I have always felt that the ACT/SAT essay graders look for semi-formulaic essays that express good ideas and strong arguments in a way that the graders can pick up fast. I just learned that this September, the ACT is changing their writing to have 3 perspectives that need to be analyzed. So, obviously a format for the old ACT writing won’t really work here.
I took a practice writing test and saw the new prompt without prior knowledge of the changes. This is the format I used, basically:
PAR 1
Intro sentence(s), summarizing the problem/issue at hand
Summary of 3 viewpoints in 3 sentences
Claim, restating the viewpoint I agree with [or taking pieces from viewpoints]…and brief reasons for why this viewpoint is correct (will be elaborated upon later)
PAR 2
“Some allege that [viewpoint 1] is correct. However…”
Reasons that they’re wrong
Therefore, viewpoint cannot be correct
PAR 3
repeat for viewpoint 2
PAR 4
viewpoint 3 IS correct
reasons it makes sense
Thus, viewpoint 3 is the only sensible opinion
PAR 5
“There is controversy over ___ and people generally hold one of three views”
summarize 3 views, and briefly recap general reasons people are misguided
end with the correct viewpoint, putting it above all the others
The practice essay grader (albeit from a test prep company, so not all that trustworthy) gave me a 10, which I’d be happy with on the real test. I used pretty much the exact format above and I think my arguments were pretty strong. Can anyone give me feedback on the format? Thanks.
I would make it clearer that this is what you think. You may agree with one of the three OR form a new one based on parts of the three statements. It will lead you to a stronger conclusion.
^That test prep company is scoring the essay incorrectly. 10 is not a score. The “Preparing for the ACT” guide explains the new scoring system.
You get a 1 to 6 grade on each of the four categories. The max points you can get from one reader is 24. Another reader is another 24 max.
Whatever the total points are between the two readers (48pts max) is then converted to a scaled score of 1-36.
For example,
Reader #1:
–Ideas and Analysis: 4
–Development and Support: 4
–Organization: 4
–Language Use and Convention: 3
Reader #1 Raw Points: 15.
Reader #2:
–Ideas and Analysis: 5
–Development and Support: 4
–Organization: 5
–Language Use and Convention: 4
Reader #2 Raw Points: 18
Total Raw Points (Readers 1+2): 33.
33 Raw Points is then converted to a scaled score of 26 (using the scoring scale in the “Preparing for the ACT”; the scale will probably vary from essay to essay).
It doesn’t seem that formulaic at all. Could I potentially be penalized for having a too typical-middle-schooly format? Should I worry about making it more like the sample essay (coherent and just free-flowing), not sticking to a rigid format?
edit: that conclusion…wow. Since the essay was probably written by an ACT executive and graded by an executive, is it too risky to use that kind of conclusion knowing a grader may dislike it?