You Asked: Do They See ALL My Scores?

You have questions — we have the answers.

Today we will tackle Score Choice for the SAT and ACT tests. We often get asked by parents of Seniors if the schools their children are applying to can see all of the scores for the SAT or ACT tests the student has taken.

The answer is that students make this choice…in most cases.

Score Choice

With the score choice system used by both test providers, the student has the power to decide which scores will be released to the colleges of their choice. For the SAT and ACT tests, the student can choose by test date. For the SAT Subject tests, a student can select to send only scores from a specific test on any date if they tested for more than one subject on that date.

Note that certain schools may have more specific rules, and some do require that you release everything, so check those details before applying. Your decisions on score choice also will not preempt your high school from receiving all your scores.

These programs benefit the students as well as the test companies. According to the ACT, “43% of ACT test takers chose to take the test more than once last year, and more than half of them improved their scores.” ​

Superscoring

Another factor to consider is the practice at many schools of superscoring. With superscoring, the student provides all their scores from test dates they’ve selected with the understanding that the school will take the highest score for each section from the tests dates submitted to arrive at the student’s best possible score.

So we say don’t sweat it too much. Even if they have all your scores, the vast majority of schools are only going to plug your highest section scores into their analysis. And likewise, it is in your best interest to retest if you missed your targets on the first or second tries. Everyone has bad days, poor test environments, or other impediments at least once in this process. If you feel a test did not truly reflect your capabilities, we say it’s more than okay to try again.
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Have a question you need answered? Call or email us; we are always happy to help.