<p>Hi - My son has some minor LDs and his grades are As and Bs, lower than you'd expect given his ACT scores. Most of the schools we have looked at have told my son that they will superscore ACTs, but I wonder how much small schools really look at the lower scores that they don't include in the superscore. My son took the ACT + writing last fall. He received a 33. His low score was a 28 in math, and his writing was scored at an 11/12. He flet he could do better and took it again this spring. He got a 35, and pulled his math score up to a 36! So what am I worried about? His writing came in at 8/12. I am concerned that even schools that say they superscore will look at the low writing score and his grades and decide he is an inconsistent student. What do you think, do schools that superscore the ACT (remember it's not the SAT, where the tester superscores) take the lower grades into consideration as well?</p>
<p>They all say that they use your highest scores for admission (depending on college, either that test with highest composite or supercores from multiple tests) and do not consider lower scores against you. It is a simply a matter of whether you want to believe them or instead believe they are all liars. </p>
<p>In your son’s case be aware: (a) some colleges require you to send all scores so you cannot withhold one when applying for admission; (b) many high schools put all your scores on your offical high school transcript that is sent to colleges so having ACT withhold a score may accomplish nothing; and (c) the 35 is definitely better including because many consider the math and english scores the more important scores and most if not all give the essay score lesser weight than any others; in fact a number of high ranked colleges such as Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, and University of Chicago ignore the essay score entirely.</p>
<p>Also, I am not sure what you mean when you say that the 'tester" superscores for the SAT. No college accepts partial test scores. All superscoring is done by the colleges themselves, and to have it happen, regardless of whether it is SAT or ACT, requires you to send complete test scores. In fact the testing agencies will never send only partial scores from a test</p>