Road to College - What is Score Choice?

Given that most students are taking the SAT or ACT more than once in order to get their optimal score, a couple of questions become quite relevant—will colleges look down upon multiple tests, and will they see ALL the scores from different tests that a student has taken.

Both ACT and College Board give you the flexibility to choose which scores (by test date for the SAT and by individual test for SAT Subject Tests™) you send to colleges, the main caveat being: in accordance with an institution's stated score-use practice. This practice is known as Score Choice.

Score Choice is an option you select at the time you register for the SAT on the College Board website. If you decide not to use Score Choice then all of your scores will be sent.

Different colleges have different policies on how they will use the scores. When it comes to SAT, score choice policy can look something like this:

• Highest section scores across test dates (highest Math+CR+W)—most commonly used score choice policy
• Single highest test date (highest Math+CR+W)
• All SAT scores required for review

For ACT, since composite scores are considered, you can decide (based on college policy) whether you send a specific test score or all of your scores.

Colleges cannot "opt out of" or "reject" Score Choice.

Score Choice is a feature available to students. Colleges set their own policies and practices regarding the use of test scores. Neither College Board nor ACT will release test scores without student consent.

Bottom line—Colleges know that most students take SATs or ACTs multiple times. It does not go against you if you have taken these tests many times or have bad scores either in one section or entire test, as long as you have come back and improved it later.

Remember Score Choice does not allow you to send scores from a specific test section alone.