<p>Did anyone else get a low essay score and a very high English and composite score? I got a 35 reading, 34 English, and 33 Composite...Then an 8 on the essay! That's only the 81st percentile. I don't understand how I can have a 99th percentile composite and English, then do so poorly on the essay. I always do well on AP timed writings (never below 8 out of 9). Does ACT want something different? What do you think?</p>
<p>yea i got an 8 too, and a 36 on both reading and english, and a 36 composite. it still came out to a 99% 32 english/writing score but i agree that it doesnt make sense, and im actually pretty ****ed about it. if i knew what they were looking for i know i could write a perfect essay. the annoying thing is that i actually write very well, and my semi-stupid friends scored higher than me on the essay with composite scores in the 20s.</p>
<p>This really ticks me off. I'm going to my AP English teacher tomorrow to see what she thinks. I don't know how I am supposed to write a brilliant essay in 30 minutes. Most good writers need longer than that. I hope my SAT essay gets a better grade....</p>
<p>29 on reading, 10 on essay (i ran out of time on reading though - i guess thats the lesson on pacing when you take the test without taking a practice test first)</p>
<p>36 on english,35 reading, 35 composite, 80 reading on psat 2 years in a row, 8 essay.</p>
<p>I have also had a 77 and 80 reading PSAT, 75 and 79 verbal. Does anybody else notice a trend?</p>
<p>34 composite, (math brought me down-32) and a 12 essay. I also got a 12 on SAT essay. I write a lot, and I'm overly verbose and prosaic for standardized essays. I figure it distracts 'em.</p>
<p>overly verbose and prosaic eh? ...I'll take your word for it (it distracted me!)</p>
<p>I'll try being wordier. I have a very concise and to-the-point writing style; maybe that's what's hurting me. It works nicely for certain AP tests, though.</p>
<p>I don't know... I got a 12 on my ACT essay, but only a 24 on the english section, giving me a writing total subscore of only 27... I think if you score lower in english, it's easier to get a higher grade on the essay, as stupid as that sounds.</p>
<p>The English section and the Writing section measure two completely different things. One is grammar and the other is actually expressing ideas. The two don't necessarily corelate with each other.</p>
<p>I just looked back at the website, the don't correlate with each other. I just find it weird that they would count the english score twice, once as its whole section, and the second time as 2/3 of the writing score.</p>
<p>Yeah, I had an 80 on PSAT Writing, a 79 on PSAT Critical Reading, a 35 on ACT Reading, a 33 on ACT English, and an 8 on my essay. I don't really get it.</p>
<p>Ok, I'm concerned with the SAT essay. I got a 12 on the ACT essay and an 8 on the SAT. This is a horrible way to evaluate someone's skills!!!</p>
<p>You all make me feel better about s's scores-- composite was 34, but essay was an 8, which gave him a 29 for E/W. His SAT Writing was 780. We were debating about whether to send ACT's at all due to the abismal essay grade, but it seems that we're all in the same boat. Let's hear it for guinea pigs!</p>