<p>I've taken the ACT twice (once in April and again a few weeks ago) and my subscores have bizarre near-10 point gaps:</p>
<p>In April, I got composite 30 with
Eng 35
Math 26
Reading 34
Science 25
Writing 11</p>
<p>and then in September, I got composite 31 with
Eng 34
Math 26
Reading 36
Science 28</p>
<p>I'm afraid about the huge difference between my Eng/Reading/Writing and Math/Science. I know that I have excellent scores on the former and mediocre scores on the latter, but will this look bad on an application? Or, conversely, will it look better because I want to go into either English or Broadcast Journalism? I just know that my math and science scores are bringing my composite way down and I'm not sure what I can do to bring them up. </p>
<p>I studied the science section a fair amount and my scores went up 3 points, which is good, but I'm not sure I can bring it up any more. Then again, most people say that the science is just a glorified reading, and with a reading score of 36 I feel like I should be scoring higher on the science.</p>
<p>I'm probably going to retake it again in October. Any tips/advice would be appreciated. :)</p>
<p>Your math/science scores aren’t horrible, except by CC standards. Your math score is 84th percentile and your science is 93rd, so for a non-STEM major, those are going to be good enough to get you into the vast majority of schools, just maybe not the tippy-top. You should relax knowing you’re probably a lock for most schools outside that tippy-top, then just see if you can improve on the weak sections to open up a few more schools.</p>
<p>Just remember, the LSAT doesn’t have a math or science section, and with those English and Reading scores combined with a strong undergrad program, you might be a good candidate for a Top 14 law program.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s weird. I see scores like that all the time where the Math & Science is one extreme and Reading & English the other. Both of my daughters had almost identical scores to you.</p>
<p>How those scores look depends a lot on the schools you wish to attend. Google “Common Data Set” + the name of a school. You can see exactly how your scores compare to those of other students.</p>
<p>I agree with others - I am not sure that it makes sense to retake this test unless you have the time to really spend hours and hours studying for math and practicing for the science portion. Some colleges superscore - I would recommend sending both test scores to any college that you are applying. Taking a test a third time can be viewed by some colleges as a negative, and you run the risk of scoring lower on the tests that you have already done well on because you spend so much time preparing for the ones you are weaker in.</p>
<p>My 31 puts me in the range for all of the schools to which I’m applying: BU (26-32), NYU (28-32), UIUC (26-31), Mizzou (23-28), Fordham (26-30), Northwestern (31-34), Columbia (31-34), and a few others. I’m concerned about admissions to Northwestern and Columbia as my score is in the bottom 25%, and a little concerned about merit aid at the others. Overall, I’m not sure if I should take the test again as this semester is very, very busy and I probably won’t have much time to study. But I’m not sure yet.</p>
<p>I forgot to add UChicago, where my score would be quite low, but UChicago apparently doesn’t take standardized tests into consideration nearly as much as it does essays. I think that my essays will be good.</p>