<p>I just took the December ACT with writing under normal time conditions. I got a 29. I was pretty burned out by the writing section and I only got a 9. I'm planning on applying to Bama, South Carolina, Florida State, and Umich next year. Is this 9 gonna be good enough for these schools or should I take the writing portion again the next time I take the ACT in march? I've heard these writing scores don't matter that much.</p>
<p>To be honest, in the grand scheme of things, the essay score is not too important. And actually, a 9 is pretty great!! Anything ten and above is like in the 99th percentile (I’m almost 100% sure), so a 9 is just below that.
I got an 8 on the ACT essay and a 9 on the SAT essay, but I got a 5 on the AP English Lang exam and an A+ in the class, so clearly I’m not too poor a writer. Even my friend who was short-listed at Oxford for English (a VERY bid deal) didn’t get a great score. Standardized test writing is so different from class writing, and colleges know that. A 9 shows that you are a strong writer who can support assertions well.
A 12 or 11 probably helps, but a 9 absolutely doesn’t hurt. That being said, if you really feel like you want to retake it, go ahead. Also talk to your high school guidance counselor about it. Don’t stress, and have a great rest of what I’m guessing is your junior year!</p>
<p>I got an 8 on my writing score on my September test and it was above 89% of the people who took it in my state. So that’s pretty good. The writing is OPTIONAL as well, so I think colleges also take that into account. A 9 is really good, IMO. I definitely wouldn’t worry about it. It’s not a deal breaker in college admissions.</p>