<p>Or would it be better just to take a full-length practice one at my house. Do colleges know or can find out how many times you take and what the score was? would that hurt me??</p>
<p>ACT sends only particular test score ordered when you request an official score and does not tell any recipient that you took the test more than once.</p>
<p>HOWEVER: a lot of high schools put all your scores on your official high school transcript that is sent to colleges. Also, there are a number of colleges that require you to submit all scores.</p>
<p>Thus, you should not take it under the assumption that you will be able to keep the score a secret if it is a bad score.</p>
<p>drusba, thanks I will ask my counselor about the transcript thing! I wondering if it counts against you if it shows you took the act a lot of times, but the practice might really improve my later scores…</p>
<p>Colleges profess that if you submit multiple test scores, they will consider only the highest score for admission (and many, at least with SAT, take highest subscores from multiple tests but not many do that for ACT). Thus, if you believe what the colleges say then having one bad score won’t hurt you even if you have to submit all test scores.</p>
<p>Thus, as long as you believe what the colleges say, you are fine. But then there is the question to which colleges provide no reasonable answer. There are colleges that require you to submit all ACT scores even though they say they will consider only that test with the highest composite. The question is then why are all ACT scores required unless (and this seems obvious) the college is in fact going to use a lower score against you, i.e., if it is telling the truth that it will use only that test with the highest composite then there is no logical reason to require all scores.</p>
<p>I would say go for it. Doing a practice test at home is never quite the same as a real test situation. Taking the test early gives you an opportunity to figure out where your weak sports are and to retake the test before you apply. </p>
<p>Also if you have trouble with the ACT consider taking the SAT as well. I live in the mid-west so nearly everyone I know only took the ACT. However I am very glad I took the SAT as well. According to the official correlation charts the equivalent ACT score to my SAT score is a full 6 points higher than my actual ACT score. I only sent the colleges my SAT score, however I am home schooled so I have more control of what goes on my transcript. </p>
<p>The SAT has no pre-calc or trig in its math section, and most of the questions rely on reasoning and simple math with some basic algebra and geometry thrown in. It also has 9 short (25 minutes or less) sections. </p>
<p>The ACT only has 5 sections, but they are longer. It also doesn’t have a guessing penalty. </p>
<p>Whichever test you choose to take, don’t leave it until the last minute (they’re only offered about 6 times per year), Bring lots of sharpened pencils, take the time to review ahead of time, make sure that your calculator is approved, and don’t stress out to much, it’s just a test.</p>
<p>I would. I took it in the spring of the sophomore year and I did well, so that was just one less thing I had to worry about this year. It’s good practice, and ACT will only send the scores you tell them to.</p>