Son is taking the ACT later this week, I am beginning to freak out with the new writing scoring method. It looks like the new writing score is based on essay only, and not a combination of English and essay as was with the older tests. Son is scoring between 24 and 30 on the automated test scoring provided by the test prep companies. This corresponds to about 8-10 on the old test. However he is doing well in the English getting 34-36 consistently, in the old scoring method a 34 and and 8 in essay would be 31 in writing. An equivalent of 8 on the essay will be only 24 in the new format. I don’t think he can write that well under pressure to get a 11 or 12, so his max on writing will be appox a 30. Anyone else panicked as I am
The new essay score is independent of the rest of the test. It’s always been an independent section. However, the format (and scoring) of the essay is new. Instead of writing about their own opinions and perspectives, students have to analyze and evaluate three “objective” perspectives provided by the ACT along with the prompt. To get an idea of how this works, have your son go to the ACT website and check out the sample prompt + perspectives for the NEW ACT essay format, specifically the prompt for “Intelligent Machines”. Then have him watch my free video series on how to break down the essay: www.youtube.com/tctutoring
Not trying to be rude at all, but if you’re not the one taking the test, there’s no reason for you to be panicking about it. He’ll do the best he can and he’ll get what he gets. Then he applies to schools based on what he gets. That’s all there is to it. Nothing you can do to help by panicking and freaking out about your son’s standardized testing. 
Don’t worry too much about the combined English / Writing score - colleges are looking especially at Reading and Math scores and then the English and Science test scores. And the essay is, as the 1st respondent stated, technically “optional”, so it doesn’t affect the Composite score of the 4 non-optional tests/sections. In fact, some schools (albeit a few but all high-level ones) have recently come out to declare that they are neither recommending nor requiring the new ACT Writing test. Again, this applies to only very few schools thus far. Goes to show that the good colleges are not united on the value of this new essay (as with the new SAT essay), and will take their time to see how they are graded/scored and how well they measure student’s abilities in essay writing and critical thinking.
I would worry too, if my S/D had to be in the first group with the new scoring system.
The writing score will remain separate from his composite score. So, that should be somewhat of a relief.
A New ELA (English language Arts) score will be generated for test takers who take the optional writing.
It will be based on THREE Parts of the test: English, Reading and Writing. The old system just used English + Writing.
For example 34 E, 31 R, 24 W= 89 and that would give him 29.6 (rounds to a 30)
English and Reading can help balance out the writing to some degree.