For those of you who have taken the ACT, one of its biggest drawbacks when compared with the SAT was that many schools did not super score the ACT. In fact, only about 15% of schools super scored the ACT up until now. Freshly released research from the ACT, however, suggests that may be about to change.
For those unfamiliar with the term, super scoring occurs when a student achieves his or her best scores on each section of the ACT on different test dates. So, if a student achieves his or her best English and Math scores on test one, and his or her best Reading and Science scores on test two, then those four best scores will be combined into one “super score” that colleges will use for admission.
Previously, The ACT had officially advised colleges not to super score the ACT. Recently, that position had shifted to neutral – colleges could super score the ACT if they wished without losing the predictive validity of the test. But now, the ACT states that super scored ACT scores actually give the best prediction of a student’s freshman year GPA, exactly what the test is designed to predict.
Each college still gets to decide whether to super score the ACT, but this research will likely lead many, if not most, colleges to adopt super scoring, possibly even as soon as the class of 2018. As a result, one of the major drawbacks to taking the ACT has potentially been removed.
Thanks to Brian Eufinger at Edison Prep in Atlanta for sharing this breaking news with us.