<p>Do you prepare for the writing section? If you do, how did you prepare? I never practice this section, maybe that's why my score is bad...:(</p>
<p>I didn’t, but I’d suggest getting some practice tests from the ACT red book or other test prep services. I’d try to improve on finding grammar/punctuation mistakes within passages. Agreement, tenses, that sort of thing, too.</p>
<p>I also did not practice, but it would probably be a good idea to prepare before test day. You should either find or invent a multitude of school-related prompts and write an essay for each one (in 30 minutes, of course). When you’re practicing, make sure you are aware of your grammar, sentence structure, and diction, and also try to fill up as much space as possible- while a more lengthy essay doesn’t necessarily translate to better writing, it is often said that a longer essay correlates with a higher score. After you finish, you should have someone read and grade it (a friend or teacher or even the CC community =] ).</p>
<p>“it is often said that a longer essay correlates with a higher score.”</p>
<p>Correlation does not always imply causation. Just saying :)</p>
<p>^Very true, I should have clarified :)</p>
<p>Does grammar matter a lot on the ACT’s writing section? I know that for SAT they’re a little more lax on it. </p>
<p>I don’t understand how some ppl can write like 4 pages in 30min. I’d get hand cramps! lol But I’m desperate to get at least a 10 so i really need to write at least 2 pages…</p>
<p>^I know exactly what you mean! My hand would start cramping so much that I would have to stop, crack my knuckles (probably disturbing the whole room), and shake my hand. It was so pathetic :)</p>
<p>And to answer your first question, grammar does not matter THAT much when it comes to your score. Unless you make blatant mistakes, the reader probably will not notice any error.</p>
<p>I wrote the crappiest 2.5 pages of my life, and got an 11, whereas i actually used real life history examples in SAT and got a 10. ACT essays are a bit weird.</p>
<p>Did you use personal examples? And would it be bad if you started writing as first person then switched to third person?</p>
<p>I used a hypothetical scenario, a personal example, and one counterargument. That’s it. If you’re going to use personal examples, you MUST (obviously) use first person, but in that corresponding paragraph only; switching to third is acceptable if you do not plan on talking about yourself. (another obvious). So, yes, if done properly, is the answer to the question.</p>
<p>Alright thanks so much! :D</p>
<p>@OP- This was my first time taking the act, I didn’t prepare for it at all, just wanted to see where I was without doing anything. So for the essay, the essay question was a lot more specific than I thought it would be so I could not really use historical/books/science examples. </p>
<p>So I just wrote an AP comp-like essay, just appealed to pathos and logos and I addressed the unstated assumption through 3 theoretical reasons, I guess it worked, I received a 11 (essay was about 3.5 pages).</p>
<p>Interesting. Unfortunately my AP Lang teacher was horrible so I learned nothing, and thus had to resort on writing naturally. I had hoped to improve my horrible writing through AP Lang, but it turned out to be a failure :(</p>