http://www.actstudent.org/scores/release.html
https://www.act.org/essayview/
Any new breakthroughs?
I’m fairly new to the world of college applications and standardized test scores, so please bear with me. To begin with, I took the September 2015 ACT plus writing, and scored a 32 composite score with a writing score of 30. I then retook the ACT this December in hopes of increasing my composite score by a couple of points, which, in hindsight, was a complete disaster from the start. My testing center was delayed by a week, which they notified us of the day before- a complete lack of organization and responsibility, in my opinion. Many of the students testing in my center could not make the rescheduled test date, causing many inconveniences. Then, to top it off, I received a composite score of 34, but a writing score of 24…??? This is coming from a student that has always been at the top of her honors/AP Literature classes. I don’t know how exactly ACT grades these essays, as I understand the format has been changed, but it just seems highly unlikely that I would score so badly on an essay given that I scored a 35 on the English subsection, a 36 on the Reading subsection, and a 30 on my last ACT test. I understand that grading writing is a highly subjective process (which should not be, especially for these standardized tests), but I followed the format of the ACT sample essays and my language use and conventions are typically above average. However, I received a 9 on that very section, which almost gave me a heart attack. Anyway, apologies for my long winded explanation, but my question is: How could I have possibly scored near perfectly on reading and English and a 30 on my September essay, but score a full 10 points lower on my essay than my cumulative score?? Will this affect my chances of getting into a good university? I am a junior in high school, and I am really worried about submitting these scores next year because of that writing score. I really find it hard to believe that I could have done so badly on the writing test of all things.
My son got a 36 composite on his ACT his junior year but the writing score was only a 6 (out of 12?) which is even lower than what OP got as far as I can tell. I believe schools really don’t pay much attention to that score. He got into an Ivy league school and a near Ivy (top 20) school as well with those scores not doing him harm.
Here is a hilarious guide by an MIT professor on how to perform in the essay writing:
^^^ OP’s 9 was out of 36, which is much lower than an old scale 6.
^ ah, okay… I assumed the wrong scale.
My son received a 34 composite (36 reading and 35 english) and only a 22 on writing. He scored an 800 on the writing section on the SAT and received an 11/12 on the essay section We have requested that ACT re-score his essay but doubt that it will result in significant change, especially in light of so many others who appear to be similarly situated. He will not be retaking the ACT, too much to risk to improve a writing score that many colleges do not consider. I did tweet the ACT and asked how long the re-score would take. They responded promptly and said 3-5 weeks from receipt of the request.
@lanaana What if anything did you find out when you called?
My DD got a 34 composite with 36 English, 35 Reading and 36 Essay on September 2015 test and 33 Composite with a much much lower Essay score on December 2015 test; also got a 790 on Reading/Writing section of October 2015 PSAT. Huge variation in Essay scores makes no sense - we’ll stick with the 36 Essay from September 2015 test
@tedandfranks I was told that I am welcome to use the option to rescore the test, which I did…for additional $50.00. A win-win for ACT…
@Lanaana The test or the essay?
The essay. The test didn’t look bad to me.
^ Thanks!
I thought so (based on the content of this thread), but I wanted to make sure.
It’ll be very interesting to see how the rescoring pans out.
Now i must wonder - got a 35 on composite but a 7 writing score.
35 composite and 9 essay score - but happy ending!
I’m sure there is a problem with scoring the essay. My daughter’s strength is writing. Her older siblings got an 8 and a 9 in past years, which makes no sense. Their writing is no where close to the same level. When I saw her score my immediate reaction was that whoever read her essay must not have been a strong writer. I certainly can’t write as well as she can. Her score simply didn’t make any sense with her application. essays and AP English teacher recommendation.
But, her low essay writing did not impact her admissions. She was accepted Early Action to a top school. Do I think there are major grading problems with the ACT essay? YES. Do I think admissions knows this? YES.
@Lanaana I will post again with results from the re-score. Would love to know outcome of others as well.
Just got rescore back. Essay score went up 6 points. Was worth paying the $50. and now I will get that money back. They are also sending the new essay writing score to the colleges that were sent the old score.
Wow–congrats! Great news. Hope others are able to do the same.
@flip10 wow that was quick! do you mind my asking what the original score was? We asked for a re-score as well and were told 3-5 weeks. Was it about 3 for you?
Took about three weeks. Score went from 22 to 28.