{"id":16501,"date":"2017-10-19T06:39:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T11:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=16501"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:42:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:42:16","slug":"what-to-expect-on-the-act-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/act\/what-to-expect-on-the-act-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Expect on the ACT Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The ACT Writing Test\u2014colloquially referred to as the ACT essay\u2014is an optional 40-minute test that does not affect your overall ACT score. But just because the writing test is optional when you register, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s necessarily optional\u00a0<i>for you<\/i>.<br \/>\nSelect schools, maybe even your dream university, actually do require the ACT essay as part of the admissions application. Further, if you consider yourself more of a strong writer than a strong test-taker, the ACT essay can help you impress the admissions committee. Either way, understanding how the ACT essay is scored will help you perform at your best should you decide to write it:<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_heading  avia-builder-el-first  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Understanding the ACT essay prompt<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nThe ACT essay will present you with an issue as well as three perspectives on that issue. Your task is to clearly state your own point of view and analyze the the similarities and\/or differences between your perspective and one of the given perspectives. You are\u00a0<i>not<\/i>\u00a0evaluated on the perspective that you take; instead, you will be evaluated on how well you organize your thoughts, support your ideas with examples and reasoning, and communicate your argument clearly, using the conventions of written English.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_iconlist  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >How the ACT essay is scored<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nThe ACT essay is scored across four domains: Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions. Each of these are scored by two independent graders on a scale of 1-6 (with 6 being the highest) for a total score in each domain out of 12. Your overall writing test score will be the average of your scores on the four domains, and thus, also out of 12:<br \/>\n<div  class='avia-icon-list-container   avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_sidebar '><ul class='avia-icon-list avia-icon-list-left av-iconlist-big avia_animate_when_almost_visible avia-iconlist-animate'>\n<li><div  class='iconlist_icon  avia-font-entypo-fontello'><span class='iconlist-char ' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue816' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/span><\/div><article class=\"article-icon-entry \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='iconlist_content_wrap'><header class=\"entry-content-header\"><h4 class='av_iconlist_title iconlist_title   '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Ideas and Analysis<\/h4><\/header><div class='iconlist_content  '  itemprop=\"text\"  ><p>This domain evaluates your ability to analyze multiple perspectives (yours and one of the given perspectives). To score highly in the Ideas and Analysis domain, your argumentative essay should contain a clear thesis statement and address the complexity, underlying assumptions and implications of the perspectives you have chosen to write about.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><footer class=\"entry-footer\"><\/footer><\/article><div class='iconlist-timeline'><\/div><\/li>\n<li><div  class='iconlist_icon  avia-font-entypo-fontello'><span class='iconlist-char ' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue816' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/span><\/div><article class=\"article-icon-entry \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='iconlist_content_wrap'><header class=\"entry-content-header\"><h4 class='av_iconlist_title iconlist_title   '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Development and Support<\/h4><\/header><div class='iconlist_content  '  itemprop=\"text\"  ><p>This domain evaluates your ability to support your point of view. To score highly in Development and Support, your must support your ideas with examples and logical reasoning. Be sure to convey the significance of your argument as well as address an alternative perspective in a way that ultimately bolsters your position.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><footer class=\"entry-footer\"><\/footer><\/article><div class='iconlist-timeline'><\/div><\/li>\n<li><div  class='iconlist_icon  avia-font-entypo-fontello'><span class='iconlist-char ' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue816' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/span><\/div><article class=\"article-icon-entry \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='iconlist_content_wrap'><header class=\"entry-content-header\"><h4 class='av_iconlist_title iconlist_title   '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Organization<\/h4><\/header><div class='iconlist_content  '  itemprop=\"text\"  ><p>This domain evaluates your ability to craft a well-designed essay. To score highly in the Organization domain, your essay should include introduction and conclusion paragraphs, a thesis statement, topic sentences as well as transitions both between paragraphs as well as sentences as appropriate.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><footer class=\"entry-footer\"><\/footer><\/article><div class='iconlist-timeline'><\/div><\/li>\n<li><div  class='iconlist_icon  avia-font-entypo-fontello'><span class='iconlist-char ' aria-hidden='true' data-av_icon='\ue816' data-av_iconfont='entypo-fontello'><\/span><\/div><article class=\"article-icon-entry \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='iconlist_content_wrap'><header class=\"entry-content-header\"><h4 class='av_iconlist_title iconlist_title   '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Language Use and Conventions<\/h4><\/header><div class='iconlist_content  '  itemprop=\"text\"  ><p>This domain evaluates your ability to communicate your ideas using the conventions of written English. To score highly in the Language Use and Conventions domain, your word choice should be accurate and precise, you should use synonyms and pronouns as appropriate to vary your word choice, use proper sentence structure and write with a tone that matches the nature of your argument. Minor spelling or grammar errors that do not hinder the reader\u2019s ability to understand your argument do not count against you.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><footer class=\"entry-footer\"><\/footer><\/article><div class='iconlist-timeline'><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div><br \/>\n<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ACT Writing Test\u2014colloquially referred to as the ACT essay\u2014is an optional 40-minute test that does not affect your overall ACT score. But just because the writing test is optional when you register, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s necessarily optional\u00a0for you. Select schools, maybe even your dream university, actually do require the ACT essay as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16501"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35863,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16501\/revisions\/35863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}