I took my first ACT practice test, should I register for the real one?
Hi, I am going to be a high school senior.
I decided to take an ACT practice test to see if I would get a high score but I am unfamiliar with the scoring and what is considered high or not.
English: 31
Math: 34
Reading: 28
Science: 29 (ran out of time for last 4 questions but if I didn’t, it would be 36)
Average: 30.5 –> 31
Writing Composite: ~29 (can range from 27 to 30 since there’s no one definite score for the essay)
Is this considered high? I really want to get into Columbia University but my SAT score (1980) isn’t high enough. Based on this practice test, will my ACT score be higher than my SAT score (I’m retaking SAT in October)?
Thank you =)
I took the downloadable sample test from their website act.org
3 Responses
Erendis
07 Mar 2010
lixuid_qero
07 Mar 2010
Go on collegeboard.com and see what the average freshmen scored on their ACT. You need to improve on reading. Your Math, English, Science tests are really good.
Aim for at least a 32+
Good Luck
quepie
07 Mar 2010
You need to invest some time studying for the ACT or SAT before you go ahead and take the real test, but a preliminary practice test to see where you stand isn’t a bad idea. You can’t expect for the SAT or ACT to just happen; you shouldn’t just take a practice test then immediately go into taking the real one. That said, your practice ACT score is quite a few notches higher than your SAT score, and if you can study and repeat that performance on a real ACT, you’d be right in the middle of Columbia ACT scores (mid-50% is 28-33). A 31 is the SAT equivalent of 2070.
Your ACT score will be higher. Of course, I don’t know if the fact that you weren’t practicing on a real ACT might have made your score so high. I have found when I have done practice tests that sometimes my practice test scores are a lot higher or a lot lower than they would be when I was taking the real test. That’s probably because someone other than the ACT writers made the practice test. But I think it is certainly worth giving the ACT a shot if your scores are that high. A 31 composite score might be in the 2100-2150 range of SAT scores. The middle 50% of the ACT composite scores for Columbia are 28-33.