At Encoura, we are grounded in research. We listen and respond when new information comes to light. Over the last two years, we’ve been investigating whether Superscoring is a fair and valid practice. After extensive research, we found that Superscores were just as predictive – if not more predictive – of how students would perform in their college courses. For this reason, we will begin offering the option for students to send their Superscores in addition to their best single test events.
A few things to know about Superscoring:
- ACT supports the use of superscoring in making college admissions decisions.
- Students will now have the option to send either a Superscore or the results from a single test event. If the student chooses to send a Superscore, we will also always include one full battery score, plus all the scores from the test events that are part of the superscore composite. The figure below shows the student experience when selecting to send a superscore from their My ACT account.
- We encourage colleges and universities to consider adding superscoring to their score-use policies because, as our research shows, superscores are as predictive of first-year grades than other scoring methods.
- When a student sends a Superscore, you'll see it in both CSV file and the PDF file.
- CSV: As shown in the ACT Score Report Layout, there is a section of the data file dedicated to the Superscore including the scores used to comprise the Superscore and the details of each test administration used for the Superscore.
- PDF: The PDF version of the score report clearly shows the Superscore on page 1. In addition, this report includes a section called Additional Score Info on page 2 that contains the details of each test administration used for the Superscore.
Resources for Learning More About the Impact of Superscoring
- Learn more about putting Superscores and other new options for the ACT into practice by watching our recent webinar, New Options to the ACT: Put the New Student Data File and Research into Practice.
- Read the full report of our research and findings, The Impact of Superscoring on the Distribution of ACT Scores (PDF).
- Visit our data visualization tool to see the potential impact nationally or for your state.
- Request a summary from ACT researchers detailing the potential impact using superscores may have on the distribution of ACT scores among your institution’s incoming students. Our team will provide you with your institution’s summary analysis within days.
- Visit ACT.org for more general information on Superscores.