<p>The essay topic for me was if it is okay for high schools to cut elective classes in order to deal with budget issues. In the essay I mentioned the famous words uttered by students and said: "When are we ever going to use this?"</p>
<p>I put quotes in there. Is this okay because the "we" was in a quote, or is it still bad? In retrospect it would have been to use "I" ("When am I ever going to use this?")...</p>
<p>I don't think one mistake can ruin the whole essay.</p>
<p>RickJ - I hope that's true. I learned that you should NEVER use "we" or "you" in AP/SAT essays as it's pretty much suicide (That your score will definetly go down, either by a lot or a little, if you use one of them). I wasn't sure if that applied to the ACT as well.</p>
<p>I have never heard that. How could that be some common knowledge thing when the SAT has only had essays for like 2 or 3 years? If it's a good essay I doubt that's going to hurt you.</p>
<p>We had the discussion in AP English. It is preferred to stay away from WE but it really doesn't detract a whole lot from your paper. </p>
<p>Remember that they just pretty much skim your essay and grade it by glancing over it. I think you'll be fine. I didn't have time to f inish my conclusion or proofread since I wrote so much. It'll be ok. I got an 8 last time and wrote a ****ty essay. I am sure I'll get at least a 9 this time.</p>
<p>We had the discussion in AP English. It is preferred to stay away from WE but it really doesn't detract a whole lot from your paper. </p>
<p>Remember that they just pretty much skim your essay and grade it by glancing over it. I think you'll be fine. I didn't have time to f inish my conclusion or proofread since I wrote so much. It'll be ok. I got an 8 last time and wrote a ****ty essay. I am sure I'll get at least a 9 this time.</p>
<p>They spend so little time reading the essay that they <em>probably</em> won't notice.
I wouldn't worry about it.</p>
<p>I hope I still do well since it's going to be close (Since each reader judges it based on a range of 1-6; even without the we I highly doubt it's a 6. Considering the "we" and possibly other mistakes/unclear thoughts it probably wouldn't be a 5, or just barely would be; so I'd get <9/10 then :( ).</p>
<p>What score on the ACT essay corresponds to the score on the SAT essay? For reference, I got a 730 on the SAT essay.</p>
<p>its best to use "one"</p>
<p>I bet the caution is a crutch to warn students away from several artificial forms of "we" that could crop up in an opinion-type essay:</p>
<ol>
<li>the editorial or royal we</li>
</ol>
<p>(important people using "we" to mean "me or I")</p>
<p>"We are going to be elected in November"; </p>
<ol>
<li>The editorial we
(presuming to speak on behalf of a group)</li>
</ol>
<p>" . . . via this logic, we can conclude that . . . "</p>
<p>It's kind of crazy to find fault with "we" if you really mean the first-person plural, as in your essay (if I read the context correctly)</p>
<p>What about "our"? (It refers to something all humans must have, a brain)</p>
<p>I guess it depends on how you presented your essay. If you were giving a specific example about a class of yours or experience, I don't think saying "we" is bad. If you threw it in there in a formal essay, then it's inappropriate. Not a big deal though...</p>
<p>I've taken APs, the SATs 3 times, and the ACT once before this...I'm HORRIFIED of using personal examples (and with that, no personal pronouns like "we", even though they insist you can use it, I usually stick to history or literature or something of the sort, but for this one I was feeling particularly stubborn at the end of the test and was kind of like eh, screw it, and wrote about "my friend", thus using my, I...all that fun stuff. How can you give a personal example without it, though? Like...say you were talking about a story involving your family, what are you going to say, "The mother said this..." that doesn't make sense. I don't know, just trying to make myself feel better? I'm not sure.</p>
<p>First person will not affect your ACT/SAT essays like it will AP essays. Don't overuse it, and I doubt the graders will take note.
Honestly, I used "we" in both of my ACT essays. I didn't receive a perfect score, but I did receive 11s on both, and I don't think refraining from the first person would have bumped my score up a point.</p>
<p>Also, how much does length matter? My essay was only like 1.75 (~500-600 words)? It seems like everybody else wrote at least 2 pages though...(On the SATs I also wrote like 1.75 and got a 730, so I'm not sure...)</p>
<p>mine was 2 pages and like another 1/4 of a page... as long as its solid it will be okay... Length can actually hurt you because most of the time people bs their essays... i used "we" also because it stands as a marker for exemplifying details... soo yeah you can recieve a 12 if your essay is solid</p>
<p>Um, I'm pretty sure I put "we" in my essay at least once, as something like "we Americans" and still got 12/12. This was back in June BTW.</p>
<p>well ACT essays are different that SAT essays. SAT essays are more formal. I constantly used "I" in my ACT essay, because they ask about your own opinion and personal experience. "We" is acceptable. The graders wont give you a 2 on your essay because of it</p>