<p>I scored a 34 overall on the ACT - 36 in math, 33 in science, 34 in reading, 32 in English. However, I only scored a 6 on the writing. I know my writing is far better than that. I've done extremely well on AP exams, and all of my teachers think I write better than a 6. How much is this going to hurt my chances of getting into whatever school? Has anyone else had a similar experience?</p>
<p>I think it will have little impact. Don’t worry.</p>
<p>It happens to a lot of students. A professor at MIT did an analysis of these SAT/ACT tests and found an almost 100% correlation with high score and essay length. Thus, if you write fast and ramble on you will do better than if you efficiently and precisely answer the prompt.</p>
<p>My son is such a focused precise writer and did poorly on his ACT essay, along with a 36.0 on the rest of the test. He got into 4 elite colleges with acceptance rates below 20 percent and is currently attending Brown.</p>
<p>That said, it would help if you could demonstrate clear writing ability on your application in some other way. My son won an award for a history paper, for example. So any kind of writing award would help, as would specific comments within a letter of recommendation about your writing strength from a humanities teacher.</p>
<p>They are moving toward using software to auto-grade essays. Read this hilarious essay that intentionally makes no sense while receiving the highest possible score:
<a href=“http://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2012/06/10/les-perelmans-robo-graded-essay/[/url]”>http://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2012/06/10/les-perelmans-robo-graded-essay/</a></p>