<p>D signed up to take the ACT again in October, but without the writing part (against my advice). If a school doesn't superscore the ACT but requires the writing section will they only consider her first ACT score regardless of how she does on the second test?</p>
<p>As long as she submits all test scores she should be just fine with one writing score as long as it is above an 8. Very few schools superscore the ACT for admissions, many do superscore for merit aid, but not with the writing portion.</p>
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<p>Why does it need to be above an 8? The writing component is not taken all that seriously even by the tippy-top schools. Research has shown that there is a nearly perfect correlation between the essay length and a high score. Woe is he who is concise and on point, rather than rambling on endlessly on peripheral matters.</p>
<p>Depends on the school.</p>
<p>That said, it’s probably not too late to do the Writing section. Look at the ACT website…I think you can either still add it or add it on test day.</p>
<p>My son got into a good school with a 34 ACT (maybe better, superscored) but a best writing score of 8. He actually took the test twice just because he was unhappy with his writing score (he was fine with the other scores.) I still don’t get why he got a 7 and 8 on the two sittings. He is a good writer. I seriously think the readers were biased against his handwriting, which is legible but does not look “smart”. He has excellent grammar and good style. I am still perplexed about his writing score. We thought about requesting to have it re-read, but my son ultimately decided he didn’t want to pursue it. He was disappointed in the scores, but said, “I don’t want to go to a school that would reject me solely on the basis of my ACT writing score.” (He also took the SAT once and got a 710 on the section with the essay. Go figure.)</p>
<p>LoremIpsum–because 8 or above is considered a good score at pretty much every school and very few schools actually use the writing portion as part of their admissions process but a score lower than that could be a negative in the app process.</p>
<p>The scoring expectations for the ACT essay are much tougher than those for the SAT - just take a look at the 6 essay in the Real ACT book vs. the 6 essay in the SAT Study Guide (I’m an SAT/ACT tutor so I spend a fair amount of time thinking about these things!). Many students who might score a 6 on the SAT will only hit the 4 range on the ACT. I have no idea how much admissions officers know about the nuances of these things, though! I do know that students need to think about/prep for the ACT essay differently than they do for the SAT.</p>
<p>As for the original question, I ask all of my students to do the essay for every administration. I understand your daughter not wanting to do it…it’s at the end of a stressful test…but why not bite the bullet and give it another shot?</p>
<p>A lot of schools ask for ACT with writing. I would take it!</p>
<p>Murphy600–she already took it once, which is the point. She doesn’t need to take it more than once if her score was above an 8.</p>
<p>Sorry, I should clarify. If you are sitting for the whole test again, go ahead and do the writing. Unlikely will be below 8. Might have upside.</p>