I don't want to sound stupid...

<p>but how does the ACT work? lol... I took the test in October (avec Writing)... how do the scores work?</p>

<p>Like... I'm paying the eight dollars tomorrow to see my "early score"... what does that mean? I know it excludes the writing section... but... say I get..</p>

<p>20E/20M/20S/20R.... does that mean I get a 20 composite? and then 3-4 weeks later I find out I get a... 6 on the essay... does my English score change, or what? BLAH...</p>

<p>Anecdotes welcome!!</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>( I couldn't find any threads... so i started my own...)</p>

<p>Tommrow you can pay $8 to get your scores early excluding the writing section. The writing section is not included in the overall composite score. The composite score is figured by adding all the sub-section scores and divinding it by 4 (the average).</p>

<p>I have edited my original post because I thought that the composite score was not an average of the sub scores but looking back at an old scores thread it does seem to work that way. Within a subject they do not total e.g. an 18 in usage and mechanics and a 16 in rhetorical skills does nor necessarily give you a 34 in English. There is some sort of curve that differs for each test - don't know exactly how that is decided.
Your essay score will not change your composite or your English mc score within the composite. It is shown as a seperate score (from 1-12 based on 2 seperate reader that can score you up to 6). That score is then combined with your writing score from the multiple choice to give you a writing score - but is still shown seperate from from the multiple choice/composite scores. In my daughters case he essay score and mc English score were in the same ballpark so her score was unchanged. From what I have read most colleges regard the new essay part of the ACT as too new to really be useful.</p>

<p>Hopefully most of us that wanted to pay $8 to see the Oct 28 results got the composite score today – English, Mathematic, Reading and Science. When will the writing scores be released? It seems like you can go and pay another $8 to get the writing scores before they are mailed out.</p>

<p>Two of the schools that my D is applying to require the writing score, but it appears that they will be using the information to analyze the numbers to help determine if and how they will be useful in the future. If this is true, when the writing section will be available is a mute point.</p>

<p>"It seems like you can go and pay another $8 to get the writing scores before they are mailed out."</p>

<p>Yup, you can. But by then, the writing score will just arrive in like 3 days anyways. Hardly worth it.</p>

<p>If I paid to send out my score reports to a bunch of colleges today, will they send my writing scores with them...or was I supposed to wait until writing became available before I sent?</p>