I got a 33 composite on the ACT with a 35 in math (planning on doing engineering). When i received my scores I was overjoyed. However, I have just received my writing scores and I got a 16… out of 36. I didn’t know numbers could go that low. I’m about to send a letter in to request a re-score on my essay, but im still concerned. Will competitive colleges just throw out my application if they see a score that low?
PS: I also have an SAT of 2040, with a 10 on the essay, but would really prefer to send in the ACT because of the high math score. Should I just suck it up and send SAT If my scores don’t come back higher?
PPS: I’m planning on applying to most of the UCs and Harvey Mudd, Columbia and Caltech. MY GPA is 4.0 UW (yes, even AP English classes)(I really am a good writer i swear!)
For the writing portion for the new ACT, I believe the maximum that you can get is 24, not 36, unless I’m reading the rubric incorrectly. There are four subcategories and each is worth a maximum of 6 points. Don’t know if that matters with respect to your decision. What is a 16 in percentile terms?
from what I can see on my scores that isn’t true @mamaedefamilia under the scores on my score report it says that domain scores range from 2-12 and that the overall score ranges from 1-36 for writing
@sallyarmy48 My bad, then, sorry! I saw a rubric for the writing portion of the new ACT on their site that had four domains, each worth a maximum of 6 points. Two readers evaluate their essay and if they don’t agree fairly closely, it is read by a third. There must be some other calculation they do to convert the result into a 1-36 scale. Sorry to have steered you wrong. Did they translate the 16 into a percentile?
here’s the rubric (remove the space, not hotlinked), FWIW.
@mamaedefamilia Two readers give a score 1-6 and those are added to get the score for each domain. And, no, it doesnt say what percentile a 16 was.
my domain scores were 5,5,6 and 6
source:
www.actstudent.org/writing/writing-scores.html
@sallyarmy48 Hey there, not trying to argue with you, just trying to puzzle this out as your score is inconsistent with both your SAT writing score and your ACT overall. Something seems wrong here.
The ACT site says the following:
“When you take the writing test, you’ll receive a writing test score on a scale of 1-36 and four writing domain scores (Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions), each scored on a scale of 2-12.”
“Two trained readers will score your essay on a scale of 1-6 IN EACH OF THE FOUR WRITING DOMAINS. Each domain score represents the SUM of the two readers’ scores.”
As I read this, it suggests that the maximum number of points is 48 (24 per reader, 6 points per domain, 4 domains). Then that raw score would be converted somehow into a 1-36 point scale.
So, if I’m reading your results right, the readers each gave you 2-3 points per domain for a total of 22 points out of a possible 48. That seems low. Did you look at the scoring rubric that I posted earlier? Perhaps it might give you some clues. If it seems inaccurate, you might want to contact the ACT people.
Finally, here is a thread that talked about successful strategies for the writing portion. Good luck!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/act-preparation/1817932-tips-for-a-36-on-the-essay.html#latest
What was your ACT English score?
@mamaedefamilia thank you
@GriffBaum 33
I’m pretty sure the writing score is calculated by taking you English score and your Essay score and combining it in some way. If you got a 16 on the writing with a 33 English you must have really bombed your essay. What was your essay score? It should say. The essay is out of 12.
In my opinion, asking for a rescore on the writing section is a waste of time since they are not required to provide you with any proof that actually did the rescoring. They only send a letter saying they did it and I have never heard of an essay score being changed in that letter. They have no incentive to change the score since they would have to return your fees ($75 or something?) if they did and also it would say that their essay readers are fallible (which they are) and the whole process is subjective (which it is). It’s kind of a scam in my opinion and free money for the organization since there is no accountability that they are actually doing the rescoring.
@GriffBaum - ACT has “enhanced” the writing (essay) section of the ACT as of 09/2015 and now the scoring is 1-36 on the essay.
@GriffBaum No the writing section is calculated just based off of your essay. You can read about it on the ACT’s website if you’re still confused.
Did you decide to rescore/retake due to your lower writing? I am in a similar situation with high composite and 19 for essay. Interested to hear you decided to do. Thank you.
I decided to get a rescore even though I doubt it will change my score because I really don’t want to retake. If the score doesn’t change im planning on submitting both ACT and SAT so that they can see that I can write (I got a 10 on the SAT essay) @youshan
It is out of 36, I got a 36 on the writing and it comprises of four subscores that may reach 12
Just an update for everyone, I got my rescore back, and it went up four points to 20. Not what I was hoping for but Ill take it, hahaha
I am prepping my son right now for the ACT so have spent considerable time understanding how the essay (new as of Sep 2015) is scored. Here is the simplest, clearest explanation I can come up with. First of all, the essay scoring is now completely independent of the multiple-choice English test, and is reported separately. Two readers read each essay. Each reader grades the essay based on four categories (Ideas & Analysis, Development & Support, Organization, Language Use). For each of these four categories, each reader grades the essay from 1 to 6, with 1 the worst and 6 the best. Then the grades of the two readers are added togther. Because the lowest grade is a 1 (not zero), the lowest grade any essay can receive is an 8 (if both readers give it a 1 in all four categories). Similarly, the highest grade any essay can receive is a 48 (two readers each giving it a 6 in all four categories). Thus, the raw score scale of the essay is 8-48. Then, the ACT waves its magic wand, applies its statistical algorithms and converts the score to 1-36 scale. However, while the essay is ultimately reported on a scale of 36 like the other portions of the exam, it is reported separately and not included in the ACT composite score, which remains (English + Math + Reading + Science)/4. I hope that make sense.