<li><p>When colleges look at the ACT scores, do they really view only the composite or do they consider all of the breakdowns?</p></li>
<li><p>Does anyone have an opinion or information regarding whether it’s better to leave blanks on the SATs or to just get wrong answers?</p></li>
<li><p>I had the idea (and I may have been hallucinating!) that there is information somewhere that says something like “you need X correct answers to achieve X00 score on the SAT.” Has anyone every heard of anything like that?</p></li>
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<li><p>The answer is yes and no. Some schools, the more competitive ones, usually only look at each individual test date and take the highest composite. Many schools, however, do take sub scores and fabricate a new higher composite. It really depends on the school. If you call/e-mail the admissions office they should be able to anwer because its a fairly common question.</p></li>
<li><p>As I’m sure you know, blank answers don’t hurt you, and wrong answers detract 1/4 of a point. That being said, it all depends on how comfortable you feel leaving questions blank vs. taking a guess. I am a horrible guesser, so I usually left things blank if I didn’t now. Of course, if you can reduce it to between two answers, you should probably guess. It all has to do with how comfortable you are with the test.</p></li>
<li><p>Sparknotes.com has these charts. Needless to say, they do exist</p></li>
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<p>My advice is to take both the SAT and ACT, they are drastically different tests, so you might want to get acquainted with both.</p>
<p>I know that most college take your highest scores.
Example My D had slightly higher Verbal scores at one sitting and at a 2nd sitting had slightly higher math scores. The two high scores were combined to bring her total up even more :)</p>
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<li><p>My understanding has always been that on the SAT a wrong answer is a quarter-point deduction. The universal “coaching” tip I’ve heard is that if you are uncertain which of two or three answers is the correct one, you should guess, but that if you can’t eliminate any answer, leave the question blank – which is consistent with the scoring understanding above. I’m sure some book discusses this.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know where it comes from, but my son told me with absolute certainty last spring that you could get 1 wrong answer on one part of the SAT I and 3 on the others part and still get 800s (but I don’t remember which is which – the 3 was probably CR). Again, I don’t know where it came from, but I’m sure he didn’t make it up and that he wasn’t just repeating folklore. He babysits for an experienced SAT tutor sometimes, so he is full of random SAT information.</p></li>
<li><p>I know even less about this, but schools that accept the ACT in lieu of both SAT Is and SAT IIs are obviously looking at the breakdowns.</p></li>
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<p>Yes, I think whether schools look at the breakdowns at all is a different question than whether a school will take subscores from different test dates and derive a composite score. My inclination is to say that schools look at everything you send them. A student with a high math subscore on the ACT is going to be seen as a better candidate for, say, engineering school than one with a lower one, assuming the composite scores are the same (and everything else being equal) – wouldn’t (s)he?</p>
<p>To the extent that schools consider all three components of the SAT instead of simply taking the overall score, I don’t see why they wouldn’t look at all reported components of the ACT.</p>
<p>I am unaware of what schools actually say on this score. But a lack of information doesn’t seem to stop me from offering my opinion :)</p>
<p>The reason I asked the question the way I did is that a couple of daughter’s schools have spots on the apps for ACT scores and only one line for the composite. They also say that (those two, I mean) scores reported on the official transcript will be accepted in lieu of scores coming from the testing company and the transcript only lists the composite. Just curious, that’s all.</p>
<p>“s I’m sure you know, blank answers don’t hurt you, and wrong answers detract 1/4 of a point.”</p>
<p>I think the OP should check with the College Board’s site because my understanding is that blank answers cause you to lose a full point while wrong answers detract 1/4 of a point. Consequently, it makes sense to guess if one has a reasonable idea of what the right answer is.</p>
<p>Halopeno may be right. However, it’s really important for students to realize that if they can make an educated guess, that’s the best thing to do.</p>
<p>From the College Board’s site:
"Guess smart.
If you can rule out one or more answer choices for a multiple-choice question as definitely wrong, your chances of guessing the right answer improve. For math questions without answer choices, fill in your best guess; no points are subtracted for wrong answers as they are in all other question types.</p>
<p>Omit questions that you really have no idea how to answer.
But if you can rule out any choice, you probably should guess from among the rest of the choices.</p>
<p>Don’t panic if you cannot answer every question.
You do not have to answer every question correctly to get a good score. You can get an average score by answering about half of the questions correctly and omitting the remaining questions."</p>
<p>OP, the kind of important question that you’re asking is best to get answers for by going straight to the source, not relying on boards like this filled with well meaning, but sometimes misinformed strangers (including people like me). The College Board is the best source of SAT info.</p>
<p>^I think some people use CC as a substitute for actuall research into a topic. Never take someones word on one of these threads unless it is verified with some sort of factual source.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I was asking for direction. As some of you know, I’m an old lady going through this process for the first time. I always do my own research but sometimes when you don’t know what you don’t know it’s nice to have someone point the way. I’m sorry if that offended you.</p>
<p>‘3. I don’t know where it comes from, but my son told me with absolute certainty last spring that you could get 1 wrong answer on one part of the SAT I and 3 on the others part and still get 800s (but I don’t remember which is which – the 3 was probably CR). Again, I don’t know where it came from, but I’m sure he didn’t make it up and that he wasn’t just repeating folklore. He babysits for an experienced SAT tutor sometimes, so he is full of random SAT information.’</p>
<p>This is true. My son got 2 wrong on the math and got a 760 - he got two wrong on Critical Reasoning and got an 800. </p>
<p>It’s better to leave a blank than answer wrong, but even a blank can lower your score. (Especially on the math.)</p>
<p>You missed my point. I wanted you to get the correct answer by going to College Board, not relying on well meaning, but sometimes wrong strangers (like me) for answers to something that important.</p>
<p>I always get concerned when I see people posting here asking for answers about things that they could get accurate answers to by going straight to the source. CC is great for things such as general information on colleges, and info about tips about applying, etc. It’s not the best source of info about things such as how the SAT is scored or when scholarship or admission applications are due for specific schools (You didn’t ask that question, but I’ve seen parents and students posting with such questions).</p>