CLT Retakes and Sending Scores to Colleges
You can retake the CLT on any available date. Here is how retakes work, how to time one, and how scores reach colleges.
CLT has an open retake policy: a student may register for any available test date. CLT says students may take the test as many times as they like. The one limit it states is one exam per test date. A retake is simply a new registration for a later date.
How to time a retake
The limit on retakes is the calendar, not a rule. You need your first scores back before you can decide, and you need the second scores back before your college deadline.
Remote dates run about a month apart, and remote scores take two to three weeks. In practice that means you usually see one set of scores shortly before the registration deadline for the next date. If you think you may retake, register early enough that a second sitting still reports before your deadline.
Should you retake?
- Retake if your total is below the range a college or scholarship asks for and you have time to study before the next date.
- Retake if one section is well below the other two. A single weak section is the most direct thing to fix.
- Think twice if you have already met the target for every college on your list. A few extra points rarely change a decision.
- Do not retake without changing how you prepare. The same preparation tends to produce the same score.
Your score report comes with CLT Student Analytics, which breaks your results down by academic domain. Use that breakdown to pick what to study. Then work through the lessons for the weak section before you take more timed practice.
Sending scores to colleges
- Wait for your scores to post in your CLT account.
- Use the score-sharing option in your account to send them to a college. You request this yourself; it is not automatic.
- Check each college for its own deadline and for how it wants to receive CLT scores.
CLT says the exam price includes unlimited score sharing. If you took the optional essay at school, you choose whether its text goes to colleges with your scores; the essay has no numeric score.
If you tested through a state-funded school program, reporting can work differently. Ask your school how your scores are shared.
Check that the college accepts the CLT
Acceptance is set college by college and can depend on the application year and on the scholarship you are applying for. Confirm three things with each college before you rely on a CLT score:
- That it accepts the CLT for the year you are applying.
- Whether it uses CLT scores for merit scholarships as well as admission.
- How it treats more than one sitting. Ask rather than assume.