Understanding superscores?

Can someone explain to me what superscores are? I've been hearing this term thrown around a lot during my college tests prep but I'm not quite sure what it means or how it affects my college applications.

Certainly, superscoring is a policy implemented by some colleges in evaluating standardized test scores. The idea behind superscoring is to consider a student's best section scores across all dates of a certain test.

For instance, if you took the SAT twice, with scores as follows:

Test 1: Reading and Writing 580, Math 690 (total 1270)

Test 2: Reading and Writing 610, Math 670 (total 1280)

A college that superscores the SAT would combine your highest scores in Math and Reading and Writing, regardless of the test date. In your case, your superscore would be calculated as follows:

Superscore: Reading and Writing 610 (from Test 2), Math 690 (from Test 1) = 1300

So although your highest total score on a single test date was 1280, your superscore would be 1300. This is beneficial to students because it consider your highest potential across multiple test attempts.

Afterwards, the college will usually use your superscore for admissions decisions. However, policies regarding superscoring can vary from institution to institution. Some schools do not superscore and instead consider the highest total score from a single test date. It's always a good idea to check each college’s policy so you know how your scores will be evaluated.

It's also important to note that as of the 2024-2025 application cycle, some top-tier universities (like Dartmouth, Harvard, Purdue, Brown, Yale, UT Austin, and Caltech) reinstituted requirements for SAT or ACT scores for admission. Other selective schools such as Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, NYU, and UChicago remained test-optional. Make sure to stay updated on the test policies of the colleges you're interested in.