When students take the ACT, they have the option to send their scores to up to four colleges where they are looking at applying. This is a free option during registration for the ACT, however, you might want to hold off on sending those scores right away. Here’s why:

• Each time a student takes the ACT, each test score is kept as a separate record. If the student takes the test more than once, he or she can select which test scores to send to the colleges.
• Students must send whole test scores; they cannot select individual scores from different tests to create a new composite.
• If students decide to send the scores to the colleges at the time of registration, the colleges will receive the scores at the same time as the student does. If the student does poorly, there is no way to keep the college from knowing.

It is recommended that the student leaves the college code section blank when registering for the ACT and instead, order the reports to be sent to colleges after they have seen all their ACT scores. Since most students take the ACT more than once, waiting allows the student to pick which test they scored highest on and submit that to the colleges he or she is looking interested in.

If the student decides to wait, there is a cost of $12-16.50 per report sent (Up to $48-$66 if the student decides to send to four separate colleges), but it may be worth it if the student’s score improves dramatically from one test to another.

Bottom line: wait until you are completely satisfied with your score before you send it.