Comments on: Colleges that superscore the ACT

By: Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:44:06 +0000

Lisa,

Colleges generally try to give students the benefit of the doubt with regard to test scores. I agree that there is little downside to retaking the test to get the math score up if he things that the current score doesn’t reflect his true ability.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:11:31 +0000

Todd:
My son is intersted in the Virginia State schools, such as UVA, VA Tech and JMU. He received a 31 composite ACT (which is a good score for him) with a 35 on the reading section which was way above what he averaged in practice, but on a 28 on math which is a bit below. The question is should he retake in order to get a higher math score, realizing that the reading score could drop and (more than) off-set the (possible) gain in math – and that the composite could be lower. He is very interested in VA Tech, so since they superscore I guess there is no reason not to retake? Thanks!

By: Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:46:30 +0000

Heidi,

Most colleges don’t worry about the writing section of the ACT for superscoring purposes. So, while the English/Writing score may be looked at, it isn’t part of the superscoring that is typically done. The reality is that many colleges don’t pay much, if any, attention to the writing section anyway which is part of the reason it is not put into the superscoring. And as you suggest, time is often a concern also since most counselors have limited time to review the applications they receive.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:52:40 +0000

It sounds like what you are asking is whether the schools that require your essay (who do agree to superscore) will also create a new “superscored” English/Writing score by taking your higher English subscore of 30(from the test on which you did not do the essay) and combine it with your essay score of 12 that you received on the other ACT test and create a new superscored English/Writing score of, say, 32, rather than using the English/Writing score of 30 that you got the first time when you did ACT Plus Writing. Do I have that right? So, essentially, the question seems to be whether the schools who are superscoring on the ACT also superscoring the English/Writing score? I think your question is a good one, though it certainly complicates things by adding a new wrinkle to the whole superscore question. I am a little cynical about whether most admissions officers, who are already seemingly overwhelmed with applications to pour over, can & will go the extra mile to do a *true* ACT superscore as you are suggesting. Will be interested to see what Todd has to say about it.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:08:21 +0000

Thank you Todd for your explanation but I seem to be still having a bit of confusion. To further explain my question in a more personal sense, I applied to Emory university and turned in two ACT scores one with writing and one without. Emory takes only the ACT with writing. I got a perfect score on essay and a 32 composite. Then on my second ACT without writing I got a 33 composite score and there was no essay score at all hence the no writing. My concern is if they will just look at my 32 with the writing since all they take is ACT with writing and totally ignore the clearly higher 33 because it didn’t come with a writing score attached. I am also quite sure Emory doesn’t super score ACT but that’s kind of irrelevant to my concern. Thanks.

By: Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:15:24 +0000

Ben,

It varies from college to college but in general terms they will superscore the ACT regardless of whether the writing test was taken or not. Some colleges want to see the writing section and others don’t care. For those that care, they will look at the writing score and superscore the rest.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:50:55 +0000

Hi I have a quick question if you took the ACT twice once with writing and once without and lets say you got 28 and 12 essay then you decided to take it again but since you got a perfect essay score and taking into account that the writing portion is optional choose to take the ACT again in order to boost your composite score but not take it with writing and you got a 30. Once you send these scores to colleges and they look at them, will they automatically throw away your 30 and just focus on the 28 that came with writing or will they take into account that you achieved a perfect essay score and decided to take it again to improve your composite. Or do they consider the highest composite score across all test dates and the highest Writing/English score across all test dates, disregarding that the school super scores. This applies of course to the schools that take the ACT with writing.

By: Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:32:42 +0000

Robert,

I have been told by Cornell admissions on several occasions that they do superscore the ACT and on several occasions that they do not superscore the ACT. One of my readers was told that whether they superscore the ACT depends on which college is involved. At this point, I do not have them listed until I can get a definitive answer.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:56:25 +0000

I see that Cornell is not on your superscore list for the ACT, but one of the comments seems to indicate they do superscore. Can you confirm their policy?

By: pamela

pamela — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:17:15 +0000

Ram – I have found that asking the simple follow-up question “Would you be so kind as to explain your reasoning for superscoring the SAT but not the ACT?” sometimes can provoke a change in policy.