<p>I took the ACT Sept 16 with writing. I've never taken it before, and my only prep was like an hour of reading number2.com. So...what was up with that essay topic? It was something along the lines of: should academic traditions such as homecoming, pep rallies, and prom continue to be allowed to take up the money and energy of schools, or should they be abolished?</p>
<p>Okay. Just to get this straight, I love essay writing. I'm taking AP Eng Lit right now; took Lang & Composition last year-- and I fricken love those prompts. We do practice essays all the time in class and I consistently score well. I got a 5 on the Eng AP last year. </p>
<p>So, is this stupid school prompt typical of the ACT? I may retake but if I have to write another of this type of essay there is no way I'll do writing. This prompt was like SAT but even more inane. </p>
<p>I read somewhere that the ACT essay is supposed to address a topic relevant to high-schoolers. Well. This is an excellent way to encourage professional and scholarly writing, isn't it? Talk down to us and pretend that all we care about is whether or not we're going to prom with that hottie. It's stupid and unrepresentative of any sort of proficiency in writing (This prompt made me angry and I had a very hard time not spending pages bashing the school system and society in general. I sure hope my reader is not a cheerleader because the acrid comments I erased were pressed really hard into that paper.)</p>
<p>Heh. Sorry for venting and stuff. I guess I really just want to know how representative this prompt was of most ACT prompts.</p>
<p>the essays on the ACT are just like that, which i think, is amazing. they tailor the questions so the test takers will be able to have an actual opinion about it, rather than the ambiguous SAT essays "prove this obscure statement to be true or false using history, literature, etc..." i like them because they are easier to BS :) lol</p>
<p>I didn't take the Sept. ACT, but how does the prompt, as stated in the original post, "talk down to us and pretend that all we care about is whether or not we're going to prom with that hottie"?</p>
<p>I know I'm being b*tchy and cynical, but I thought the prompt was completely irrelevant and completely uninteresting. Personally, I am of the opinion that these activities are a waste of time and resources, but I can certainly understand the point of view that they are worthwhile. And though it's hard, I can conceive of how this prompt might be interesting to some people. Either way, however, it's a moot point, because this sort of thing would never ever be abolished. (Or at least I assume so. Can you imagine the outcry if they took away prom?) </p>
<p>So basically, all you can do is either agree and repeat what they said in the prompt for two pages, or disagree and sound like an anti-social phreak. (Heh, I know I did. I don't expect to be scored all that well, for my essay was critical and sarcastic and made fun of the school system. I expect that a fair amount of readers are involved in public education?) </p>
<p>So, I mis-spoke (mis-wrote? :D) above; it doesn't "talk down," but rather, is condescending in that nothing we say could ever be relevant. I guess it's just that I'm much more comfortable writing essays that could actually be viable essays...out there! In the world! Not just some stupid paper that we turn in for school, that we BS, that we write with the hope that the grader is enough of a fool to accept it.</p>
<p>Having done quite a bit of writing "out there, in the real world," in addition to many years of academic writing beyond high school, my opinion is completely opposite yours: AP English essays are total BS that you "write with the hope that the grader is enough of a foot to accept it". The ACT prompts are strictly supposed to test your writing ability, not your knowledge of history or literature, so the topics are those that ALL high-schoolers are qualified to have an opinion about, not just those who've had the opportunity to take AP courses.</p>
<p>The vast majority of viable, real-world essays are about actual questions and problems that need to be addressed and solved, or real changes that people want to make, not questions that are made up solely for the sake of academic self-gratification.</p>
<p>I also can't imagine why a response to this prompt would be any less representative of your writing skill than any other.</p>