From time to time students will be confused by their performance on their SAT or ACT. They will say: “I don’t understand why my English score dropped”, or “I thought I aced the math, what happened”?
To better understand test performance, both College Board and ACT provide a service that allows you to purchase a copy of the test you took. This service is not available for all test dates, but in 2020-21, SAT is releasing the tests for October, March and May, and ACT is releasing the tests for December, April, and June.
Both services provide you a clean copy of the test, your answers, and the correct answers. I highly recommend you order the test if you wish to do further test preparation. This can be done when you register for your test or after you get your scores. You have up to five months after your test date to order the SAT; you have six months to order the ACT.
The name of College Board’s service is the Question and Answer Service. (Do not confuse this with the Answer Verification Service available for all test dates and described on the same page). Click here to find out more.
The equivalent product from ACT is called the Test Information Release. To order your ACT test, click this link for further instructions.
For insight on why scores can fluctuate, read this article that discusses variability in the ACT Science scores.
For questions, write Kate Dalby at kvs@katedalby.com