@Mwfan1921 – I’m surprised about sites not offering the section retakes – my S has been just assuming that would be accessible. He’s taken the ACT once and will take again in July. Was thinking he could do section retakes, if need be, in Sept. Bummer if he can’t.
Does the ACT website indicate who will offer them in the Fall or did you figure that out some other way?
I haven’t seen anything on ACT’s website about sites for computer based section retakes, likely won’t be visible until registration for Sept opens up.
I spoke to our HS’s testing coordinator and asked if our large HS would be offering the section retakes and she basically said no way. I’m reading between the lines, but think it was a ‘no way, that is the least of our worries right now’ type of thing.
@homerdog Do you know if your school intends on offering the section retakes?
@Mwfan1921 – Tks for the info, and yeah, I get it. Our school district isn’t offering ACT in either June or July for same reason – they have bigger fish to fry right now with COVID planning. My S got a seat at a nearby smaller, more rural district. I wonder if sites get rental fee from the ACT they didn’t want to give up – may be more important to smaller districts.
I’ll keep my eye on the ACT website for updates about Sept. Wonder if there’s any way ACT would move them to at-home with some sort of sophisticated proctoring? Doubtful, probably.
Don’t see ACT offering home based tests anytime soon, CB was skewered when they announced they hope to offer home based tests in the fall and withdrew that idea.
Not only is there an equity issue, there are also validation, and cheating issues (CB doesn’t offer any testing in mainland China because they were never able to control cheating)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/us/at-home-sat-coronavirus.html
D21 is studying right now for the July ACT. She is sitting at a 32 right now, took it without really prepping. She is 1/350+ class rank. So on the one hand I think the 32 is a negative. But her school is completely unknown to selective small LACs where she will be applying. Any thoughts? I’m hoping she just gets 34+ in July so the decision is easy.
@Mwfan1921 I haven’t been focusing on the ACT so I’m not sure about section retakes at our school. I could reach out and ask. Not sure I’ll get a response! Since registration isn’t open for Sept ACT yet and we don’t know if we will actually have students in class, I’m sure the answer will be they don’t know. Sounds like those section retakes are on a computer? Schools have so much on their plates right now. I wonder if they’ll even have the man power or brain space to figure out something new like that.
Obviously it depends on the school, but I would send a 33+ to every school.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, My D and her teammates are talking to coaches at D3 schools right now, and even though the schools have gone TO the coaches still want scores. I haven’t heard a coach say scores are required.
That’s why I would push to get a solid score. Sure, it’s stressful, but the entire process is stressful.
She is actually studying now, really for the first time. She knows she might only get one more shot, and honestly neither of us still wants to be dealing with it in the fall. She did a practice yesterday and the math was up and that is all she has studied so far I think. She said she is struggling a bit to keep her concentration up due to lack of having to do so for so long. Even she sees that no school and minimal activites since early March has kind of turned her brain into mush.
I think everything is more stressful for this class. And the process is not without stress under regular circumstances.
As far as coaches, that’s just another data point for them to use in the girls favor. My guess is he/she knows what is going to help and what will hurt, and will advise them accordingly about whether to include the number on the app. That # is very different for NARPs than athletes though and I say that as the parent of a recruited athlete (different kid).
Can anyone comment on whether colleges care that much about the science section of the ACT, if your kid is not going into science. D has a 34 composite, but only a 30 on science, which she couldn’t finish. Her school counselor told her she should take the science section retake when it comes online (she cringed but agreed), but it sounds like those may not happen.
I’m about 100% sure I cannot convince her to take the full ACT again. As I’m sure lots of kids are, she’s an anxious test-taker, was beyond happy with her 34, and has refused to take subject tests as well.
I was under the impression that what mattered most was the composite, and then maybe math/English/Reading depending on intended area of interest. But is this wrong thinking?
@havenoidea That’s a great score so in our house we would be done testing.
If the advice is to submit a score that is at the 50%+, I assume that means that that M/ERW scores are roughly balanced. So, what do you do if your kid has a composite near or above the 50% mark but one score at (a little above or below) the 25% mark and the other score significantly above the 75% mark for all the schools on her list?
I know conventional wisdom says that AO’s judge just the application materials that they see, but I’m still skeptical. My gut feeling (that may not reflect what actually happens) is to worry that AOs may subconsciously assume that scores are worse than they are if they’re not submitted. And there are the issues of worrying that a school will only admit 25% of the class TO, and the issue of coming from an unknown high school. Of course, this year, AOs don’t know if any given student even took a test at all. Plus, we have the race issue (Asian D), which could factor either way, but may actually work in her favor with good but not super-elite LACs. Too many floating factors.
Unless I get some very strong indicators otherwise, I’m still thinking she should submit scores as they are even if she can’t raise the math. I’m always more comfortable with transparency anyway. One of her recs will come from her pre-calc/trig, AP Calc and AP physics teacher, who knows how diligently she worked and got high As so far. I think we’ll let the chips fall wherever they fall. She has a couple of match/low match schools I believe she’d get in that she’d be happy to attend (even if not thrilled). If only we could find a true safety or two that’d she’d actually like…
@havenoidea If my kid had either a 1520 SAT or a 34 ACT, they’d be done. There are very few schools where that would not place them at the 50% or above and in most cases they’d probably be closer to the 75% mark or above.
As for engineering admissions, your son’s got the 800 in both the SAT I and on the Math 2 subject test. I doubt that colleges are going to care much that the EBRW is “only” 720. Depending on the curve of the test, that might only be 4-5 problems missed on the entire test.
Regarding the science section, it is weighed least heavily. Historically, it also has a punishing curve. On some tests, three wrong could bring you down to that 30. A 34 is an excellent composite, run with it!
These scores are even more impressive in that they are not superstores. Many kids won’t have scores at all. Even with TO, a 1520 and a 34 are going to make AOs take notice. JMO.
Sorry for the rant, but it makes me sad that kids with fantastic scores are told that it’s not quite good enough. Ditto for @RockyPA’s daughter who got a 1570 on the first try. I could only see this being worthwhile if a particular scholarship required a perfect score on either test to qualify. Rant over! 
@inthegarden My S has the lopsided score also. He took the SAT in Dec and scored a ERW 800 and 690 Math. In March he took SAT at school and again scored ERW 800 and this time 710 Math. He is done with testing and happy with his score even if it’s still a little lopsided.
If she can take the Science only, I would have her retake it. You get one shot at college admissions, give it your best shot and you can never say “what if”.
Thanks @mamaedefamilia. I don’t think their counselor would have found fault with the amazing 1570! Of course, his advice was before covid…
@Aguadecoco, thanks! I think your son has a lot to work with, with those scores!
I think my D would be happy with a 690 M and thrilled with 710. Heck, right now a 650 would feel like a nice boost. Right now she has a 620/780 split, which is pretty extreme. Her last SAT was in December with only a month of prepping on Khan so I think she could improve, though after prepping a decent amount for the March test her practice scores hadn’t moved a lot. Maybe to 650.
Having the same composite but closer to a 700/700 would make it easier to figure out what range of schools for her to apply to. It’s hard for me to figure out what are true match and safety schools.
Reflecting back on the test itself, comparing two kids’ sets of scores, 3 questions = 40 points = need to retake, depending on what the list looks like. So much value in 3 questions.
That was across different sections. Actually, if I really want to whine, -3 m = -50, and even in holistic review, I can see that being the difference for an admission decision. Thus the potential utility of a retake. The difference between being at or below the 25th percentile and smack in the middle, in the vicinity of the 50th percentile and over 1500.
Seems reasonably possible 8 months later to increase 50 pts with very little additional prep. And quite necessary for those who neglected to tend to the gpa more carefully, if you know what I mean.
@evergreen5 – Agree and why I hate these tests! (And I’m saying this as someone whose older D was NMF so the tests worked out for her…)
@inthegarden I think your D has a great score and I would send it to colleges even if she doesn’t test again.