<p>So I was fairly pleased when I saw my ACT results this morning: Composite 34; science 36; math 36; reading 33; english 29 (writing was 27 bleh). I thought I might be done. I’m a math/science person who wants to study chemical engineering at MIT, so I thought this might be ok. But when I told my GC my scores, he said I should think about retaking to get my English/writing scores up. Really? I didn’t take a review course but reviewed on my own and this was my first try at it. But still, do admissions officers really want everyone to take review courses and the tests over and over again just to get a perfect score? I feel like I’d rather put my efforts into school work, but if I need, to will try again. I know it’s possible to get perfect scores as plenty of others on CC seem to be doing that these days, if enough review work goes into the test. Is this what I need to do?</p>
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Definitely not. </p>
<p>From Matt’s blog, [here](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/standardized_test_requirements/whats_the_big_deal_about_402.shtml]here[/url]:”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/standardized_test_requirements/whats_the_big_deal_about_402.shtml):</a>
</p>
<p>Looking at the [admissions</a> statistics](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/admissions_statistics/index.shtml]admissions”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/apply/admissions_statistics/index.shtml), a 29 English is below MIT’s 25th percentile for admitted students. But your 33 in reading suggests that you don’t have large-scale problems with English, and especially if your grades/past history in English are consistent with your reading score, the English score probably won’t be an issue.</p>
<p>Thanks Mollie – though I’m not sure I’m comfortable being below the 25th percentile in English so I still may retake it. I do well in English, so hopefully my grades will address any concerns in this area.</p>