I am currently a senior, and I took the ACT with Writing in September. I scored a 36 on the composite, which I am (obviously) very happy with. I did not do nearly as well on the writing. I got an 8/12, whereas I scored a 9/12 the last time I took the ACT. This is a little bit odd, since I thought that I wrote a better essay this time. But, that’s beside the point. My question is whether or not I should report my writing score. I feel that reporting the 8 will take away from the fact that I do have a perfect composite score. None of the schools I am applying to require the Writing section, so I don’t know how much they will care if I got a score of 8. Thank you!
Report it – an 8 is still 80+ percentile which is fine. If you omit it, then it will look worse.
I had the exact same thing! I got a 9 the first time on writing and an 8 this time when I felt I wrote better this time. They must’ve been grading this one hard.
@dana1233 you don’t have a choice to report the writing separate from the composite. If you submit the testing date with the 36 - the writing taken on that test dates goes with it. That is the issue with these tests. My son got a 35 composite on his first try and not such a great writing. If he submits the 35 - the writing goes with it. Some schools say they don’t require the writing, but let’s face it, it is on the score report and can be seen. The 8 is great! Don’t worry about it. What did you get for a composite on the test with the 9/12?
If a school does not require writing, then I may not take it. If a schoo! requires writing take it. If writing is a very strong area for you, take it. If writing is difficult avoid the writing section. Then spend you time reading books about college writing and practice, practice, practice.
There are two main factors. First whether the writing section is required by the schools you will apply should be central when deciding where to apply. Second, how well you write may determine whether you take the writing test.
Here is no satisfactory response to the level of difficulty of specific sections or the composite score. It’s sorta lime asking how long is a piece of string. Practically, if I was applying to only one school that required writing and I was applying for no particular reason, I would not take the writing section unless it was required by a key school.