<p>The deal with the ACT essay is that the score gets shown alone/prominently, while on SAT it gets more mixed in les obviously with the the multiple choice results. My older daughter had a similar experience as son, but she at least got an 8 (50%). I had attributed her ACT/SAT essay score mismatch to a bad day at ACT. So I kicked myself three years later after having my son wing it on the ACT the first time with no practice other than PLAN. </p>
<p>FYI - The ACT website says the GC can get a copy of the essay online, but our GC claimed it was not possible. </p>
<p>Again, the smaller test pool probably has a lot to do with the low % - many students to skip the optional writing since many colleges don’t require it.</p>
<p>The deal with the ACT essay is that the score gets shown alone/prominently, while on SAT it gets more mixed in les obviously with the the multiple choice results.</p>
<p>Is that something new? I just looked at my son’s ACT and SAT scores from a year ago, and the SAT essay score is just as obvious as the ACT essay score. There is a separate line item for the essay score for each. Is it reported differently now?</p>
<p>Besides…scores are often sent electronically to colleges…so wouldn’t each section have a line item, and the essay score have a line item? </p>
<p>More and more colleges are now requiring the essay, so in the future less kids will be skipping the essay. </p>
<p>Since Pepper’s son did very well in the Writing section of the SAT, it just doesn’t seem wise for him to skip the ACT. Scholarships aren’t usually based on the Writing section of the SAT, but it does count for the ACT. The essay scores aren’t considered for scholarships.</p>
<p>CPA who does not have a job right now.</p>
<p>My husband does but they don’t make anything close to what people think they make-we’re not lawyers!</p>
<p>URI is about 25K right now after tuition, fees etc.-that’s about the limit of what we can offer him.</p>
<p>I’ll look into the ACT.</p>
<p>Oops… I apologize if my post scared folks away from ACT writing. mom2college kids is absolutely right. Many of the top schools require the writing component if sending ACTs, so students should take it…especially if a good writers! </p>
<p>My post was done because both my kids got significantly lower raw scores on their ACT essays than on their SAT essay. So my suggestion is to do a practice ACT (and SAT) essay before tests instead of “winging it” the first time like we did. I think PSAT and PLAN “practices” only had multiple-choice questions. </p>
<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>Back to the original topic…
it is crazy to me in these days of computers that it takes so many months to for College Board to chug through the state scores and statistics!</p>
<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>
<p>*CPA who does not have a job right now.</p>
<p>My husband does but they don’t make anything close to what people think they make-we’re not lawyers!</p>
<p>URI is about 25K right now after tuition, fees etc.-that’s about the limit of what we can offer him.</p>
<p>I’ll look into the ACT.*</p>
<p>Well, if you can contribute about $20-25k, then if your son scores well on the SAT or ACT, then a good merit scholarship could reduce your contribution or at least give him more choices w/o increasing your contribution. :)</p>
<p>As for the ACT…schools are going to accept whichever test your child does the best on. You can always choose not to have the scores sent out, but I always had my kids take advantage of the free sends. Your child is still a junior, colleges don’t expect the highest scores to come from junior year. So…no big deal if the first ACT attempt isn’t the best. :)</p>