This discussion was created from comments split from: ACT Writing Scorers Are Making MAJOR ERRORS.
I’ve also seen more schools starting to disregard the writing portion of the ACT. For those of you whose kids (or for those students) who have a high composite score, I would not worry about a relatively low writing score, and definitely would not have them retake it just because of that.
You can reach out to specific schools and find out which one of these 3 camps they fall in:
- Require and consider ACT writing for your child’s graduating class (as mentioned, many are changing rules for Class of 2017)
- Don’t require, but will consider ACT writing if submitted
- Don’t require and will NOT consider ACT writing if submitted
Hopefully, they all fall into camp #3, and you won’t have to worry about the bad writing score
Ok, maybe it’s just me, but the way the scoring is explained by ACT is really confusing to me. I am copy-pasting below from their site, showing in 2 parts which seem to contradict itself. Can anyone explain it to me, please?
"Writing Test Scores
Taking the ACT with writing will provide you and the schools to which you have ACT report scores with additional scores. When you take the writing test, you’ll receive a writing test score on a scale of 1-36 and four writing domain scores (Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions), each scored on a scale of 2-12…
…Two trained readers will score your essay on a scale of 1-6 in each of the four writing domains. Each domain score represents the sum of the two readers’ scores. If the readers’ ratings disagree by more than one point, a third reader will evaluate the essay and resolve the discrepancy. Your writing score is calculated from your domain scores and is reported on a scale of 1-36. Your domain scores do not necessarily add up to your reported writing score."
^ I don’t understand where the discrepancy is but I’ll explain the scoring. There are 4 sections, each of them scored from 2-12, so the total points could be anywhere from 8 to 48. There are two readers that each give a score from 1-6 in each of the subsections, which adds back up to 2-12. Add up all those points to get a raw score that is then scaled. For example I got 11, 11, 11, 12 on the subsections, which adds up to 45 points, which is then scaled to a 34. Please tell me if I didn’t resolve the discrepancy.
^ Thank you, it explains it. I was confused about these 2 sentences: “four writing domain scores, each scored on a scale of 2-12…Two trained readers will score your essay on a scale of 1-6 in each of the four writing domains.”
The scoring rubrics released by ACT are just a suggestion of how essays might be graded.
My own students are writing much worse essays for this new format than they did for the old SAT or ACT essay format. I would certainly give them lower grades, but it is impossible to tell how much lower.
It would be really helpful to have a collection of actual essays people wrote during the test and the scores they received. Anyone who is willing to post his or her essay and score – thanks! (assuming this is allowed by the moderators…)
^great suggestion!
^That would be incredibly helpful.
In December’s writing 5/6 in all 4 categories by both graders would give a raw score of 40/48, which would in turn translate to a 27. Ain’t it a bit steep?
@gcf101 That does seem steep. For the September administration, 11/11/11/11 (44) was scaled to a 31. I don’t understand why the curve changes from each test for the writing section. How is one prompt easier than another?
@gcf101 I don’t understand how you arrived at your above scoring. My D got straight 10s (so 5 from each scorer) and got a 27. BUT if she had gotten 12s (6 from each scorer) that would NOT have been a 27. Not sure what your 5/6 means???
@gcf101 I know someone who got 11s on each of the 4 parts and said they got a 31. I suspect that 12s would be a 35 or 36. We sent ours in for a rescore as my D got a 36 composite and that 27 is not reflective of her writing at all.
@hcmom65 By 5/6 I meant 5 out of 6 from each scorer - straight 10s, like your daughter.
I paid to re-score my daughter writing portion. Today they posted it: it went from 13 to 21
So, if sub-scores were 07,06,06,08 - how did they arrive at 21?
Those of you suggesting the posting of actual essays may want to read the post pinned to the top of this forum - “WARNING FROM ACT ABOUT DISCUSSING QUESTIONS/ANSWERS”
We are not talking about posting questions or answer choices written by ACT, but essays written by students. Does ACT hold a copyright over the essays students write? Do students sign a statement giving ACT the copyrights to their essays?
An essay written by a student seems to me his or her own intellectual property. Forbidding the publication of an essay by the essay’s own author looks to me not like test security but a coverup of sloppy scoring procedures. Essay topics are not recycled.
I agree with @Plotinus 's logic, but corporate policies don’t always follow common logic.
So - I just gave the ACT a call and asked if a student who received a copy of their test (TIR can be ordered for $20) and consequently ordered a copy of their essay (another $22) is allowed to post that essay on the Internet. The answer was yes. Yess!
The CB, with its many shortcomings and transgressions, does this part right: not just three times a year, but after each test administration writing prompts are posted on their website, and later all the students are able to see their essays scans as soon as writing scores become available.
The ACT actually makes essay images available (at no charge) to schools and colleges through their “ACT Essay View” service for all the test events:
https://www.act.org/essayview/college.html
One might ask…