I made a 30 on reading and I didn’t annotate. I think you should only annotate if you have trouble remembering what you read.
@Real4name I waiting on scores. Mine has said “view scores” for the past week, yet when I open it a message pops up saying they received but haven’t finished grading my answer sheet.
Do you think the colleges will know that a 23 on writing is 83rd percentile? It just sounds and looks so low, especially compared with a 36 reading/36 English and composite of 35. The grading of these seems way off. Here is a quote about how the norms for Sept’15 on (i.e., Sept and Oct tests) were developed: “ELA and writing norms are initially based on one special study.” Not sure about this “special study.”
Really don’t want to re-take it, given 35 composite. But a 23 writing for a humanities kid? Not good for top schools, right? Thoughts?
I finally received my scores!!!
C: 30
E: 27
M: 27
R: 33
S: 31
W: 17 I am extremely worried about this… With my last ACT I got a 24 which is still not good, but not as terrible.
Oh my godness this is embarrasing. I just got my writing scores.
English: 34
Reading: 32
Writing: 10!
This was the last time taking the test, and my last writing score was a 24 -.-
Mine still shows “Registered Standby”. It’s been the same since I registered (only change: “View Ticket” blanked out). Legitimately pissed off now. Strong concern ACT may have misplaced my papers / screwed up elsewhere. This could’ve helped for EA/ED applications… 
Am I the only one ?
@dixoncider , mine is the same as yours, except I don’t have standby … Just registered. Did you call them?!
Can we all agree that the ACT essay scoring is extremely inconsistent & honestly terrible?
Scores came out:
36 C
36 E
36 R
34 S
36 M
And a 29 in writing? Seems like everyone I’ve seen so far is getting writing scores significantly lower than the rest of their sections.
Still haven’t received my scores either. Others from my test center (that I have talked to) received their scores last week, which is weird lol.
32 in writing! My English and Language Arts is a 34 combined… 
@jwn9917 Nope, I never annotate. It’s a waste of time. I just answer all the “what is a synonym/definition/antonym/etc. for X?” questions, and read as quickly as possible. A tip my teacher gave me (that I do not employ, but may be helpful) is to read the first and last sentence of every paragraph in a passage. I tried it once and, honestly, it’s a decent strategy (especially considering the time limit), but yeah.
@youalreadyknow7 Nope, it was 17/18/18. ): I’m confused now, you missed more than me yet scored higher? I’m happy that you have a 36, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. What is wrong with the ACT’s curve?
Writing score came out. I’m pleasantly surprised to see that I got a 32 in writing.
@Lynkos can you tell me how exactly you tackled the writing prompt?
@leonardo2020 Certainly! It’s worth noting that I did no preparing for the writing section at all, I only read a few tips about the ACT essay (which helped in my favor, and I shall share with you), meaning that it’s possible to awesome! For simplicity, I’ll list it out:
[ul][]I used somewhat ornate/unconventional diction that, at the same time, wasn’t strange. For example, words not seen too often (in high school essays) like “albeit”, “ergo”, “welkin”, “prate”, etc.
[li][Extensive] use of figurative language (top two I used were imagery and metaphors) when applicable. Without figurative language essays quickly become dull[/li][]Writing in third person
[]Before writing, you’ll most likely be forced to choose between two sides; write down the pros and cons for both sides (on the planning sheet), then choose the one with the most pros (because this will give you the most things to write about)
[]Writing an interesting hook, then writing an amazing thesis (with three general points that you are going to elaborate on in the following paragraphs), then ending the paragraph in such a way that it leads into the next paragraph (without being too obvious either)
[]Pretty much end each paragraph as described above (by ending it in such a way that it smoothly leads into the next paragraph)
[]Not using extremely common transition words for paragraphs. For example, try to avoid “firstly”, “additionally”, “finally”, “also”, “in sum”, “in conclusion” as transition words. I’m not saying you can not use them, because you can of course, but try to avoid using them as transition words (e.g. the first word in each paragraph) because they’re extremely common, and the graders might get tired of reading the same transition words
[]When addressing your points, use examples. One or two are good enough. For example, when writing about why an environmental bill should be passed (and you’re for the bill), you can cite successful, previous environmental legislation from the 1970s (e.g. Clean Air Act) and basically tell the reader, “This bill is good for us because, if we look at previous bills, they were all successful and did not produce any harmful repercussions. So if it’s like that for them, then this one will most likely yield the same/similar results.” Well, that’s just a summary of what I’d try to write, not what I’d actually write haha
[]Acknowledge counterarguments to your points, in the same paragraph, as well. Then, refute them. For example, if you’re writing about whether or not to pass an environmental bill (and you’re for passing the bill), you can mention that, yes, the bill certainly will be quite costly, however it will save money in the long-run by saving resources that may be depleted after a certain amount of years and preventing pollution, thus preventing the need to spend millions of dollars cleaning up the pollution and creating artificial resources that could have been saved had the bill been passed. In that manner I acknowledge the cons of it but also confute the counterargument. Confuting is akin to saying, “Checkmate!” haha
[li]I did not write a conclusion (I couldn’t finish!) and I don’t think I finished my fourth paragraph (or was it third? I forgot…), so yeah. Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t affect your ACT composite score[/li][/ul]But that’s all. I have a link for additional tips that I may have failed to mention:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/act-preparation/1137654-act-essay-guide-how-to-get-a-12.html
The above link is essentially a better explanation of most of my tips, but it’s pretty insightful.
But yeah, basically just write different (but not unprofessional at the same time) and you’ll be good. Hope I helped! (:
So, I went to look for a guideline of the score breakup and found a new scoring scheme for tests taken since Sept, 2015.
A writing score of 20= national distribution of cumulative % of 68%. It is not the same as STEM or ELA scores. The metrics are different. For example, writing score of 32 and above= 99% percentile, while STEM scores of 33 and above is 99 percentile and ELA of 31 is also 99 percentile.
@Lynkos Do you know what form you had? I had 75A
My writing score was just graded, I got a 34! Had been super worried as I ran out of time so not sure what happened… the essay scoring seems to be incredibly random.
If I selected a school for my scores to be sent to before I took the test, how do I know if my scores will be sent?
Great Job @zeppelins . Can you tell us what you essay was like so we can learn from yours?
How long?
Any tips you can share?