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ACT - when can a child take it and have it "count"?


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My ds took the ACT last year as a 7th grader through Duke TIP. My understanding is that this score is purged. He is accelerated in math and is currently working through Chalkdust Pre-Calculus as an 8th grader. He will have had all the math that is covered on the ACT by February or March (I'm guessing a bit). Although he did well on math, it was his lowest subscore b/c he had not yet had all of it. Part of me would like to have him take the ACT in the spring just to see where he winds up in the hope that he might be "done." We could then focus on other things. But, it seems like I read somewhere that scores earned prior to grade 10 are not saved/stored whatever. Does anyone know? And, if this would be doable, is it a dumb idea?

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The SAT (College Board) purges all scores before 9th grade unless you specifically request that they be kept. The ACT is a completely different company, and they don't purge, but they also don't report all the scores from all your testing dates together -- you have to specifically request the dates they report to colleges.

 

On the other hand, though, I expect most colleges are going to want more recent scores than 8th grade no matter how good they are (unless you're applying a few years early).

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The SAT (College Board) purges all scores before 9th grade unless you specifically request that they be kept. The ACT is a completely different company, and they don't purge, but they also don't report all the scores from all your testing dates together -- you have to specifically request the dates they report to colleges.

 

On the other hand, though, I expect most colleges are going to want more recent scores than 8th grade no matter how good they are (unless you're applying a few years early).

 

I am pretty sure his Duke TIP score doesn't "count." But this is good information. Thank you. Why do you think that most colleges would want more recent scores?

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Colleges were telling us they wanted to see Junior year scores (or Senior year). My son took the ACT and got a decent score as a sophomore, but will be retaking again next month due to what we were told. Note... they never said it was REQUIRED (and I didn't ask). I just went along with what they said. I hope he can repeat his math/English subscore... science should also come up to where it should be as he didn't finish that one (so I don't really mind having him retake it even though his overall score was sufficient to get merit aid at most colleges that offer it).

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There was another thread on here months ago (maybe up to a year ago?) on how many colleges require applicants to report all ACT or SAT scores, not just the best or most recent, though scores taken through TIP or similar programs were exempt.

 

The gist of the prior thread was that while ACT and SAT permit you to select a specific testing date to disclose, some colleges will require more. Accordingly, it may be best not to test too early or too frequently. I don't think this was the OP's question or intent, but I wanted to throw it in for the sake of completeness.

 

Terri

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It is my understanding that the scores of test taken in middle school grades are only for talent survey and not kept.

 

Colleges like to see scores from junior or senior years in high school so it would be to his benefit to test in one of those years. My oldest tested Dec junior year just after the PSAT - and it was a good strategy for him. Then that opened up dates at the end of the year for SAT II subject tests.

 

Just what worked for us -

Susie

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