"ACT will now provide an automatically calculated ACT Superscore to all students who have taken the ACT more than once from September 2016 to current day." - ACT, April 2021
What is a Superscore?
Superscoring is the process of averaging your four best subject scores from all of your ACT test attempts. Obviously, this is only useful for students who have taken the ACT (or an SAT) more than once. Because the majority of students increase their score on a second attempt, LEAP has always encouraged 2-3 attempts on the students best test, ACT or SAT, since all colleges equally accept both.
ACT spent two years researching student scores and performance in college to determine what would be the best predictor of student success. The result? An ACT SUPERSCORE, not a single test performance. Based on the data, ACT supports and encourages colleges to allow the use of superscoring in college admissions.
Which Colleges Accept ACT Superscores?
It's up to each individual college if they will accept superscores from ACT (and SAT). Unfortunately, there's no comprehensive, regularly updated list for which colleges allow superscoring.
While building your college list, visiting colleges, and applying, you'll need to check superscoring policies, and all admissions policies, on each individual college's admissions page.
Calculate Your Superscore
Here’s how to find your superscore - keep in mind not everyone has a superscore:
Step 1: Gather all of your ACT score reports.
Step 2: Identify your single best score for all sections: English, math, reading, and science.
Step 3: Calculate the average by adding those four scores together, dividing by four, and rounding to the nearest whole number.
- Add the four scores together: 22 + 23 + 23 + 22 = 90
- Divide the sum of the four scores by 4: 90 ÷ 4 = 22.5
- Round to nearest whole number: 23 Your ACT superscore is 23.
Step 4: If this superscore number is higher than any single test date composite, you have a superscore. If not, you do not have a superscore and won't benefit.
What's New
Until April 2021, it was up to the student to order multiple ACT reports to send to a college that accepts superscoring where the college would calculate the superscore. Beginning in April 2021, it is now possible to order a superscore report directly from ACT. The cost is $15 per report per school just like a single test date report. THIS is a savings for students over what they previously had to pay for.
Now when students login, they will be greeted by their superscore at the top of the homepage when they login to their ACT account. Just under the superscore at the top of the page, is the student's most recent ACT score from a single test date.
What The College See
You might think the colleges only see what you calculated above - this is not true. Included in the ACT Superscore report is not only your superscore, but the full set of scores from any test date that is part of the superscore. If a student tested on a date where none of the sections is included in the superscore, that test is not included. Along with the full results is also the date the test was taken.
