I made an account because I’ve been lurking on the forum for a while, but now I have a question that I can’t seem to find the answer to. I recently found out that I made a 35 on the ACT, with a 36 English, 33 Math, 36 Reading, and 35 Science. I know this is a really good score, but I am a little concerned that the math-minded schools I will be applying to (Caltech, MIT, Georgia Tech, Stanford) will frown upon my lower math score. I noticed that MIT listed people according to their ACT math score, and that 12% of people with a 34+ in math got in, whereas only 6% of people with a 31-33 got in. So should I retake to get a higher math score? Or will it ultimately not make a single bit of difference for my application and my efforts are better spent elsewhere.
Thanks!!
(I originally posted this in the wrong forum, so this is a repost)
I would retake it. Try for a 35 on math. Also do the Math 2 and try for an 800. Likewise, try sat and if you score equally on both act and sat you can send both to MIT. Lastly, try the AMC and AIME. MIT wants to see you know a lot of math.
@“Erin’s Dad” I will be taking the math 2 subject test this upcoming test date. Also, I usually score higher in math in practice tests than I did on the actual test date. If I focus only on studying for the math section, I could potentially get a 35 in math and raise my superscore to a 36. I’m not sure if this is at all necessary.
@Acceptance101 I don’t think I have time to do the AMC or AIME, and I know I don’t have time to do any of the math olympiads stuff. I am already signed up to take Math 2, so I will be studying that and trying for an 800. I’m still not sure if paying the money and spending the time to try for a 35 is worth it. Will colleges think I’m too standardized test obsessed?
@Acceptance101 I’ve only taken the ACT once, but I took the old SAT twice and I am going to take the new SAT (my PSAT score is high enough for national merit scholarship, and you have to have a new SAT score to confirm the PSAT score) If I take the ACT again, that is a total of 5 standardized tests. Will having that many seem obsessed to a college like Stanford that requires every score to be sent in?
Oh I see. Okay. Eh kind of hard decision. What were your other scores. I know they say “we only consider your best scores” but if your previous sat scores are all over the place then it might not be worth taking the act again. I think if they are relatively close scores sat and act when you took them then taking the act again shouldn’t matter.
When I did this I took the act twice and sat subject tests once. I am not really sure to be honest.
@Acceptance101 My first SAT was Sophomore year and I got a 1920, my second was first semester junior year and I got a 2130. I wasn’t getting the scores I wanted so I switched to ACT and studied for a while then took it.
@Acceptance101 I’ve been doing some research, and it seems like the only places that really will care about the lower math score are MIT and Caltech, and neither of those are at the top of my list, so I don’t think that I’m going to retake