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How to ACE the ACT Writing section

For me, the essay task has always been most difficult part of the standardized test format. In every other section, there's always exactly one right answer to find, after which and you get to fill in a neat little bubble and move on to the next question. The essay task, on the other hand, is open-ended. It's impossible to write the “perfect” essay with the exact "right" wording, and if you're the analytical perfectionist type it's easy to let this get you down.

But never fear! While the subject of every essay will be different, there are many techniques and skills that can be carried over from one essay to the next. Learn what these are, and, with the right preparation, writing a great essay can be just one more check mark filled in on your way to a successful college application.

Before we start to break down the essay in detail, let us first note note that ACT Writing section has changed slightly as of Fall 2015. The goal of your essay is still to express and defend your perspective on a subject, but now there is a greater emphasis on contrasting your opinion with other viewpoints and exploring the relationship between them. The different perspectives will not necessarily contradict each other, so there is no longer any need to side with one over the others. However, you are expected to critically evaluate them and arrive at some kind of opinion or conclusion. The way the essay prompt is formatted is also somewhat different: the ACT writers are giving you more detailed information to work with and more time to think about and write your response (40 minutes instead of 30). Grading will be split evenly between Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Use of Language. Please see here for an example essay prompt and six graded responses. There is another sample prompt on pp. 53-55 of this document.

Planning the essay

The writing process comes in two stages: (1) planning what you're going to write and (2) the actual writing. The first step is to decide which opinions you want to analyze. One of the opinions will be your own opinion, and the others will be similar to one of the perspectives listed in the essay prompt. The opinion you adopt may or may not be the same as one of the perspectives given. If you are unsure what your real opinion is, feel free to just choose one and make it yours. It is not strictly necessary to use every perspective that is given, but you should use at least two of them. Regardless of what final opinion you choose to argue for, make sure you really understand each of the perspectives, and that you are giving reasonable arguments for each one—even the ones you don't agree with.

Once you've chosen a few opinions to compare and contrast in your essay, you can start coming up with arguments and counterarguments for each one. At first your thoughts will probably be a little disorganized. You might begin by drawing a box for each argument and writing a summary of each argument at the top of the boxes. Within each box, jot down and facts and ideas that support or argue against each perspective. Helpfully, the ACT provides a list of questions to get you thinking in the right direction, and plenty of free space in which to brainstorm. Your use of this space is not scored (or even considered) by the graders, so feel free to use it liberally.

Also, if you think of a sentence or a phrase that sounds clever, write that down somewhere too so you don't forget it. If you later decide that some of your initial ideas don't work as well as you originally imagined, feel free to leave them out, or change which arguments you want to analyze. The most important thing to do at the early stage is to be creative, so it's okay if not every idea makes it into the final essay.

You can (but do not have to) refer to the different perspectives by name (e.g., as “Perspective One”, “Perspective Two”, etc.). Alternatively (and more elegantly, I think), you can introduce a new perspective by writing something like “It has long been held that...”, or “On the other hand, scholars have argued that...”, or “Recently it has been proposed that...” and provide a brief summary. I wouldn't advise quoting directly from the given perspectives, but it is a good idea to use key words or phrases from the different arguments or from the original prompt. Your opinions don't have to be an exact paraphrase of the perspectives given, but they should contain some ideas that overlap with them.

Writing the essay

A good outline for an essay might look something like this:

(Paragraph 1) Write a general discussion of the question or problem. Describe the “setting” in which the conflict is taking place and briefly summarize your chosen position. This will probably be the shortest paragraph.

(Paragraph 2) Describe one solution to the problem.

(Paragraph 3) Describe a contrasting solution to the problem.

(Paragraph 4) Describe your solution to the problem. This could be a more nuanced perspective that synthesizes the first two solutions or makes a compromise between them. (Perhaps solution #1 is most accurate under some circumstances and solution #2 is better at other times.)

Here is another possible structure:

(Paragraph 1) General discussion of problem

(Paragraph 2) One proposed analysis

(Paragraph 3) Another proposed analysis

(Paragraph 4) A previous attempt to form a synthesis or compromise between the analyses

(Paragraph 5) Your personal critique of the synthesis in Paragraph #4, and how you think it could be improved

It is not necessary to summarize your main points at the end of such a short essay as long as it is clear what your main points are. Ending your essay by repeating things you have already written is a boring way to conclude! It is better writing style to illustrate your argument with a closing example, or to restate your central argument in a new way—preferably making it stronger in the process.

The above outlines are only suggestions, and you do not have to use the same planning methods described above. If you have your own techniques that you are confident with, feel free to use them instead. As you practice, you will find out what works well for you. Nevertheless, the techniques I described are time-tested and should work well for most people.

Other thoughts

  • As with any other section of the test, it's one thing to know how to answer the questions in theory and it's another to know how to answer them in real life. Make sure you actually write at least one practice essay to make sure you can do all the brainstorming, organizing, and writing in under 40 minutes. It may seem like the brainstorming takes up a lot of your time, but if done correctly, it will make the actual writing process go faster and much more smoothly.
  • Make sure every sentence has a purpose. If you don't know what a sentence is doing in a paragraph, your reader probably won't either.
  • It's okay (in fact encouraged) to use quotes or facts (say from television, a class, or a book you've read) to support your argument. If you can't remember the exact date or wording, it's okay to guess or to give a description. You are not being graded on your knowledge of facts, but on your ability to generate a convincing argument.
  • Don't be afraid to fill up the space given. It is better to explain something too much than too little. Long essays generally score better than short essays, all else being equal. Write in large letters with big spaces between words; not only will this make the essay seem longer, but it will also make it easier to fit your corrections into the spaces when you do your final editing.
  • If you're not sure how to phrase something, pretend you're having a conversation with a friend, and think of how you would explain it to them. Try sounding the words out loud in your head.
  • Don't worry about what the finished essay will look like until it's finished. Just make a solid outline, and let the words flow. The good news is: if you're anything like me, you'll probably already be feeling pretty burnt out from the other three hours of the test by the time you get to the essay. At this point my brain is so fired up with adrenaline that I've pretty much forgotten all my anxiety about writing, and I'm ready to start putting words to paper. Even if you do still feel anxious, the best way to overcome your doubts is to just start writing. This is the final section of the test, so sprint to the end and finish strong.

A final word about style

Finally, what about those intangibles? What if the grader just doesn't like my essay? The good news is that the essay graders only have a few minutes to grade, and they have to judge according to a strict rubric. They won't have time to nitpick every detail, because they'll be focused on checking specific items off a list. If you're essay has the goods, you're going to do well, no matter what. That's an objective fact, and no personality clashes between you and the grader is going to change that.

At the same time, I'm not going to lie to you and say style doesn't matter; it does, and it's not something anyone can just master overnight. Great writers spend years trying to find their voice. The best way to find yours is to get out there into the world and write. Go online, find a subject you're interested in, and express yourself. Write about the issues of the day, the types of music you prefer, why the sky is blue, anything you like, just so long as you write. Write in a forum where people will respond to you and critique what you say. Listen to their feedback. Don't worry if you don't win every argument, because you're doing this to learn. But if you do worry, take advantage of your anonymity. Create an account at Debate.Org, or stick to debates with people whom you know and trust.

And also, read! Pick up a newspaper, and turn to the opinion page. Pick up a collection of essays. And while you read, think about what the writer does well. And if you don't like what you read, think about what they do poorly. Every time you engage with the written word you're building up a repertoire of ideas and phrases that you can use and reuse. Words are free. Every rhetorical flourish you see is a potential arrow in your quiver. Go into the ACT armed and ready, knowing that you're only doing what you've done a hundred times before. You can do it!