<p>My D just called me with the news that her ACT scores came in. This is the 2nd time she took the test.</p>
<p>Overall, her composite score went up a little. All individual scores went up also, but one, science, fell from 34 to 30. She said she ran out of time on that one.</p>
<p>She posed a question which I don't know the answer to. When a school says that they will take your "best ACT scores", does that mean the best of each individual component, or the best of the overall scores? Or is this something that would vary by school?</p>
<p>Most schools will not mix and match ACT subscores from various sittings to come up with a single best composite. There are some exceptions, but not many. You should check with the schools on your D's list about their policies.</p>
<p>Most colleges will not "superscore" the ACT (take the best sections) even if they do so for the SAT. However, your daughter's ACT score is fantastic! Congratulations! The SAT/ACT forum has a list of the few schools that WILL superscore the ACT.</p>
<p>Thanks! That helps. D's wondering if she should take it a 3rd time, and my sense of it is, enough already! But she's a pretty motivated - and pig-headed - kid, so she may just take it again at her own expense.</p>
<p>Thanks for the compliment (to her), SJTH. I'll pass that on. It may make her feel better about the decrease in the science score!</p>
<p>Take it a 3rd time. Remember, you don't have to send any scores you don't like. My son took it 4 times in order to get the improvement he wanted. He also tried the SAT.</p>
<p>Florida State and some other state universities DO take ACT scores section by section, but that seems to be a minority practice. Most colleges "superscore" the SAT (consider scores section by section) but only a few do for the ACT.</p>
<p>Although all except one of the colleges which D visited said they do not superscore the ACT, I am convinced that most of the ones to which she applied took into consideration the subscores from the 2 times she took it even if they don't officially superscore it. Her composite only increased from a 27 to a 28, but her subscores were all over the map, especially going up from a 22 to a 31 on Reading while going down from a 30 to a 24 on Science. She doesn't like standardized testing and never took the SAT's, yet she received admission offers to honors programs and merit scholarship offers that by the statistics on the schools' respective websites required higher scores. (She did have a good GPA in a challenging curriculum and had done well enough on AP tests to have an AP Scholar with Honor designation at the time she applied to colleges.)</p>
<p>The one college that she visited that said they do separate out the best individual ACT scores was Elon; they do some kind of SAT conversion as I understand it.</p>
<p>My daughter had a score pattern very similar to mystery2me's D, with subscores all over the map (also composites of 27 & 28, with subscores of between 23 to 31)-- and the admissions counselors at the colleges she was applying to all advised her to submit both scores, although they were somewhat cagey about how they would look at it. So she submitted both sets of scores to her reachier colleges, though she didn't bother with the expense for the safety-level schools. I don't know what they did with the scores, but she was admitted at her reaches so it certainly didn't hurt her to submit both.</p>
<p>However, with composite scores over 30 I wouldn't worry about it. I'd go with the higher composite and wouldn't worry about the science score -- that subtest is quirky and I am sure that the colleges are aware of it. If that 30 on the science is the lowest subscore of the bunch, then I don't see any point in retaking the test.</p>
<p>Yes ..Last summer we attended a WUSTL info session and was told they super score the ACT. D took the ACT twice; her composite score increased 2 pts w/ the 2nd try. Her science score dropped by 2 pts but her English and Reading both increased. She sent only the 2nd exam scores. </p>
<p>I know schools say they dont look negatively at students who take the SAT and the ACT multiple times, but every one of Ds friends who took the SAT more than twice were rejected or waitlisted at most of their selective schools. These kids had PSAT scores similar to Ds and improved on a least one section each time they took the exam. By December their super scores were much higher than Ds PSAT and single SAT scores, but D was accepted they were rejected or waitlisted. I know anecdotal info but still something to ponder.</p>
<p>be careful with that "Official" list on cc since it is mostly heresay from posters. While heresay is perhaps valuable, the colleges' own websites are a lot fuzzier on the issue of superscoring the ACT. As a result, I do not beleive that many colleges' official policy is to superscore -- at least not as many as listed on that thread. Perhaps its more unofficial, (as in the case of calmom's D?) -- the app reader chose to interpret scores from different dates.</p>