About the ACT Essay
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The ACT Essay
• On the ACT Writing Test, students have 30 minutes
to read a short prompt and to plan and write an essay in
response to it.
• The prompts cover a variety of subjects intended to
reflect the interests and experiences of high school
students.
• The Writing Test is optional and is given after all the
other sections of the test. Students should always check
the entrance requirements of every possible college they
think they might apply to.
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The ACT Essay
• The Writing Test score will not affect the scores
on any of the multiple-choice tests or the Composite
score.
• The student who takes the Writing test will receive
two additional scores: a Combined English/Writing
score on a scale from 1 through 36 and a Writing Test
subscore on a scale of 2 through 12.
• Each student will receive between one and four
narrative comments on his/her essay.
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The ACT Essay
• The essay will be available to the high school and to
colleges to which ACT reports the scores from a test date.
• The Writing Test is designed to measure the writing
skills that are expected of students entering the first-year
college composition course.
• The Writing Test consists of one writing prompt that
briefly states an issue and describes two points of view on
that issue. The student is asked to take a position and
support that position with specific reasons and examples.
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The ACT Essay
• The position a student takes does NOT affect the
score.
• The essay will be evaluated on the evidence it gives of
the student’s ability to do the following:
* express judgments by taking a position on the
issue in the writing prompt;
* maintain a focus on the topic throughout the essay;
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The ACT Essay
• The essay will be evaluated on the evidence it gives
of the student’s ability to do the following (cont.):
and
* develop a position by using logical reasoning
by supporting the ideas;
* organize ideas in a logical way;
* use language clearly and effectively according to
the conventions of standard written English.
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The ACT Essay
• The two different points of view provided in the prompt
serve as examples of positions others have taken on the issue
and provide a starting place for the student. The student can
adopt either point of view or a completely different point of
view.
• The student should state his/her point of view and then
support it with specific reasons and examples.
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The ACT Essay
• Every ACT essay is formatted the same way.
* The first paragraph lays out an issue and then
briefly presents opposing viewpoints.
* The last sentence in the first paragraph poses the
question for the student to consider.
* The second paragraph gives the standard
directions for writing the essay.
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Scoring the ACT Essay
• The Essay will be scored holistically on a six-point
rubric.
• In holistic scoring, no single aspect of writing is more
important than any other. Rather, it is the effectiveness of
the writing as a whole that is most important.
• Two trained readers will separately score the essay,
rating it from 1 – 6. The sum of the two scores is the
Writing Test subscore (2 – 12).
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The ACT Essay
Students are advised to
• Make the essay as polished as possible.
• Make sure that all words are written clearly and
neatly so that readers can read them easily
• Take a few minutes to think through the essay and jot
preliminary notes on the planning pages in the scoring
booklet before beginning to write.
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The ACT Essay
Students are advised to (continued)
• Review the essay. Take a few minutes at the end of
the testing to read over the essay. Correct any mistakes in
grammar, usage, punctuation, and spelling. If you find any
words that are hard to read, recopy them so the readers can
read them easily. Make any corrections and revisions
neatly, between the lines (but not in the margins). Readers
will take into account that you had merely 30 minutes to
plan and write the essay.
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Princeton Review--The ACT Essay
General Suggestions
• Length—while longer essays don’t automatically
receive higher scores, an essay that is too short is unlikely to
provide a full treatment of the issue. Write as much as you
can.
• Appearance—Make sure your essay is organized:
indent new paragraphs clearly, avoid strikeouts or insertions,
and be sure to start a new paragraph for each example.
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Princeton Review--The ACT Essay
General Suggestions
• Language— Grammar, spelling vocabulary, and
sentence structure all play a part.
• Complexity—To score in the top half, you MUST
include the opposing side. Don’t just state it; make use of it;
make sure you fully explain why that side is wrong and why
your side is right.
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Princeton Review--The ACT Essay
• Focus on key words in the prompt.
• There are no right or wrong sides of the issue, just wellsupported and poorly supported arguments.
• Do a Pros and Cons chart before you start to write. You
need to think about both sides of the argument so that you
can select the reasons that will best support your argument.
• Don’t straddle the fence. Pick a position and stick to it.
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Princeton Review--The ACT Essay
• The introduction must show that you understand the issue.
• The introduction must state your position clearly and
definitively.
• Draw the readers in by using a rhetorical question or
describing a situation they can relate to.
• Use your introduction to build a framework for the rest of
your essay.
• The readers are looking to see that your essay flows logically
from idea to idea; thus they pay attention to transitions.
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Princeton Review--The ACT Essay
• The readers are looking to see that your essay flows
logically from idea to idea; thus they pay attention to
transitions.
* Basic transitions, such as first, second and last are
better than no transitions, but they don’t really impress the
grader.
* Less predictable transitions are graded more favorably;
think about how your examples are related to one another,
and let your transitions reflect those relationships.
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Princeton Review--The ACT Essay
• End your paragraphs by tying your reasoning back to the
thesis.
• ACT will want to see that you’ve fully thought about the
issue by addressing the other side. Devote a paragraph to
showing how the other side is wrong.
• Once you’ve stated the other side, refute it. Don’t let the
opposing view look better than your framing idea.
• Add a final thought in your conclusion; don’t restate
everything you just said!
According to Sparknotes the ACT essay has four
necessary ingredients:
• Positioning—the strength and clarity of your stance
on a given topic
• Examples—the relevance and development of the
examples you use to support your argument
• Organization—the organization of each of your
paragraphs and of your essay overall
• Command of language—sentence construction,
grammar and word choice
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