<p>I am a junior in the process of registering for the feb. ACT, but I'm not sure whether I should take the writing section or not. will colleges even care for it? will some want a composite score that includes the essay? </p>
<p>I'm not familiar with this and I apologize if this is a stupid question!</p>
<p>Most schools require that you take the ACT with writing.</p>
<p>take the writing.</p>
<p><em>first</em> the section is pretty easy. I have found that unlike the SAT writing there is no point in taking time to plan what to write (in fact this actually hurt me). if you are ok or decent writer and you just start writing you should get a good amount of chunk in and should get a good score (my experience). on other stuff I plan my points so that i'll have a great cohisive essay but on the ACT i have found that decent writing and a lot of it will get a good score.</p>
<p><em>second</em> if you have schools that will want the writing and schools that dont, the ones that dont will not look at it pure and simple. if you dont take the writing on the other hand and a school wants it then that can become a problem...so I say give it a try.</p>
<p><em>third</em> I have found that when talking about the composite scores schools, whehter they want the writing component or not, do not include the writing part in the composite.</p>
<p><em>fourth</em> look at some books and practice essays. if you you really do not want to take it, feel that will do badly on it, or feel that will not do anything for admissions then dont take it.</p>
<p>Even if you know all the schools you are going to apply to (probably unlikely) and none of them require the test, you lose nothing by taking the test. If you do well, it will look good, even if the colleges you ultimately apply to don't officially require it. If you don't do well, this will give you experience with the test. You have chances to take it again and improve your score.</p>
<p>And if it turns out you don't need the test and never get the hang of it anyway, you can take the ACT without the writing test down the road and just report that test date.</p>
<p>thank you! I have registered for it to include writing. now the test (3 hr 35 min) is almost as long as the SAT. oh well, at least there's not 10 sections.</p>
<p>also, when is the info confirming my test center supposed to be sent? I live in Fl, as you see.</p>
<p>Unless things have changed in the last year and a half, you should get the testing center information fairly quickly after registration. Maybe a week or so -- that's my recollection anyway.</p>
<p>My daughter didn't get her first choice of test center either time. I suppose if your first choice is the school you attend there is no problem. But she homeschooled and so we had to go to places with openings for outsiders. This didn't take us that far out of our way, though, so it wasn't a big deal.</p>
<p>I hope you get some place close!</p>