worth it to take the ACT tomorrow?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

hey everyone,

i hope youre all having a great evening! im just in a bit of a predicament…

so, im not really sure whether to take the ACT tomorrow or not. i mean, my score right now is really really low for the schools i wanna get into, but is it worth it?

right now, i have a 31. with the practice tests ive been doing, ive been scoring between a 34 and a 36. oh, its also important to note that im a senior, an international student (from canada), and asian :0
my GPA is a 3.9 i think on the american scale? for extracurriculars, my main ones are debate at the provincial and national levels, involvement with TED and TEDx, involvement in Parkinson’s advocacy, classical music, and my language proficiency (wrote some essays on it and put it as an EC, i speak around 10). i think my common app, supplementary essays, and teacher recs were really good too! and the interviews ive had have been great so far.

to put it into perspective, also, the american schools i applied to were johns hopkins, uchicago, yale, stanford, harvard, yale-nus, and brown (which is my UBER top choice).

but for the ACT tomorrow, first off, i have some crazy deadlines i have to be finishing my online courses for, which i need to work on. and most importantly, i dont really think im in the mental state to write it. my mental health has been really awful lately, not to mention im ridiculously sleep deprived. so even with the prep i did, i feel like i would do awful given how i am right now, and id also be wasting my day.

so like, considering the rest of my application, is it really imperative bump up my score? i realize my chances are low right now, but would raising it really do a whole lot for me, especially considering there’s a chance it wouldnt even come in on time?

thank you so much in advance! also im sorry if this doesnt make a lot of sense, im absolutely exhausted atm
thanks!

2

you sound so exhausted, I think it’s best if you just go ahead an skip it because with the mental state you’re describing, you would not score the scores you’ve been getting on practice tests. Also, since you’re a senior, haven’t you already applied to college? I think you should just relax and wait for decisions. I’m sure you will get in to some schools! oh and wish me luck, I’m taking it tomorrow :frowning:

3

Have you already taken it before? If you have and you’ve scored around the 34-36 range you’ve been getting on practice tests then you should go ahead and skip it.

4

@heeeyitschin yeah, thats what im leaning towards D: and yeah ive applied, but most colleges say theyll accept the february date if it comes in in time

omg good luck!!! is it the first time youre taking it?

@fairylights oops, i guess my wording got jumbled up a bit! yes, ive taken it before, but thats when i scored the 31 (i was dealing with some kidney problems at the time and was pretty much in and out of the hospital so i ended up with a score like that). so im wondering if it will really do much for my application if i take it tomorrow

5

You’ve already paid for it. If you are confident that you will not score below your original score of 31, then go ahead and take it. If you think you are going to crash and burn, then take the loss and schedule it at a time when you don’t have so much going on. My thought in this situation is that you can use everything going on in your life right now as motivation - push through and conquer it all. Or, it may send you into a downward spiral. Only you know what is best for yourself.