ENTRY 6. My test taking strategies.

The ACT is used by many colleges to determine admission. Your ACT is important to colleges for two reasons. First, your ACT score shows that you're academically prepared for college. Second, your ACT score, if you're admitted, will be incorporated into a college's annual ACT statistics. A college's reputation among its piers, and prospective students, is in part based on the published ACT scores of its students. Schools including Harvard, Stanford and other top universities are often associated with excellence because of the high ACT scores of the students they admit.

Taking the time and putting forth the effort to improve your ACT score will go a long way toward getting yourself into the college or university of your choice. Combine a high ACT score with a good GPA and you'll qualify for entry into top colleges and universities. However, the ACT can be particularly important if you didn't get the best grades in high school. A high ACT score can make up for a low GPA. 



If you were to score a perfect 36 on the ACT, but only graduated high school with a 3.0 GPA, it's quite likely that admission officers would think your high school classes were just too hard and that you're still smart enough for college.