<p>I recently took the ACT in February and scored a 35 as my composite score. However, I scored a 6 on my essay. I was terribly disappointed, and I'm afraid that I may have to take it again to bring up my essay score. I believe I'm a strong writer, so I have no idea how I scored so low. Time was not an issue at all since I've always been a fairly quick writer, but I think it may have to do with the lack of many specific examples in my essay.</p>
<p>I really don't want to take it again since I'm scared of bringing my composite score down, but my parents really hate my essay score and want me to take it again. Should I? Does the essay matter very much to admissions counselors? I plan to apply to highly selective (but non-Ivy) schools such as WashU and Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>I took the February ACT and was disappointed in my essay score as well. I think it was partially due to the fact that the essay topic was terrible! </p>
<p>Anyways, I don’t think you should retake it just to bring up writing score. IMO, admissions people should be able to tell that you are a strong student by your essays, english grades/scores, etc. </p>
<p>There have been several other threads on exactly this topic recently. There appear to be quite a few students who got ACT composites from 34-36 and yet only got 6-8 on the essays. It seems to be happening often enough to be a pattern rather than a rare exception. I would thus think that many top schools are not taking the results of the writing score very seriously, because those results are inconsistent with the rest of the test.</p>
<p>LoremIpsum: That really makes me feel a lot better. I’ve been pretty worried about this lately, but I think it’s time for me to just put the ACT in the past. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I would not worry about it. The same thing happened to my daughter last year. She had good scores on her AP lit and Lang classes and tests which is a better indicator than a 25 minute essay. My D got accepted at 5/6 schools to which she applied including 2 ivies, and was waitlisted at the other.</p>
<p>Also, as a student at one of the ivies, she is at the top of the class in her writing class. In fact her professor is trying to convert her to an english major because he loves her writing.</p>
<p>She got a 6 on her ACT essay. It means nothing and the admissions officers know this. The test is looking for a certain formulaic type of writing.</p>
<p>Now if you got a “C” in english class at school, maybe you would want to re-take to boost the score but even then a 12 would not outweigh the C. (but I doubt you got a C, if you got a 35 composite).</p>
<p>The only place it would hurt you is if you are applying to schools who are looking at the English Combined score, in which case that would hurt you a lot, given your low essay score. Examples of schools that do this: Georgia Tech, Berkeley, and possibly some others.</p>
<p>TKsmom: That’s great! Congrats to your daughter for getting into an Ivy. I’m a straight-A English student and hope to score a 5 on both the AP English exams, so I’m glad to hear that will help.</p>
<p>WongTongTong: I just looked to see which colleges actually look at my essay score and was happy to see that only a couple that I plan to apply to actually want the essay. Thanks for the advice – I didn’t realize that not all colleges care about it.</p>
<p>I got a 35 on English and a 9 on the essay when I took it last June. I think they just grade them weirdly/pick stupid topics for you to write about.</p>
<p>ACT Writing scores are not a very good indicator of writing quality, especially when it comes to academic writing.</p>
<p>Since the ACT Writing is so new, many colleges aren’t even considering it for admissions, but are simply collecting data. Those that are considering it aren’t putting a whole lot of weight on it, as your essays are a much better indicator of your writing abilities.</p>
<p>The writing score is far less important than your composite score. Your composite score is absolutely excellent. I therefore would not recommend retaking it to improve the writing score.</p>
<p>I scored a 36 composite (143) with an 8 on the essay. I did not even consider attempting to improve the essay.</p>
<p>My son got an early acceptance letter from Amherst today, so it looks like a lousy essay score didn’t hurt him a bit. Other decisions are pending April 1st.</p>
<p>To back up what LoremIpsum stated, I recently scored a 35 composite and an 8 on the essay. I think its due to a combination of horrible prompts, at least recently, and graders not accurately taking into account the time constraints during the essay portion of the testing.</p>
<p>Saturday update: My son got another early acceptance letter today, this time from Williams. Both of these top LACs emphasize writing across their curriculums, so it looks pretty clear that his essay score has not been a limiting factor.</p>