I received a 30 on my first ACT and a 33 on my second attempt. I am an Asian American. I am trying to get into top 20 or top 10 schools, and I am not sure if me doing the ACT again for a 34 or higher is worth it. Should I just try the SAT?
The short answer to your question is. no a 33 will not be looked at as the same as a 36. Only about 3,500 testers get a 36, 26,000 get a 33. For most top colleges a 33 is 25th percentile and a 35+ is 75the percentile.
You are close. Do lots of practice tests in the sections that you need help in and give it one last attempt.
One thing to check on is because of the pandemic some colleges may not require the ACT/SAT this year or may not give it as much weighting as they have in the past. I would check with each college to see what their requirements will be this year.
A 36 puts you in a group of 3,700 with your score or higher.
A 33 puts you in a group of 67,000 with your score or higher.
They are not viewed the same.
Unless you have taken sample tests and scored much higher on the SAT, starting over with a new test format doesn’t seem to make sense.
In an article titled “ACT scores, everything you need to know”, 36 would be 75th percentile at MIT and Caltech and higher everywhere else. 33 would be below 25th percentile at those two, at 25th percentile at 10, and 1 point higher at the others, among T20.
No, not viewed the same at all. That difference is very important. However, other parts of your application may be more important.