<p>I am a rising Junior. I plan to take the ACT essay in the fall. For those of you who took the June 2011 test do you have any suggestions or tips for writing a good essay? How hard are the topic questions?
Thanks!!</p>
<p>the essay topics arent very “hard.” in fact, the ACT intentionally chooses topics they believe any and all test-takers will have an opinion about. my question was whether or not it’s acceptable for parents to keep track of their teens via the GPS in teens’ cell phones. i also had one about talking on the phone while driving (whether or not this should be illegal) and whether or not there should be a legal age to drink caffienated beverages.</p>
<p>hehe I had the GPS one also :P</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. The topics you mention sound easy, but how do they grade this fairly? It there a formula you can use for your writing structure that would include everything they are looking for? For example, with the gps topic, approximately how many reasons did you come up with to support your thesis? I assume they will want an introductory paragraph and then a solid conclusion. Are there any quidelines for how long the essay needs to be?</p>
<p>actually, idk how it is for the ACT, but its been widely said that you can completely omit a conclusion and still get a perfect score on standardized-test essays. i only had time for 2 reasons, but they were solid. obviously, the more SOLID ones, the better, but i think theyd rather see a couple well-written, well-thought-out ones than a bunch of hasty ones. the topics generally arent going to be brain-teasers or anything like that.</p>
<p>The essay topic is not usually that difficult, and it always relates to teenagers in some way. The important thing to remember is that they are looking for you to take a clear position on the subject. However, you MUST include a counter argument. All the people I know who have done well, as well as my tutor, have told me that you should write about 5 paragraphs: an opening, two paragraphs each with a topic that supports your thesis, a paragraph that disagrees with your paragraph (counter argument), and a solid conclusion. My conclusion usually starts with the counter argument, then i say “however,” and really nail them with the thesis. The most important thing is that you are persuasive.</p>
<p>Make sure you have a counterargument. They knock off serious points for that. It’s kind of a gamble: if you write an academic essay (really structured, with obvious transition, basically a solid essay) you’ll for sure get an 8 (maybe a 9 or 10). But if you want an 11 or 12, your essay needs to be loose and not too academic (and you should have tons of complex sentences with nice transitions). Check out the sample essays on the ACT websites, you’ll see what I mean lol.</p>
<p>^ really? if it’s more informal/conversational (without overdoing it), while addressing the other side of the issue and being persuasive, you’re likely to get a perfect score?</p>
<p>^yep. Just look at the 12 essays online. They’re not really structured at all. The moe structured ones are 8s so I tried to take more risks this time around lol.</p>
<p>I have no idea about how structured you are supposed to have it but in a practice ACT booklet that I was given they show how to get a 6,5, etc and for a 5-6 strong development of the counterargument was made into a pretty big deal it seemed</p>
<p>oooohhh, ill keep that in mind!</p>
<p>when you think about it, the less-structured/more spontaneous ones are probably more interesting for the graders to read.</p>
<p>^ yeah, the ones I read sounded like excerpts from a freaking novel!</p>
<p>hahaha, so they were like loosely written and not focused on “trying” too hard, im guessing?</p>
<p>“Unlike the SAT essay, which is an exercise in form and functionality, the ACT essay rewards creative/critical thinking and problem solving above all else.”</p>
<p>(just looked up “act 12 essay” on google and this is what came up)</p>
<p>also, do you guys know if the graders are going to know if i made up a statistic? 
i know that for the SAT, smart CC kids do it all the time (as the graders have to read the essays so fast that they dont have time to check any facts) and score well…</p>
<p>yeah. They had transitions and counterarguments and stuff but they weren’t like “First of all,” or “For example” or “Secondly”. The whole thing really flowed nicely.</p>
<p>EDIT:
I think they may notice but they don’t really care. And I’ve seen 12 SAT essays and they’re the same as the ACT’s lol.</p>
<p>I don’t think that they would know if you made up a statistic unless it seemed totally unrealistic. They seem to pay more attention to your ideas and structure so they probably wouldn’t notice:)</p>
<p>good do you think itll hurt me a lot if i didnt do a counterargument? i only had 2 real reasons too, will this be sufficient…? i think it was well-written though. what should i expect to get?</p>
<p>does this seem realistic?
“A recent Harvard study found that teens who are sheltered while in high school are 70% more likely to engage in destructive behaviors once in college.”
?</p>
<p>I think that sounds pretty realistic so it should be fine:)
As for the counterargument i have no idea, did you mention anything about the other position at all? I know of people who have not devoted an entire paragraph to the counter and have still gotten like an 11 i think. But I don’t know if that is normal</p>
<p>^ lmao, I love your statistic. I don’t think it’ll hurt you. It might make them laugh a bit (you were really specific lol!)</p>
<p>But as for the counterargument, unforstunately yes. It will hurt you a lot because they specify that you must have a developed counter argument (I think for an 8+ or 6+, I don’t remember)</p>
<p>well i got an 8 the last time i think without a counterargument, and an 8 the first time WITH one. i think i got SAT and ACT confused (i dont think the counterargument is necessary for SAT, which ive taken more recently). and come to think of it, i did address the other side somewhat (basically by saying if parents do track their kids, its ultimately just hurting them). and GOOD about the statistic! :)</p>