What is superscoring?

Superscoring is the practice of taking the best sub scores from multiple test dates to create the highest superscore possible. For example, if a student took the SAT twice with the following results, the superscore would be the third set of numbers

This is not something the student controls. It is up to each college to decide if they will superscore test results. Many colleges have been superscoring the SAT for some time. The College Board maintains a PDF list of participating institutions and their superscoring policy.

Colleges have only recently begun to superscore ACT scores. College Admissions Counseling is maintaining a list of institutions that are superscoring the ACT.

If you don’t know if a college superscores, ask the admissions office.

Superscoring is not the same thing as score choice. Score choice is the ability to choose which test results to send to the college. This is something the student does control. However, the student can only choose which scores to send based on the test date. In other words, you can’t pick to send just a math score from one test data and critical reading from another. All scores for the test date are sent.