Last month, the ACT rolled out a new Superscore report. If you’re currently a high school Junior (or younger) with college applications on your horizon, you’ll definitely need to understand what ACT superscoring is, how the ACT’s new Superscore reporting works, and more importantly, what YOU need to know to put your best foot forward in your college applications!
But there’s the rub: superscoring is one of those parts of testing logistics that can be REALLY confusing at first. So please allow me, and my 12+ years of test prep experience, to make it WAY more digestible for you.
What is ACT Superscoring, anyways?
As I discussed in my previous post on SAT and ACT Superscoring, superscoring is the practice whereby a college will consider your highest test section scores, across test dates, and use THAT score combination for admissions purposes!
Let’s say that you took the ACT on multiple test dates: in February, April and June. On each of these dates, you received a different Composite Score, which is the average (rounded to the nearest whole number) of the four multiple-choice sections on the ACT (English, Math, Reading and Science) that you took on that single occasion. Because each section score is a number from 1 to 36, your Composite Score will ALSO be a number from 1 to 36.
Here are your hypothetical test scores:
At first glance, you’d probably say, “OK, my highest composite score was a 31. I guess that’s good enough.” Or, “OK, my highest composite score was a 31. I need higher than that to be a strong candidate for my dream school, so I guess I have to retake the ACT.”
However, if the colleges on your list allow you to superscore, neither of these statements is necessarily true! Instead, the colleges that would allow you to superscore would consider your HIGHEST score in EACH section (see the bolded numbers below):
Depending on the particular college’s superscoring policy, they might merely consider these four section scores (this is called “weak superscoring”) and NOT average them. In that case, the highest Composite Score you technically received is still a 31, though the college will also “consider” the highest score for each section.
However, if the college does true ACT superscoring, they will actually average these highest section scores together to create an overall “ACT Superscore," which in this case is a whopping 33!
This looks MUCH better for YOU…and may even save you from having to retest!
So, as you can see, IF a college superscores for the ACT, you have much more flexibility for hitting the target scores you need to get into your dream schools. And the whole testing process tends to be more relaxed, because you have room for a bad test day or a bad test section.
What’s different about the new ACT Superscore report?
The new ACT Superscore report doesn’t change what superscoring is or how it’s calculated. Instead, it makes it cheaper for you to send your scores to the colleges on your list that superscore…and, I’d argue, it makes you look better.
Previously, if you wanted to send your Superscore to a college, you had to pay for a score report (currently $15 per score report per college) for each of your test sittings. So, consider our above example where your best scores were stretched across two different test dates (February and June). In that case, if you applied to 10 colleges, and they ALL allowed ACT superscoring, then you’d have to send 10 x 2 = 20 score reports total. That’s $300!
And considering that you theoretically could get your Superscore from up to FOUR different test dates, that could mean spending $60 to send all four score reports…to each college!
Now, however, you have the new option of sending ONLY your Superscore report to these colleges.
Since that’s just one report, that comes out to $15 per school. Not too shabby.
Also, because the ACT Superscore report already calculates the average of your highest section scores (i.e. your Superscore), colleges will see this number front and center—even if they are schools that only practice “weak superscoring” and only consider your highest section scores…but don’t actually calculate or use your Superscore.
Who knows? With this calculation already baked into this report, perhaps more of these schools that only do “weak superscoring” will eventually jump ship and use your new-and-improved Superscore as well! Time will tell.
Which scores are sent to colleges in your ACT Superscore report?
So, you might be surprised to find out just how many of your past ACT scores might be in your ACT Superscore report. In fact, your ACT Superscore report itself could include your test scores from up to FIVE different test dates!
Here’s what’s included in the report:
Your ACT Superscore (your highest section scores for each multiple-choice section, their average—i.e. the “Superscore itself”—as well as your highest Writing/essay score, if you took the latter at any point)
Your highest full ACT test score (section scores AND Composite score)
All additional test event scores (section scores only, though anyone could calculate the Composite score from this)
In other words,
Your colleges will see your Superscore and the highest section scores that contributed to that Superscore as well as the dates you took each section.
This is at the top of your ACT Superscore report. If you ever opted to take the optional Writing (essay) section, your highest Writing score would also show up here, as well as the date you took it.
Next, they will see your full test score results from your ACT test sitting with the highest Composite score…
even if NONE of the individual sections (English, Math, Reading or Science) from that test date contributed to your Superscore. (Not likely, but it totally could happen.)
They will ALSO receive all of your section scores from ANY OTHER ACT TEST DATE that contributed to your Superscore.
Only the four multiple-choice sections (English, Math, Reading and Science) technically contribute to your Superscore; they are the four numbers that get averaged to calculate it, after all. Thus, if you got your highest scores in English, Math, Reading and Science ALL on different test dates, then all four test dates’ section scores would be included!
The Writing section (the essay), however, is NOT part of your Superscore.
It's a separate score entirely. Thus, if you took the Writing section on one test date, but none of the actual multiple-choice sections from that test contributed to your Superscore, then your multiple-choice section scores will NOT be included in the Superscore Report.
In our example from above, colleges would see your Superscore/Highest Section Scores + your June Composite score and test section scores (June had the highest Composite Score) + your February test section scores (February’s Reading and Science scores were part of your Superscore).
However, do you know what’s NOT included? April’s test scores! None of these sections contributed to your Superscore, nor did you receive your highest Composite Score in April.
Will all colleges accept the ACT Superscore report?
No.
First of all, not every college superscores for the ACT! These institutions will want you to send one or more score reports for individual test sittings, like your February 2021 ACT test scores or your June 2020 ACT test scores, etc.
Second of all, even if a college DOES superscore for the ACT, you have to look at their individual test score policies: they very well may “recommend” sending in ALL test scores…or they may even REQUIRE sending in all your test scores! Whatever they say, you HAVE to follow the directions.
How do I order my ACT Superscore reports and/or my ACT test date score reports?
In order to send a college your ACT scores, you have to be logged into your my.act.org account.
There are TWO possible places from where you can send your scores, and it’s important that you know the difference:
You can send your scores from the Home Page or from the Scores Page (you’re directed to the latter when you select “View Score Details”).
On the Home Page, you can scroll much more easily to see your Superscore, your Highest Full ACT Test Score, and then all other test scores you may have. This is helpful if you want to quickly see all the data in one place. However, if you choose to order your Superscore Report from this page, you do NOT get to preview what scores the college will receive.
On the Scores Page, however, when you order your Superscore Report, you WILL get to preview exactly what the college will see. In fact, you’ll get to preview “What is sent with your Superscore?” prior to checkout. The downside to the Scores Page is that you can’t view ALL of your past test scores at once. You can only view one test sitting’s score at a time. (You DO get to see each score in much more detail, like your “STEM” and “ELA” subscores, as well as the breakdown for which types of concepts and questions you got correct in each section. That said, knowing you got 83% of your “Algebra” questions correct just doesn’t matter nearly as much as your actual Math score of 32!)
So, your strategy should be:
First use the Home Page to view all your scores and to decide which reports you want to send to each college, and THEN use the Scores Page to order your score reports!
Other key things you need to know about ordering ACT score reports:
See if your colleges will allow you to “self report” your test scores. More and more colleges are allowing you to self-report your test scores on the Common App…and then send in official score reports once you’re accepted. This can save you quite a bit of money in score reports…as well as headaches trying to figure out which school gets which reports!
Don’t send your Superscore report before you’re done testing. When you order a Superscore report, the college will get your Superscore as it is WHEN YOU SENT IT. If you then take another ACT and this raises your Superscore, you’d have to order ANOTHER Superscore report if you want the college to have this new, higher Superscore.
You can only order one type of score report per transaction. In other words, if you have 8 colleges that you want to send your Superscore report to, and two colleges that you want to send test date score reports to, you’d have to do the check-out process twice: once for ordering the Superscore reports, and again to send the test date score reports. Weird, I know.
As always, I’m here to help.
If your head is spinning, you’re not the only student in that boat. Staying up to date with the ACT, SAT, and college admissions process can be crazy-making—but that’s exactly what I do for the hundreds of families I’ve helped over my many years as a test prep and college applications tutor! If you need help with raising YOUR ACT score, find out how to work with me here.
