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About ACT Exam
Understanding Writing Score
Taking the ACT Plus Writing
will provide you and the schools to which you have ACT report scores with two
additional scores beyond what would be reported if you took only the ACT
multiple-choice tests. If you take both the English Test and the Writing Test,
you'll receive a Writing subscore and a Combined
English/Writing score, plus comments about your essay. An image of your essay will be
available to your high school and the colleges to which ACT reports your scores
from that test date.
You must take both the
English and Writing Tests to receive Writing scores. The Combined
English/Writing score is created by using a formula that weights the English
Test score two-thirds and the Writing Test score one-third to form a Combined
English/Writing score. This combined score is then reported on a 1-36 scale. For
more detail, see the Combined English/Writing scale scores table.
Taking
the Writing Test does not affect your subject-area scores or your Composite
score.
Your essay will be evaluated
on the evidence it gives of your ability to do the following:
- express
judgments by taking a position on the issue in the writing prompt
- maintain a
focus on the topic throughout the essay
- develop a
position by using logical reasoning and by supporting your ideas
- organize ideas
in a logical way
- use language
clearly and effectively according to the rules of standard written English
Your essay will be scored
holistically-that is, on the basis of the overall impression created by all the
elements of the writing. Two trained readers will score your essay, each giving
it a rating from 1 (low) to 6 (high).
The sum of those ratings is
your Writing subscore, which can range from 2
to 12.
If the readers' ratings
disagree by more than one point, a third reader will evaluate your essay and
resolve the discrepancy.
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