ACT (Writing?)

[hismajesty]

What's the ACT Plus Writing? What's the writing portion consist of and is it worth it to take? I plan on submitting both SAT and ACT scores on my applications.

However, I kept putting off and putting off the SAT and now I'm fast approaching the deadline for the June test. Unfortunately I have a lacrosse tournament the same day which I committed to. My plan is to take the ACT this year and use that for like scholarships and stuff and then take the SAT in both September and October so that I can submit applications on time in November.

[MyndFyre]

Not useful to take.  Take AP English Lit and AP English Language.

[hismajesty]

That's a completely different test. I'm taking one of those two classes next year during my senior year...and thus taking the AP exam for them...but I'm talking about this year when I take the ACT. Do I take the writing portion as well or no?

[MyndFyre]

It's not useful to take.  I've never heard of a college that wanted your ACT writing score.

[Networks]

Not useful to take.  Take AP English Lit and AP English Language.

Myndy: That was a really dumb comment, sorry. The writing portion is just a test to see how you are with your writing skill, it has nothing to do with AP tests or earning addtional credits in college. It's synonymous with the SAT's writing portion but it's optional with the ACT.

Take the ACT writing portion, many colleges like to see the writing portion, I don't think it hurts at all -- It's a good benefit if you decide to apply to a school that requires seeing it.

I took the ACT with the writing portion. Some of my schools wanted it, some didn't.

[rabbit]

The writing section will be a really good thing to do.  Many colleges don't care much about the ACT and SAT writing sections because they are new, but next year colleges will have a basis for camparison, and thus the new sections will be more important.

[MyndFyre]

The writing section will be a really good thing to do.  Many colleges don't care much about the ACT and SAT writing sections because they are new, but next year colleges will have a basis for camparison, and thus the new sections will be more important.

What do you mean "next year, colleges will have a basis for comparison"?  Standardized exams *are* the basis for comparison.

Not useful to take.  Take AP English Lit and AP English Language.

Myndy: That was a really dumb comment, sorry. The writing portion is just a test to see how you are with your writing skill, it has nothing to do with AP tests or earning addtional credits in college. It's synonymous with the SAT's writing portion but it's optional with the ACT.

Take the ACT writing portion, many colleges like to see the writing portion, I don't think it hurts at all -- It's a good benefit if you decide to apply to a school that requires seeing it.

I took the ACT with the writing portion. Some of my schools wanted it, some didn't.

I know that it has nothing to do with earning college credit.  AP does.  It is therefore much more useful.

If the program you want to be in wants it, obviously you need to take it.  Otherwise you (as always) run the risk of it hurting you, particularly if your writing is marginal.

[111787]

I know Boston University required either the SAT and 2 SAT II Tests or the ACT plus Writing.

[rabbit]

The writing section will be a really good thing to do.  Many colleges don't care much about the ACT and SAT writing sections because they are new, but next year colleges will have a basis for camparison, and thus the new sections will be more important.

What do you mean "next year, colleges will have a basis for comparison"?  Standardized exams *are* the basis for comparison.

There was no standard last year.  I'm not sure about the ACT, but the SAT just got the writing section.  They really can't compare a new set of data to previous sets, since it's the first.  IE: There's no standard until next year.

[MyndFyre]

The writing section will be a really good thing to do.  Many colleges don't care much about the ACT and SAT writing sections because they are new, but next year colleges will have a basis for camparison, and thus the new sections will be more important.

What do you mean "next year, colleges will have a basis for comparison"?  Standardized exams *are* the basis for comparison.

There was no standard last year.  I'm not sure about the ACT, but the SAT just got the writing section.  They really can't compare a new set of data to previous sets, since it's the first.  IE: There's no standard until next year.

Clearly you don't understand how a standardized test works.

Your score is given an actual raw score.  For example, if the ACT has, say, 40 questions on the science reasoning section, and 10 million students take the test, their scores will be normally distributed in some ratio.  From what I've read on Wikipedia, the arbitrary scaled mean on a typical ACT section (not writing) is 20 (I don't remember, and I don't really care to dig through the organization's website for details).  Based on the mean and standard deviation of all of the scores of a given test assessment, your score is scaled according to their standardized scale, which in this case is 0 to 36 (although it seems more likely to be 4 to 36).

Scores are normally distributed across this scale based on how many standard deviations the raw score was from the raw mean.  For example, if the mean was 30 questions correct out of 40, with a standard deviation of 2 questions, a score of 32 would give you 20 plus whatever the standardized standard deviation is.  I don't know what ACT's SD is, but I tend to believe it's about 3.5 points, because a score of 31 gets you into the 99th percentile, which would be 3 standard deviations from the mean (99.5% of standardized scores occur below 3 SDs above the mean). 

The standardized score therefore automatically gives you the means by which to compare yourself against how everyone else does.

Now, I don't know for sure whether the ACT writing section is standardized.  I know the GRE's is not (I cleaned up on that, btw).  However, even without a standardized score, the GRE's writing section has specific measurements for each level of scoring (for example, 6 is nearly perfect, 5 is outstanding with minor spelling/grammar issues, 4 has many grammatical issues, 3 shows a basic lack of understanding, 2 shows flawed logical approaches, 1 shows a disregarded prompt, and 0 is no response or utter nonsense IIRC).  By making the criteria for these ratings well-known, colleges have the means to evaluate a score.

[rabbit]

My college counselor gave me misinformation then...bad form.