<p>There’s no reason to avoid the ACT. </p>
<p>Both tests have a graded essay. The ACT essay isn’t any harder than the SAT essay. </p>
<p>Colorado_mom’s concern could equally apply to the SAT.</p>
<p>I doubt there is any “special criteria” for ACT essay. My boys each took the SAT and the ACT 3 times and their essay scores were not noticeably different (scores of 10-12). I’m not saying that Colorado’s son isn’t a fine writer, but the SAT Writing score is not an indication of one’s writing ability. It’s more of an indication of copy editing ability (finding others’ mistakes, rather than composing one’s own essays).</p>