A question about the ACTs

My son has taken the ACTs twice now and wants to take them one more time to try to get his super score as high as it can be. The portal says that the candidate must take the ACT with writing, which he has done both times so far. My understanding from the USMA events we have attended is that the writing score is required but not calculated into the whole candidate score. For this third try, can he take the ACT without writing and focus his prep on the other areas?

Since the USMA Admissions site clearly states: https://candidate.usma.edu/default.cfm

Attention Class of 2012 and later:
(1 Jan 2009) - Writing score required with your SATs and ACTs- Candidates for USMA 2012 (entering West Point in 2008 and later) are required to submit a writing score with their SAT and/or ACT exam. The writing exam is part of the SAT test, however, it's optional for the ACT. You must select the "ACT Plus Writing" exam.

I suggest your son take the ACT with writing. Remember that USMA will superscore each section.Therefore, if your son has already scored well on the writing section and needs to focus on bringing up scores in other sections, it will not hurt the overall superscore.

armydaughter said:

My son has taken the ACTs twice now and wants to take them one more time to try to get his super score as high as it can be. The portal says that the candidate must take the ACT with writing, which he has done both times so far. My understanding from the USMA events we have attended is that the writing score is required but not calculated into the whole candidate score. For this third try, can he take the ACT without writing and focus his prep on the other areas?

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I'm not sure about the writing score counting towards the whole candidate score, but I did ask my RC if I could just take the writing part once or twice, get a decent score, and then just prep for the main areas. He said yes as long as you have just one writing score to be recorded, there is no issue. As a result, I only took the writing test twice and out of the 6-7 times I took the ACT. Hope this helps. Also a word of advice for your son if he is applying to the class of 2017. I'm a re-applicant, and I took the ACT every time it was offered (except when I was at my state golf meet) up through February. It doesn't hurt to keep retaking it; I think it's a bit early to "take it one more time". But that's just my two cents for what its worth .

surgicalghost

Also, your individual writing score is not considered (I think) - the portal only shows the combined English/Writing score, English, Reading, Math and Science scores.

And I highly suggest he takes both ACT AND SAT (if he hasn't done so already). Some students do much better on one than the other... for me, I did much better on the ACT than the SAT.

Best of luck!

Thanks. I didn't know he could continue to take it past the fall. Good to know. He has missed a few of the possible dates due to sports committments and the summer one is the day he leaves for SLS. He has taken the SAT too but did not do nearly as well on that as the ACT. He is taking it for the second time on June 2. Depending on how he does, he will probably go forward (more test dates) with one or the other rather than both. He has a real tough schedule for school this fall and the AP classes have Sat. sessions. I don't want him to miss too many of those for standardized tests or his grades might suffer. It's all a balancing act.

armydaughter said:

Thanks. I didn't know he could continue to take it past the fall. Good to know. He has missed a few of the possible dates due to sports committments and the summer one is the day he leaves for SLS. He has taken the SAT too but did not do nearly as well on that as the ACT. He is taking it for the second time on June 2. Depending on how he does, he will probably go forward (more test dates) with one or the other rather than both. He has a real tough schedule for school this fall and the AP classes have Sat. sessions. I don't want him to miss too many of those for standardized tests or his grades might suffer. It's all a balancing act.

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I definitely know the feeling. So glad I graduated a couple days ago .