Superscore clarification. Help with understanding MIT test policy.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

“I am re-posting this in a more popular section for the sole reason that I need an answer soon”

Yes, I know MIT superscores the ACT, but what does that really mean.
From MIT admissions “we will consider the highest score achieved in each section.”
So, when calculating the superscore, does MIT take the highest score from each section and recalculate the composite with those highest scores? Or, does MIT take the highest score from each section and the highest composite?
To make this very clear, I’ll present a situation.

Student A took the ACT 2 times.
1st take
30E 25M 32R 28S so, composite 29
2nd take
28E 31M 25R 31S so composite 29

Which of the following will the admissions team see?

Option A :30E 31M 32R 31S Comp 29

or

Option B : 30E 31M 32R 31S Comp 31

Also, another question, does superscore always mean the same thing when it comes to the ACT?
For instance, would every school that superscores the ACT show their admissions the same testing results in the situation above?

Might be a silly question, but no harm in asking.

2

Option B IMO. I think they will take into account the individual scores and upgrade the Composite.

No. A school that superscores without looking at the subscores would have a different answer.

3

@“Erin’s Dad” do you think calling MIT admissions would get me a clear answer?

4

It can’t hurt. They may not tell you or just restate what’s on the web site but you’ll have tried to find out.

5

Option B.

http://ask.mitadmissions.org/customer/portal/articles/1421609-how-we-consider-test-scores-superscore

No. Every college is free to use its own parameters. Many school that superstore the SAT do not superstore the ACT. Check with each school for its policies.

6

OP: B, yes, but for clarification, we do not really use the composite in our process. We only pay attention to the subsections, with the most focus placed on the math subsection(s) of the test(s), because that is the one most predictive of success at MIT.

So you don’t need to worry about that recalculation bc it is not a thing that we actually weigh overmuch.

7

@MITChris Thank you for the clarification!