You might have read something about superscores while researching the score requirements for the college of your choice. Superscoring is a relatively new approach to evaluating students’ performance on standardized tests that has caught on with many universities. But what exactly does it mean?
It’s very simple: if you’ve taken the SAT or ACT multiple times, a school can form an official composite score from the highest scores you earned in each section across attempts.
For example, say you took the SAT twice. The first time, you scored:
–690 in Math
–550 in Reading and Writing
–1140 Total
And the second time, you scored:
–660 in Math
–620 in Reading and Writing
–1280 Total
If you send these scores to a college that superscores applicants, rather than just looking at one of them, they’ll add that first 690 in Math to the improved 620 in Reading and Writing for a composite score of 1300. That might not seem like a big difference, but where a 1280 lands you in the 89th percentile, a score of 1300 gets you into the 91st percentile, and it looks a lot more impressive to be in the top 10% of scorers.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from having superscores considered, so definitely take advantage of it every chance you get. In fact, the ACT website automatically provides superscores for all test takers with multiple attempts dating as far back as 2016. In the hyper-competitive college admissions process, a superscore can grant you that little bit of extra edge.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
What is an SAT superscore?
ACT Superscore FAQs
RELATED QUESTIONS
How is the SAT scored?
How is the ACT scored?
How many official tests should a student take?