Chapter Nineteen
The Basics:
Pacing:
Take up to 8 minutes to read the prompt and create a plan. Spend about 30 minutes producing the essay. Save 2 minutes at the end for proofreading.
This is a test of your writing skills. You will have forty (40) minutes to read the prompt, plan your response, and write an essay in English. Before you begin working, read all material in this test booklet carefully to understand exactly what you are being asked to do.
You will write your essay on the lined pages in the answer document provided. Your writing on those pages will be scored. You may use the unlined pages in this test booklet to plan your essay. Your work on these pages will not be scored.
Your essay will be evaluated based on the evidence it provides of your ability to:
No outside knowledge is required. However, you may choose to strengthen your essay with examples from history, science, literature, or even your own experiences.
This is an optional part of the ACT, as far as your registration for Test Day is concerned. Whether or not it is truly optional depends on whether your high school or the colleges you’re applying to require it. If they do, it isn’t optional. If you’re not sure what schools you’re applying to, or whether they require it, consider it mandatory—far better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Either way, it’s an area on which, with some advance practice and planning, you can get a high score, so you should be prepared to take it with confidence.
The ACT Writing test is designed to gauge your ability to compose a clear and logical argument and effectively present that argument in written form.
The essay prompt will present a specific issue and three perspectives. You are asked to analyze multiple perspectives on a complex issue and to arrive at a point of view on that issue. Then you must state your point of view clearly and support it with clear and relevant examples.
The essay is argument based, not fact based. That is, you’re being tested on what you can effectively argue, not what you know about the topic. Does this mean facts aren’t relevant? Yes and no—you will not be scored based on whether your facts are true or not, but you will be scored based on whether you use facts effectively. In an essay about being active in your community, for example, if you attribute the quote “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” to Ronald Reagan, you will be factually wrong, but you will be using an effective piece of evidence anyway. So you will get credit for effective use of information, even though the quote was said by John F. Kennedy.
As there is only one prompt for the Writing Test, there are no SmartPoints. All strategies apply to the whole section.