Nick's position
Should my child retake the SAT or ACT if colleges superscore?
“Check whether your child's colleges superscore before you decide on a retake, and we usually send a school only two sittings.”
Nick Standlea
Superscoring means a college takes your child's best section scores across test dates. Most colleges that state a policy do it, so a retake often gets a fresh shot at each section without wiping out the good one.
But not every college does, and the ACT gets a no more often than the SAT. At a college that says no, each test date has to stand on its own.
So read the testing page for every college on the list first. Then plan the retake. And whatever the policy, we usually send a school only two sittings.
The facts behind it
Is a retake riskier at a college that does not superscore?
Yes, because a weak section on the second date is not erased by a strong one on the first, so each date has to stand on its own.