Superscoring the SAT and ACT

Colleges that superscore the SAT and/or ACT in the college admissions process use students’ best scores on different sections to form the best possible composite score.

You may wonder what superscoring the SAT and ACT means. Superscoring, a practice done by some colleges, is when admissions counselors combine scores from different test dates. It’s when colleges combine your best scores to reach the best possible composite score for you. There are many colleges that superscore the SAT and the ACT and we’re going to provide you with a sampling of superscoring universities.

But to give you some more clarity on superscoring the SAT and ACT, if you took the ACT on two different sittings and you scored a 28 on the math, 31 on the reading, 30 on the English, and 28 on the science on the first sitting and a 29 on the math, 30 on the reading, 29 on the English, and 28 on the science on the second sitting, your 29 math score from the second sitting would replace your 28 math score from the first sitting. You would then have an improved composite score. On the SAT, if you score a 710 on the math in the first sitting and a 780 on the second sitting, colleges that superscore the SAT will combine your 780 with your best verbal and writing scores.

So what colleges superscore, say, the ACT? Well, there’s Babson College, Amherst College, Caltech, Brown University, Boston College, Middlebury College, Pomona College, Brandeis University, Connecticut College, New York University, Tufts University, Annapolis, University of Chicago, Washington University (MO), Wesleyan University, and Colby College, to name a few. Other colleges will use your highest subscores on the ACT, but will not change your composite – or “superscore.”  Check back soon for more information on superscoring the SAT and ACT. And, in the meantime, sign up for a free 30-minute consultation!