<p>My daughter got a 32 English, 35 Reading, but the 8 on the essay brought her English + Writing down to a 29 - yet she got a 73 on the writing PSAT. She didn't like the prompt and didn't present both sides, so maybe next time if she presents both sides and writes more, the essay score will go up. How much do colleges look at the E + W? Everywhere she's interested in wants the ACT + writing and accepts that in lieu of SAT + subject tests.</p>
<p>I got an 8 on the ACT essay, but a 12 on the SAT essay. >.></p>
<p>I find the essay grading to be highly suspicious. The two times I took the ACT with writing I scored 34 and 35 on English and reading both times, made a 5 on my AP history exam which requires good writing skills. All this, and I still make a 6 on both my essays. The first time they basically tell me it was a decent essay. Second test, they tell me I clearly establish my position, bring up plenty of points and counters. In neither review did they give me anything constructive or tell me what I did wrong. I focused more on quality and thought that it might actually benefit me to keep my essay concise and limited to about two pages. Silly me. I talk to a few of my friends who scored low-twenty composites and low-twenty eng/reading and they told me they didn’t really have a clue what to write but wrote as much as they could, usually around five or six pages. These people made 9’s and 10’s.</p>
<p>okay, I’m sort of confused…</p>
<p>do they like…</p>
<p>a) someone who is totally one-sided
b) someone who is on one-side, but says why the other side <em>may</em> have a point (aka, realizing that the issue at hand is complex and you can’t just give a straight answer)
c) someone who attacks the arguements of the other side, and has their own support…</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>I got a 10 (11 on the SAT essay). I BSed the whole thing too. xD</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t really get the importance of the combined score. </p>
<p>I had 36 English, 10 essay, for a combined 34, so I mean…what significance does that have?</p>
<p>I’m mad. I’m apparently very inept at both the ACT and SAT essays.</p>
<p>I got a 5 on the AP English Language exam this year, and a 34 on the ACT English, but a 7 on the ACT essay? Didn’t do much better with the SAT, only got an 8 on that.</p>
<p>I don’t understand.</p>
<p>yes yes call me an idiot, but just writing it to contrast to the ppl who got 34 composites and 6 essays. i got a 23 on english ( awful) and an 8 on the essay. they are looking for very specific content. i learned this afterwards, but im pretty sure they want a lot of transition words, a counter arguement, and to write a lot. the sat essay is a different story.</p>
<p>I got an 8, not knowing that only writing a little over a page worth was bad. :(</p>
<p>I’m with you all, lol. I’m another 34’er
SAT Writing: 760 (12 essay)
ACT English: 32 + 9 Essay –> 30</p>
<p>-__________-; what are they looking for?!</p>
<p>I don’t understand the ACT (or SAT) essay either. I got 8s on both. </p>
<p>The comments on my ACT essay said “Your essay maintained focus on the specific issue in the prompt. The organization of your essay was adequate, but the rigid structure seemed to limit discussion.” This comments don’t make any sense to me at all. It seems like their only complaint was that it was too structured. What do they want me to do, not use paragraphs? I wrote an intro, 2 supporting paragraphs, a paragraph rejecting the support for the other side, and then a conclusion. I thought it was a perfectly good essay and deserved way more than an 8, so I really don’t know what the graders are thinking.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how the essay scores are used anyway. It doesn’t go into the composite, but I’ve never seen the essay score or the combined english/writing ACT score in a colleges stats. Do they even look at it/care about it?</p>
<p>yeahhh… idk. they said “General statements in your essay were well supported with specific reasons, examples, and details.” to mine. This is great and all but it tells me nothing as to what I did wrong and how to improve. </p>
<p>They do care, most colleges require ACT with writing for god knows what reason, but they do specifically request this. My guess is that it is so that they can look at your writing portion (just like they can on the SATs) to get a general idea of our crazy-bsing-skills</p>
<p>=_________=
pftt.</p>
<p>i got a 9 on the essay, uhm mostly remember your counter-agument and dont forget to use specific examples. </p>
<p>ps- regardless of whether you agree with the topic you should write about what you know more about. :D</p>