>Well…assuming you have everything else, I’m going to Duke with a 2210, which is around a 33-34 composite on the ACT. Don’t take it again. Now, it depends on other factors (EC’s, recs, essays, etc.)</p>
<p>Congrats on Duke! I don’t think I’m going to take the ACT again.</p>
<p>No you can get into any school with a 35.</p>
<p>Awesome. Thanks for the responses, I’m not going to retake it.</p>
<p>Thanks ngtexas! Smart choice and good luck. I’m sure you’ll do well with the college admissions process.</p>
<p>I would retake it in a second.</p>
<p>People on here will tell you that there is no difference between scoring a 35 on the ACT and scoring a 36. Truthfully, I don’t think there should be a difference.</p>
<p>However, statistically, those with 36’s get admitted at a much higher rate than those in the 34-35 range.</p>
<p>It’s only one saturday, and judging from your first test, you don’t need a whole lot of studying time. So why not try it? It can’t hurt, and the raw data says it helps quite a bit.</p>
<p>^False. You aren’t going to get accepted simply because you scored a 36 instead of a 35. The statistics do not tell the whole story. In fact, you may even be viewed as a score-obsessive applicant for retaking an already impressive score.</p>
<p>“statistically, those with 36’s get admitted at a much higher rate than those in the 34-35 range”</p>
<p>What statistics are these? Total nonsense.</p>
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<p>ACT and College Board just love students like you!</p>
<p>One more vote in the “dont waste your time” column. The flip side to taking again is that some schools dont look favorably on the student who pushes for that one extra point. A 35 one time sitting score is wonderful. Relax.</p>
<p>There is one reason to retake it. Your scores won’t qualify you for presidential scholar qualifier shortlisting in Texas. You needed 142 this year without the essay.</p>
<p>Lol at you guys getting mad. Here are some stats from Brown University (Princeton also has similar data). I’m not saying that a 36 is guaranteeing admission and a 35 means rejection. I’m just saying why shouldn’t this kid at least take it a second time? Many kids take it 5+ times, and he/she seems very likely to get a 36. </p>
<p>Brown University </p>
<p>ACT Score Applied Accepted % Accepted
36 133 37 27.8%<br>
33-35 3,449 386 11.2% </p>
<p>Also, anyone saying taking the ACT a second time looks bad on an application is lying. If you’re worried about that, just don’t report one of the scores.</p>
<p>“ACT and College Board just love students like you!”</p>
<p>I only took the ACT once, never took the SAT. I’m headed to a top 20 university next year. </p>
<p>I’m saying in this particular situation, why not? The only reason ngtexas DIDN’T get a 36 is because he/she forgot a calculator.</p>
<p>If you have $50 to spare and feel like you can get a 36, go for it. Testing a 2nd time doesn’t hurt. Especially in your case with the no-calc. In fact, lots top schools like Columbia only require you to submit the highest composite test record (so you don’t have to pay multiple times for the score reporting, ETS is different they send all tests for one price). Thus, many colleges won’t think of you as a score “freak” because they don’t require all ACT test scores. Also, better is better. It might not be much better at all but anyways it’s not worse. And really, i think taking 4 hours from a saturday morning to get a perfect score on the ACT is a good investment. take another look at aforementioned *Brown Univ. statement. Either way congrats fellow 35-er. :)</p>
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<p>Do you have more, or are you seriously suggesting that we can tell anything about the relative merits of 35 and 36 from this?</p>
<p>For one thing, 35 is lumped in with 33. Now, 33 is a really good score, but it’s not 36.</p>
<p>For another thing, unless you have access to more information about the applicant pool, you really have no way of knowing whether the applicants with scores of 36 were admitted with scores of 36, or admitted because of their scores of 36. Admission to Brown may correlate with having a 36, but I don’t see here any basis for saying that one results from the other.</p>