However, there are a few more ACT essay tips for your test day:
Supporting Paragraphs
This is where you’ll attempt to persuade the reader to believe your perspective. A rule of thumb for essay writing is that you want to try to have 3 supporting paragraphs. In these paragraphs, you’ll want to use concise facts and supporting information — the more specific the better! If you’re arguing that cats are better pets than dogs, you might have one supporting paragraph that focuses on the level of independence of cats, one that discusses the high intelligence level of cats, and a third that examines a cat’s lifespan. (These are just examples off the top of my head - there could be so many more reasons that cats are better than dogs, or why dogs are better than cats! Alas, you sadly will not see an essay prompt that looks anything as casual as this one test day…)
With practice and patience, however, students can optimize their writing skills for the ACT. We recommend students set aside 45-minute practice sessions in the weeks leading up to the exam to answer ACT Writing prompts. Students must keep in mind, however, that they must practice at a consistent pace. That means, crunching four hours of essay writing the night before the test, or taking one practice test twice in two months will not work. Yet, there is no singular pace that works for all students either. For some, practicing three times a week works, while for others, just once a week. Students should work by themselves, as well as with their parents, tutors, and teachers to determine what pace is most suitable for them and will help them achieve their best results. Thesis Statement
A thesis statement is a concise, usually one-sentence, summary of the overarching point you’ll be making throughout the essay. If your essay is arguing that cats are better pets than dogs, then this is the type of broad information that you’ll want to include in your thesis statement. Make sure that the reader knows exactly what the broad topic of the paper will be. Thesis Statement
A thesis statement is a concise, usually one-sentence, summary of the overarching point you’ll be making throughout the essay. If your essay is arguing that cats are better pets than dogs, then this is the type of broad information that you’ll want to include in your thesis statement. Make sure that the reader knows exactly what the broad topic of the paper will be. To compose a well-written essay in the provided time, students will have to practice writing timed essays before they sit down for the test. Even students who ace their school essays are sometimes surprised by how fast 45 minutes go by. Like for any other section on the ACT, students can practice and learn the skills required to ace the ACT Writing Test. There are four steps in the essay writing process.
Then, use our handy ACT Essay Grading tool to find your score:
By developing the specific writing skills asked for in each of the four domains, students can write a strong and successful essay on the ACT. Let’s take a deeper look into each component.
Master Essay Writing for the ACT-FAST
Keep in mind, the Writing Test is also scored differently and does not affect the composite ACT score (out of 36). Two trained readers manually score the essay in four different areas using the standards established by the . The four domains are Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions.
Here are the steps for writing an ACT essay.
A strong Writing score is the same as any other impressive test score. Students’ colleges may not require them, but strong scores will never hurt their chances. These scores can enhance students’ applications, and in fact, are still required at a handful of schools. Students may take this section to keep all options open when it is time to apply and to give themselves an edge in the admissions process.
High scoring ACT essays include:
The ACT writing section is scored on a scale of 1-12, based on the sum of the scores given by the two evaluators. That means that if each scorer gives the essay a score of 3 out of 6, the student’s score will be 6 (3+3), so the student has an essay that is doing about half of what a perfect essay does. Per , a perfect 6 out of 6 on each of the four areas is considered as follows:
Product is what you end up with. Process is how you get there.
This perfect score is hard to come by, however, since both scorers would have to give the essay a score of 6 out of 6. But don’t fret — you don’t need a perfect score! (Remember that this section is optional and does not count toward your composite score!) So what actually is a GOOD essay score? Well, the average writing score is just shy of a 7 out of 12. For students looking to go to rather competitive colleges and universities, it is a good idea to aim for at least an 8 on the ACT writing section — this lands somewhere in the 80+ percentile. Students scoring over 8 on the writing section are in the 95+ percentile for this section of the exam, which makes anything above an 8 a really great score.
SAT/ACT Tutoring, Essay Coaching, and Admissions Consulting
This perfect score is hard to come by, however, since both scorers would have to give the essay a score of 6 out of 6. But don’t fret — you don’t need a perfect score! (Remember that this section is optional and does not count toward your composite score!) So what actually is a GOOD essay score? Well, the average writing score is just shy of a 7 out of 12. For students looking to go to rather competitive colleges and universities, it is a good idea to aim for at least an 8 on the ACT writing section — this lands somewhere in the 80+ percentile. Students scoring over 8 on the writing section are in the 95+ percentile for this section of the exam, which makes anything above an 8 a really great score.