<p>Tried this in SAT/ACT forum, now thinking it might be better here...</p>
<p>D, a junior, received a 34 composite (E-35,M-35,R-32,S-35) on the Dec 14 test. She's just started looking at schools but has been thinking about Carleton, Oberlin, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, CMU, lower Ivies. And yes, some safeties, both admission and financial.</p>
<p>Does it make sense to work on improving her score? 34 is in the 99th percentile already - would a 35 look different? Given scarce time and resources, I'm thinking that time and money would be better spent on her various projects, competition entries, things that are more distinctive and interesting than an additional ACT point, especially to the super-selective reach schools looking for offbeat accomplishments.</p>
<p>Other stats are good - 3.8-ish GPA with a demanding courseload, SAT subject tests 720 Bio, 780 Math Level 2. Five APs in previous years (two 5s, three 4s) and four or five more this year. Interested in math and studio art.</p>
<p>If the scores were something like 36-36-36-28, it would be worth it to bring up the low one. But 32 is a very reasonable low score. I would tell my daughter not to retake it. 34 is pretty excellent.</p>
<p>Thanks both, and good point, Wasatch, about the range of subscores. Both my daughter and I were thinking it best to leave it as is, but I told her I’d run it by the good people of CC to be sure :)</p>
<p>My oldest got a 35 on his ACT on his 1st attempt and his principal kept pushing him to retake it. He didn’t. My second got a 34 on his ACT on his 1st try. Because there is a little rivalry there, he did take it again and ended up with a 36. (He could have very well dropped a point or 2 too.) I actually did think it made a difference as he was a semifinalist for our state for the Presidential Achievement Award (he did not become a finalist) and he “stuck out” a little bit more on his college applications. It did not help him get in his dream school, MIT, though. My recommendation is IF your daughter doesn’t mind taking it again and you don’t mind spending the money, take it to see if she improves. It is only a little of her time and a little of your money to do this. I probably would NOT send the scores to the schools though as you don’t want them to see a drop. I would send them later if there was an increase.</p>
<p>My advice is be one and done. JMO, but I like when a kid has a good score and has the confidence to stop rather than chasing perfection. FYI, ds1 is a Carl. I’d be happy to answer any questions about the awesome school.</p>
<p>My son got an almost identical subscore/score on his ACT. He was happy and chose not to retake. We are still in the midst of decision time, but he has had NO regrets. Testing was a pain for him and he was glad he did well on the first attempt.</p>
<p>34 ACT score should make you a solid candidate at the colleges you mentioned. I’d put it in your pocket and have DD use the extra time to develop/show some leadership (if she hasn’t already) and to extra fine tune the college essays.</p>
<p>Especially so if she can mention “34 in one / first sitting”, if that’s the case.</p>
<p>Ivy I was wondering about the comment that you made- that you can mention " 34 in one/first sitting." How important and/or impressive is that?- my D is in a similar situation as are many others, I am sure.</p>
<p>Thanks, all, and I’ll be interested to hear the answer to the ‘first sitting’ question, too. It’s not really the first sitting for my d, though it’s her first as a high schooler. She took it through Midwest Talent Search in 8th grade and got a 30. SAT scores taken through the talent searches get dropped from the records after a year, but ACT scores are retained - we see her 8th grade scores on the site now.</p>
<p>I agree with others that she shouldn’t retake. On my D’s first sitting she scored E35, M29, R35, S34 because she ran out of time on math and didn’t get to answer several questions. She’d scored a 790 Math on the SAT and knew her ACT Math was not indicative of her ability. She scored a 34 Math on her retake and raised her superscore to a 35 - so worth it in her case…if she had scored that 34 in Math on her first sitting I definitely would have advised against a retake.</p>
<p>My D got a 34 in one sitting. To me the question is “do you want to prepare and do you have time to prepare to take it again”. If your d says no to either question than she is done! My D was done. It is the 99th percentile after all!</p>
<p>Think about it again next spring or even early fall when she about to apply to colleges. Consider the SAT instead of repeating the ACT in the spring. Son never repeated his HS ACT of 35. He did repeat the SAT- long story about supposedly signing up for the SAT Math repeat test (he originally said his AP calculus review of precalc was sufficient, sigh) but it wasn’t offered and he did the SAT- so he now has bragging rights to a 2400. It did not help him get into any schools.</p>
<p>Isn’t the Midwest Talent Search great for giving kids and parents ideas/information when they are in elementary/middle school?</p>
<p>My D took the ACT and SAT this month, after 3 1/2 months of intense prep. Her scores are both well into the 99th percentile. I have been agonizing over retakes since last week and have come to this conclusion: the fire to retest ( at least for us) has to come from the kid- not from the parent. My D was determined to be " one and done" and she went in there fighting. She knows she has the scores so the fire inside her is not there anymore ( except to burn the books LOL). If she retakes she might go in there with a lax attitude because she really does not need the increase- she already has amazing scores. After hashing this out over and over again I have concluded that it’s up to her- if she wants to retake the tests it means she will fight again. If I force the issue she will not. Maybe the OP can relate to this.</p>
<p>So true twogirls - the motivation needs to come from the student. I know when my D scored a 29 Math she was furious and couldn’t wait to sign up for the next ACT!</p>
<p>Absolutely, twogirls, it’s got to come from the kid, and mine right now has no desire to retake, and I agree that the outcome probably wouldn’t be there if she did. She’s a nocturnal homeschooler and hates the darned things, but went in this time really fired up, and it worked. </p>
<p>@wis75, she’d taken the SAT several times, starting with talent searches as a wee one, but the results the last couple of times were getting steadily worse, despite this past summer’s $1000 Princeton Review 3-week intensive. I think she was able to give the ACT her all because it was a fresh start and she desperately wanted never to take another SAT, which was just getting weird and depressing.</p>
<p>I have been solidly in the camp of retakes when the chances to increase scores are decent. For starters, the number of retakes is totally irrelevant. Sorry to the folks who mention that “one sitting” but it does not get you a brownie or special consideration. Schools super score for a simple reason, namely they like to report higher scores and could not care less how the student earned his composite scores. Nice to take the SAT or ACT and be “done” but it does not get you a leg up on someone who score the same in several sittings. And someone who gets a higher super score, just gets that … a higher score that looks better. </p>
<p>However … in this precise case, and because the low score is in R, it is really not worth retaking. Take the 34 and move onto polishing the application and perhaps earn a couple of better subject SAT scores.</p>
<p>^^xiggi - Even if schools superscore, there are some schools that DO care how many times a test was taken and if a score was earned in one sitting! This is especially true of schools that don’t allow score choice! So, the number of retakes is NOT totally irrelevant. I have worked in college admissions and can attest to this.</p>
<p>At the top schools, it’s not just ACT/SAT score that gets you in. The year before my son got into NU with a 34 - NU turned down 1500 kids that had 34 Act Scores. And I am sure they turned down kids with 35 and 36 scores too. Good luck, but I would not bother with a retake.</p>