Worse ACT Score even after Preparation

simk83
Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:39:39 +0000

I took the ACT on June 2012 at the end of my sophomore year. It was after AP exams and I knew I will prepare more for the March ACT, so I didn’t prepare as much.
June 2012 ACT
Composite-27
English-22
Math-30
Reading-30
Science-24
Combined English/Writing 22
Writing 8/12
Then, on the whole month of February, I prepared by taking lots of practice tests. I thought I would improve a lot and since this test was going to send scores to the ivy league schools, I was expecting at least a 30. The June ACT knocked out my backup schools, but these scores are too bad for the schools I really want to go to.

March 2013 ACT
Composite-25
English-24
Math-25
Reading-28
Science-23
Combined English/Writing-23
Writing-8/12
In all honesty, this was really disappointing after more than 30 hours of preparation. I had enough rest, and I used the strategies to get me a good score. I guess it was just a bad test day, but overall, I consider myself very competitive since I’m on top 10%, all A’s, plenty of extra curricular and sports. However, I need help because I need to know whether I should take the June 2013 ACT, or risk everything on the September 2013 ACT?