What do the SAT/ACT essays say about your writing?

<p>I'm a little distraught by my SAT/ACT essay scores--now I feel like a fraud for helping my classmates out with their school essays.
I'm accustomed to getting high scores on my essays in school; in my AP English Language class, I always scored in the 7-9 range (out of a possible 9) and I maintained an A in the class. My teacher has served as a grader several times for both the AP and SAT exams, so I trusted her judgment, for the most part. When I was younger, I was also a member of the newspaper staff and won awards from writing competitions.
I'm really not trying to build myself up; I'm just getting a little dose of reality from my test scores. I got an 8 out of 12 on both my ACT and SAT essays, which dropped my score on the ACT Writing section to a 32 and my SAT Writing score to a 770. I know my grammar well, but I also know I'm not a very original writer. Ironically enough, I took the SAT in seventh grade and scored a 7. Does this mean as a writer I've only grown 1 point over the past four years?
I know that colleges look at our essays from these test, so I'm worried they will affect my admission--or, worse, that the colleges will think I'm cheating on my actual admissions essay.
So my question is, how consistent are your SAT/ACT essay scores with your writing in school, which score do you believe truly reflects your writing? I wonder if anyone else has encountered the same dilemma.</p>

<p>Don’t worry too much about it. The SAT essay is a 25 minute writing assignment, so it can’t really show much. I don’t think colleges will look at it at all as the make or break admission factor. </p>

<p>I suggest you practice writing SAT essay prompts and have a teacher/tutor look over them for you and give you hints for improvement. </p>

<p>You previous writing and accomplishments show that you are a very talented writer. So don’t worry!</p>

<p>Okay, thanks for the feedback =]</p>