<p>For me, seeing a 29% on the ACT percentile graph looked alarming (I’m an engineer - my eyes gravitate to the bar charts). Thinking it over now, maybe it was not a big deal since the 33 composite score was great.</p>
<p>Yes, the 33 composite was the important part. :)</p>
<p>I don’t think colleges place a lot of weight on the essay score since grading it is rather unscientific and such a short time is given to write the essays. </p>
<p>Also… Colleges also understand that some kids - who may be good writers - cannot write well in a very short time. Some writers like to “marinate” in the prompt for awhile, so those kids aren’t going to write as well. Plus, some prompts are just going to cause problems for some kids who can’t quickly think of what to write.</p>
<p>Each essay is electronically sent out to two “qualified English teachers” who separately read and give the essay a score of 1-6. The two scores are added together. If there is a big discrepancy (more than 2 points, I think) between the two essay grades, a 3rd teacher grades the essay. I can’t remember what is done then, but I imagine that the 2 highest scores are then added together (others can correct me if I’m wrong.)</p>