With some people getting their ACT Writing results back, the scores are starting to be posted here, and for the most part, the results don’t look pretty. I’m seeing lots of 30-36C and 24-30W. The September ACT was my first time taking the ACT, but prior to this administration, I believe that the writing was scored out of 12. 10/12 was a considered a pretty good score, and an 8/12 was marginal. Yet now, we are crying over 24’s and saying 30’s are just ok.
I think a lot of the complaining has to do with psychology. When the scale is out of 36, most of us are immediately inclined to think “I better score 32+.” But the percentiles for the writing, as I and many others have pointed out, are different from that of the composite scores. A 28C is 90th percentile, whereas a 28W is 95th percentile.
Imagine the following:
Your June 2015 ACT composite is 33 with an 8 writing.
Your September ACT composite is 33 with a 24 writing.
Which sounds worse? I bet many would say the September scores, even though they are nearly identical!
The point is that colleges should understand the writing scale is different from the composite scale and adjust their standards accordingly. Besides, we all know the composite score matters the most – by far!
Thoughts?