Superscoring for the ACT

Schools That Superscore the ACT With back to school comes more college preparation, and the fall is a very popular time for students to take the SAT and ACT. Many students take the SAT and ACT multiple times, hoping to improve their scores. At we recommend that students take these standardized tests no more than three times, since scores tend to plateau after the third attempt. Colleges and universities know that many other factors come into play when taking standardized tests, and certain test-day conditions can affect your scores. One way that schools account for this is through superscoring. Superscoring is the practice of considering only the highest section scores across all SAT or ACT test scores that are submitted. For example, if you submit SAT scores from the March test and again from the October test, schools that honor superscoring will take the highest score from each section and compile a new overall score, the â€Å"superscore.† Until recently, most schools only practiced superscoring for the SAT. However, in recent years the ACT has caught up to the SAT in terms of the number of students taking the test, and last year the number of ACT test-takers surpassed the number of SAT test-takers for the first time ever. With more students taking both the SAT and ACT multiple times, more and more schools have adopted Score Choice and superscoring practices. While superscoring the SAT usually means adding up the highest scores for each subsection (Critical Reading, Math, and Writing) to create a new composite superscore, the policies regarding the ACT vary by school. While some admissions offices may calculate a new ACT composite superscore, some schools do not. For example, the University of Virginia and Purdue University look at an applicant’s best ACT subscores and original ACT composite scores when making decisions. To fully understand test score policies, check with the admissions office at each school. If you’ve taken the ACT more than once and think that superscoring might help your chances of admission, here’s a list of some of the schools that offer superscoring for the ACT: Albion College Babson College Baylor University Boston College Butler University California State University System Colby College Colorado College Connecticut College Cornell University DePauw University Drexel University Duquesne University Eckerd College Elon University Florida Atlantic University Florida State University Georgia Tech Gettysburg College Harvey Mudd College Haverford College Hawaii Pacific University Hendrix College Hollins University Indiana University Bloomington Ithaca College Kenyon College Lawrence University Loyola University in Maryland Middlebury College MIT Millsaps College Northeastern University North Carolina State University Olin College Pepperdine University Scripps College St. John’s University Stanford University Swarthmore College Syracuse University Trinity College Trinity University Tufts University United States Naval Academy University of Arkansas University of Chicago University of Colorado – Boulder University of Connecticut University of Delaware University of Denver University of Georgia University of Louisiana – Lafayette University of Maryland University of Massachusetts, Amherst University of North Carolina University of North Texas University of Pittsburgh University of Puget Sound University of Rochester University of South Florida University of Tampa University of Tennessee University of Vermont Vassar College Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Tech Wake Forest University Washington University – St. Louis Wesleyan University Wheaton College Williams College Xavier University