<p>I took the ACT today and I felt that my handwriting didn't look very neat, mainly because I had a lot to say in my essay (this usually causes me to write quickly). Though I was able to get my main points down and complete the essay with about 2 minutes left, I skimmed it over and noticed that my handwriting didn't look as legible.. at least to me. Other than that, I thought I did a good job.</p>
<p>SO my question is does handwriting affect the essay score in any way? Or are readers used to reading messy handwriting?</p>
<p>I wonder this too! I checked out my SAT essay (a 10/12), and since I’m a lefty, it looked SO SMUDGED. I definitely thought I would do better than a 10, so I sort of attributed the score to the general messiness of the essay. I guess we’ll never really know for sure.</p>
<p>no, handwriting does not matter at all.</p>
<p>As long as they can read your handwriting, it doesn’t matter what it looks like.</p>
<p>hmm, I’m concerned about that for myself, I have never had a teacher that couldn’t read my handwriting but some students can’t read my handwriting well…</p>
<p>Your handwriting will NOT affect your score, unless the reader of your essay is unable to interpret what it says.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, I’m sure you did fine. I think a lot of people get nervous about the essay and how their handwriting appears, because you don’t have a lot of time to plan out what you’re going to write. I’m sure they’ve seen much worse handwriting, in any case.</p>
<p>Wow, there is some poor advice in this thread. Yes, if your essay grader can’t read words, points will be deducted.</p>
<p>I don’t know, my handwriting is absolutely horrendous and i got an 800 on the SAT writing, and I think 10/12 on the essay. So as long as it somewhat resembles words, I’d think you’ll be okay. But as Panther said, if the grader legitimately can’t decipher it, you’ll be in trouble.</p>