<p>My junior daughter has taken 2 SATs and 3 ACTs and would like to consider herself done. The only issue is that her essay scores have been consistently low, 6's and 8's, yet we believe that she is a good writer. Not only has she excelled in writing at her rigorous high school, but she also does well on the English/Writing sections of these tests (ACT 34(pre essay), SAT 720(after essay)). </p>
<p>We haven't been too hung up on this, but would anyone foresee a problem? We aren't thinking that she should take the tests again because, except for the essays, she's happy with her scores. She is looking at some non-Ivy, highly selective schools. Thoughts?</p>
<p>A professor at MIT demonstrated in a paper that SAT and ACT scores were almost wholly based not on content but on length. He had a reporter hold up writing samples across the room and was able to guess the score 90 percent of the time just by seeing its length.</p>
<p>My son is a right-brained learner that has trouble getting his thoughts on paper quickly, since he sees pictures and interwoven matrices of concepts in his head. He got a score similar to what your daughter got on his writing – but got every single question on the ACT itself correct. We thought it would be patently stupid – possibly obsessive – for him to retake a perfect 36.0 just to improve an essay score.</p>
<p>My son is an excellent writer, even won a history fair competition, he’s just slow on timed tests done by hand (he was using a keyboard well before he was 2 – who writes long passages by hand anymore?). His counselor said not to worry about it, and he did in fact apply to a couple of Ivies. He’s first and foremost a math and science geek, however. </p>
<p>It could be a factor in your daughter’s case if she wishes to major in a writing-intense field, not an issue if she wants to go into math or engineering, considering the shortage of interested and qualified females in these areas. If you’re concerned, you might be able to compensate with a letter of recommendation from an English teacher – one who raves about her writing ability yet also addresses her “weakness” on timed writing tests. Adcoms often like balanced letters like this because they seem more honest.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response, LoremIpsum. I do think time is an issue. Actually, while she has every intention of going to med school, my daughter intends to major in history and French. I believe her school work would speak for itself if it came to it. I suppose the problem is that we would never know it is an issue. For example, on a recent large paper about a fictional book, her teacher (a doctorate-degreed,former college professor) commented that she would have been happy to receive the paper from a graduate student. Perhaps we should consider submitting it as additional to her app for some schools (or maybe bring it to an interview). Not sure how it all works yet. She has two older siblings, but their college admissions experiences were completely based on GPA and test scores.</p>
<p>The schools will have a writing sample from her in the form of application essays, and her recommendation letters could touch on her writing skills. </p>
<p>As I understand it, the way to get a high score on those essays is to write as much as possible and shoe-horn in as much complex vocabulary as possible, even if it is neither necessary nor appropriate to the situation. </p>
<p>My kid, a strong writer, also did not score as well as we expected on the essays, but her overall scores were strong and her essays on her applications were reasonable representations of her work. So far, her admissions experience has been favorable.</p>
<p>I got a 36 on the ACT but a 7 on what I thought was a well-written essay. I don’t think that score means anything and I don’t think schools pay much attention to it.</p>
<p>Most schools do not care much about the ACT or SAT essay portions.</p>
<p>Many are still collecting data on them (and are only requiring them for that purpose) to determine their usefulness in admissions. Thus, at many schools, they have little to no impact on your decision.</p>
<p>The schools will learn much more about your writing from the quality of your essays and your performance in English classes.</p>
<p>I would not be surprised if schools decided the ACT and SAT essays weren’t worth considering within the next few years, as the scores on those essays say relatively little about your ability to write academically (which is what the colleges care about). They’re more akin to 5th grade writing than college writing.</p>
<p>I consider myself quite a strong writer, and believe that shows up in my essays. I scored an 8 on the ACT writing next to a 36 composite, and did not even consider retaking it to improve on my writing score.</p>
<p>The effect of a low or mediocre writing score on admissions is negligible, especially next to otherwise strong standardized test scores, which your daughter clearly has. I recommend not worrying about it in the slightest.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone. I am much less concerned after reading all of your replies!</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters. My son is also an excellent writer, he loves to write, and he got a 9 on the essay (730 overall and a 2320 on whole SAT test). He misread the question and had to work his way back on topic. He also has poor, slow handwriting. I think we were hoping for a 10 on the essay but a 9 was good enough.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Yeah, nothing wrong with a good solid 9 next to those scores. The writing score is utterly pointless IMO.</p>