Senior son has these ACT scores:
March 2020: composite 32, E 34 M 35 R 31 S 30.
October 2019: composite 31, E 35 M 34 R 23 S 31
My thought is that he should send the March report to all schools that require an official ACT report, but the October report only to schools that expressly state they will superscore. Is that right? Or can he just send March and rely on the self-report on the common app to show that the high water mark in English and Science was one point higher in October? Or should he send both sets of scores to all schools that require an official ACT report?
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
I would be hesitant to send the Oct '19 score because the reading is so low unless you can self report the superscoring.
IMO, the superscore doesn’t really move the needle enough to worry about it; from a 32.5 to a 33.
Thank you! Yeah, he ran out of time on the reading section that time so it doesn’t look good. If my numbers are right, the superscore rounds up to 33 and the straight score doesn’t, but it’s true that the difference is only a half-point on the composite.
In theory, you should send both. Admissions offices would either ignore the October test or ignore the lower section when superscoring.
This risk is not above - the subconscious observation of the low section score.
Certainly only send March to those that don’t superscore.
From my discussion with two AOs, they only see the superscore result - the mechanics are automated or done by a clerk in the office, so the person making the decision won’t see the 23. This would imply sending both to superscore schools.
Whether this is globally true is unknown.
The March 2020 composite score should be officially a 33 (32.5). They always round up on the composites if you have .5. Superscoring will not help with the composite, so I would not send the October 2019 scores unless you have to.
Thanks. I was wrong on the science score – it was 29 in March and 30 in October – so composite is 32.25 March and 32.75 superscore.
With this new information I would send only the March scores unless a college superscores and then send both sittings so you get the higher 33 composite.
If you are applying to any top 25 colleges (or other highly competitive colleges), you might consider not sending any of the scores if they are in the lowest 25th percentile.
My theory this year is that TO colleges will still want to accept 50% of more of the applicants with high test scores to keep their ACT/SAT averages high so if you submit a low score, this will put you at a disadvantage.
Good luck!
I don’t think the 1 point change to both changes my answer. The scores are still the same relative to each other. AOs are smart enough to know the difference in the same rounded scores - a 31.5 and a 32.25 are not treated to be exactly the same because they both round to 32.