High Composite Score but Low Writing Score

Test Preparation
1

Hey guys,

On the February ACT, I score a 34 on the composite, but a 23 on writing.
What would be the best plan of action for me? A 23 is not ideal, but a 34 was my target goal, and I am not sure if I would be able to duplicate the score.

What should I do?

2

Don’t worry about it. The disproportionately lower essay score is a known issue. There was a recent write up in the Washington Post and there is an associated thread about it on CC. And other threads about poor essay scores.

You could ask ACT to rescore the essay. If the score goes up, you get your fifty bucks back. But from what I have read here, the 23 is better than many who have scored in the high 30s for the MC sections.

3

Thanks!
I knew of the low writing score issue that a lot of people were having, so I was shooting for a 27 on writing. It just ticks me off on how I did well on the composite but poorly on writing!

4

Would you suggest a retake of the ACT, just to see what happens?

5

Here are some tips if you want to retake it! I got a 34 on my writing and honestly it was pretty bad and was all over the place. The only two things that I think helped

  1. Use your best handwriting(they say this doesn’t matter but subconsciously it does) and try and write on the bigger side to fill up more of the page. Just the essay looking longer seems to give you at least a few more points
  2. Make something up.- got this idea from a prep book so I think it’s ok to use. First try to see if you can come up with something true but if not make it up. What I did each time was just come up with a study to support my claim. For example if the question was should we still have the penny I would say no and that the US Mint just conducted a new study claiming that 65% of the population think the penny is worthless. The act people are grading hundreds of these a day and aren’t going to spot check your work