{"id":5010,"date":"2016-01-06t10:45:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-06t18:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=5010"},"modified":"2017-09-28t07:11:54","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28t14:11:54","slug":"how-i-got-a-perfect-36-on-the-new-act-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/how-i-got-a-perfect-36-on-the-new-act-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"how i got a perfect score on the new act essay"},"content":{"rendered":"
update: the act announced in june 2016 that it would be going back to an act essay<\/a> score range from 2-12. this post was originally written during the period from september 2015 to june 2016 when the act essay<\/a> was scaled from 1-36. however, the essay itself has not changed and all the same advice below applies.<\/em> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n so first of all, i\u2019ve been tutoring for the act for years. i have advanced degrees in writing-intensive fields. i should be able to score really well on a timed essay test meant for high schoolers. <\/p>\n but many years ago, when i was just beginning my standardized test tutoring career, i took the sat and got a 9\/12 on the essay. a nine? i was flabbergasted. i know that for many high schoolers, a 9 is a really good score and one to be proud of. but i tried really hard. i thought i wrote a darn good essay. and i was an adult, for pete\u2019s sake. so what happened?<\/p>\n what i learned from this experience on the sat is just how important it is to understand the expectations and biases of the sat and act graders in order to do well on the essay portions of the test. they\u2019ve been trained to give certain scores based on specific characteristics. and so what they expect is a pretty cookie-cutter, straight from your freshman composition class, organized essay. but if you are aiming for a top, top score, you can push the boundaries a little bit, and i will explain exactly how below. <\/p>\n i sat for the september 2015 act administration, the first with the new essay format requiring test-takers to evaluate three different perspectives on an issue and present their own. i had studied everything the act had released on the new essay at the time (it wasn\u2019t much), and i tested out my theories on what it might take to get a perfect score on the essay i wrote. <\/p>\n of course, there is not one winning recipe to getting a perfect score on the act writing test, but there are some indicators as to what will help nudge the readers towards a good act writing score<\/a>. as it turns out, at least for my essay, my theories worked pretty well. i received a 36 scaled score with a 12 out of 12 on each of the four scoring domains. <\/p>\n here\u2019s what i learned: choose the option to agree with one of the perspectives, but modify it slightly.<\/strong><\/p>\n for most students, i highly recommend that they choose the option to agree with one of the given perspectives rather than choosing the option to present their own. it\u2019s just too risky. the readers might not understand what you are trying to get at and you run the risk of going off topic. you can get a perfect score by agreeing with one of the perspectives, so unless you are a very strong writer, i don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth the risk.<\/p>\nacing the new act essay<\/h2>\n
\n <\/p>\nperfect act essay tip #1:<\/h2>\n