<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I have an interesting question for you guys. My ingenious brother is a junior in high school and receives extended time on the ACT. He has already taken it once, receiving a composite 30 with a 10 on the essay. </p>
<p>My question: This week, he is taking the state-mandated ACT in Illinois and posed a question for me. Given that he has 6 or so hours to work through the test at his own pace with no time limits on any section, he thought about not filling out the essay at all (taking a 0) and focusing on the other sections to boost his composite, knowing that his previous 10 on the essay is good as is if he sends both scores.</p>
<p>1) Will this affect his English score and/or composite?
2) Would this look bad to a school (0 on the essay) or acceptable because he already has a 10 from a previous test?</p>
<p>Thanks! I had no idea what to tell him since few people run into this situation.</p>
<p>if he already has extra time, he should have time to do the essay as well. i think that would be taking advantage of the situation and kind of crappy.</p>
<p>i suppose you could do this type of this anyway if your school(s) superscore. but still, i don’t think it is the way to go.</p>
<p>Why did you brother have unlimited time the first time…whats his disorder</p>
<p>For the record, when I wrote ingenious, I meant about the idea, but anyways, he has had documented ADD and learning disabilities since he was in preschool.</p>
<p>let’s not judge so quickly. typically, if extended time is given, it is needed.</p>
<p>i personally would not recommend this. he is given the rare opportunity to budget time throughout the whole exam, so he should definitely take advantage of that. this could mean that he could spend a very short amount of time on the essay if he wants, maybe earning a 6 or below. but i really wouldn’t recommend getting a zero. he’s then putting himself in the position where he might have to explain his actions when college applications roll around. that’s never fun.</p>
<p>if i were an admissions officer, i would consider the composite from that exam to be useless and void simply because he didn’t spend any time on the writing. he is given his needed extra time to cover five tests, but if he is choosing to only do four, then it just doesn’t count in my mind.</p>
<p>so like i said, he can put LESS time in on the essay, but i would never ignore it altogether.</p>
<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your input. Thanks to Jax in particular for your open-mindedness. My brother is indeed a very deserving recipient of extra time. </p>
<p>Anyways, if anyone is curious, my father called admissions at University of IL today and spoke to some counselors who all agreed that a blank score on the essay is no problem at all. It turns out lots of kids skip that portion if they’re already happy with an earlier score. Question answered. :)</p>