Today on the ACT, the entire test was going smooth until we got to the writing test. I paced myself as I had practiced with the essay, when all of the sudden, the proctored called we had 5 minutes left. I looked down at my watch, and it said I was at 30 minutes, not 35. SO I start frantically trying to finish the essay, and keep in mind at this point I still hand’t addressed one of the viewpoints or even started a counterargument. I quickly try to fit those in and then write half of a sentence in my makeshift conclusion when time is called. I went to the proctor after the test and asked him if he had cut the time short. He said no, and that he started his timer at 11:55 and ended it at 12:35, but that wasn’t close to what I had on my watch. I went to the administrators for the test, and told them of the issue. What should I do now? The thing is, is that I felt really really really good about the other four sections of the test, and I had to sacrifice a lot of other extra-curricular stuff to make sure that I could make it to this ACT. Will my scores for the entire test be cancelled because of this 5 minute timing error on the essay section? If I don’t want my scores cancelled, should I just keep my mouth shut? I’m worried because I absolutely bombed the essay section because I was pacing myself for 40 minutes, not 35. Any suggestions on what I should do?
Interesting… I’m not sure if you can do much. You could try to contact the ACT organization, but there isn’t any proof that they cut the time short, so I really don’t know. I don’t think your entire ACT would be cancelled out, I’d imagine that they might just take the essay out if they, in fact, found an issue with the time.
In general, I think 40 minutes for an entire essay is ridiculous. I took my ACT yesterday as well and I was on my 2/3 paragraph and they called 5 minutes… I wrote an entire paragraph and closing statement (which was only one sentence and I wanted to write a little more to it) in 5 minutes… crazy imo