Whether you've never thought about ACT Writing strategies or have worked hard on the ACT essay, you can benefit from knowing more: about the essay itself, and what really matters when the graders are reading your essay.
In this article, we offer a number of ACT Writing tips as well as a foolproof template for putting them into practice.
The ACT essay is a very short assignment—you only get 40 minutes to write a full-fledged essay—and it can pass in a flash if you don't have a method for attacking it. It requires a very specific approach that's unlike the essays you've been writing for English class.
The goal of this approach is to cram in as many of the desired components as possible in the 40 minutes that you've got for the essay. We'll give you the four main elements the ACT asks for, the top three things they don't tell you, and a bulletproof template for your ACT Writing essay format. Here we go!
ACT, Inc. explains the main components of the successful ACT Essay in its scoring criteria. Here they are, condensed and explained:
#1: Ideas & Analysis: A 12-scoring essay includes "an argument that critically engages with multiple perspectives on the given issue. The argument's thesis reflects nuance and precision in thought and purpose. The argument establishes and employs an insightful context for analysis of the issue and its perspectives. The analysis examines implications, complexities and tensions, and/or underlying values and assumptions."
In other words, answer the question that's in the prompt, make it very, very clear what your perspective is and analyze how your perspective relates to at least one other perspective.
Ideas and Analysis is the hardest domain to master; it's tough to do everything you need to do well at all, much less in 40 minutes. The main thing is that you want to show that you understand as many sides of the issue as possible. You can do this by discussing those sides of the issue, why people might have those opinions, and whether those opinions are logical or not.
It's fine to copy the exact words from the prompt into your thesis statement—in fact, this guarantees that the graders will see that your thesis is there and on topic. You must, however, make it obvious which side you are arguing for. If you can, it's great to put the argument in terms of a larger debate—we'll discuss that later.
#2: Development & Support: In a 12-scoring essay, "[d]evelopment of ideas and support for claims deepen insight and broaden context. An integrated line of skillful reasoning and illustration effectively conveys the significance of the argument. Qualifications and complications enrich and bolster ideas and analysis."
Development & Support is another area that can be hard for students to grasp. The bottom line is that you need to fully explain every point you make. If you don't have time to explain it in two to four sentences, leave it out (unless it's the only way you can get in a comparison of your perspective with another perspective). Make sure to either explain your thinking and reasoning or use specific examples to illustrate your points.
#3: Organization: A 12-scoring essay "exhibits a skillful organizational strategy. The response is unified by a controlling idea or purpose, and a logical progression of ideas increases the effectiveness of the writer's argument. Transitions between and within paragraphs strengthen the relationships among ideas."
In short, you need to give each idea one to two paragraphs. If a logical organization for your points occurs to you (for example, if Point 1 depends on Point 2, you'd put Point 2 first), use it. If not, just list your points, allotting a paragraph for each one. A transition that reflects your logic just means tying one point to another somehow, and this is ideal.
The ACT essay scoring system won't penalize you too heavily for a "First, Second, Third" type of organization, so if you just say "My first reason…," and "Second…," that's better than no transitions. The intro and conclusion should make the same general points, and if you mention a larger context in the intro, mention it again in the conclusion.
#4: Language Use: A 12-scoring essay uses language in a way that "enhances the argument. Word choice is skillful and precise. Sentence structures are consistently varied and clear. Stylistic and register choices, including voice and tone, are strategic and effective. While a few minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics may be present, they do not impede understanding."
Language Use can be the hardest area for students to improve in (particularly if English is not their native language). "Word choice is skillful and precise" does include using fancy vocabulary, but it also means not repeating yourself and using the advanced vocabulary correctly. The essay graders aren't going to be impressed by words like "dogmatic" and "provincial" if you just throw them in and hope for the best; if you're not sure about the usage of a more advanced word, stick with the simpler one.
Using "consistently varied and clear" sentence structures doesn't just mean not starting every sentence the same way (e.g. "Machines are helpful to humans. Machines can also cause problems. Machines are the answer to our future"). You also need to make sure your sentences are clear and further your logic (rather than making it more difficult to understand). As with word choice (and organization), it's better to be clear than to be fancy.
If in the moment you find that your brain freezes and your sentences are all coming out the same with simple words, don't sweat it. Adding in more advanced vocabulary or switching up sentence structures is something you can fix when you revise your essay in the last two to four minutes of the essay section.
Even though the ACT essay has some clear published guidelines, there are a few secrets that most students don't know and that can give you a major advantage on the test.
These are facts that ACT, Inc. doesn't want to be too well-known because it helps us develop ACT Writing strategies that may give us an edge over people who haven't prepared.
You can make up whatever information you need to support your point. Really. As with the tip above, if you know the real facts, that's great (since the grader will probably know them too), but it's not required.
This might sound crazy. You could write about how Al Gore invented the dishwasher, and the ACT graders are not allowed to penalize you. Why is this?
ACT, Inc. doesn't have the resources to do fact-checking on every single essay. With over a million students taking the test every year, graders only have a few minutes to put a score of 1-6 to each of the four essay scoring domains. They can't check whether Martin Luther King was born in 1929 or 1925.
Thus, ACT essay scoring uses a simpler rule—all statements are taken as truth. The important point is that the evidence needs to support your thesis.
(Of course, ACT, Inc. doesn't want people to know about this—that would make the ACT essay sound silly.)
If you're short on examples to prove a point, make up something realistic-sounding (you can even pretend a newspaper or politician said something they didn't), and slap it in there. It's much better than trying to write a vague paragraph without concrete evidence.
This is one of the most important ACT Writing tips. There is a strong relationship between essay length and score—the longer your essay, the better your score. In a short essay, it's difficult for you to develop your points well enough to earn a decent score.
Really, you should write a page and a half if at all possible. Although ACT, Inc. never explicitly mentions that length matters in ACT essay scoring, it does. And if you can write more than a page and a half without repeating yourself or digressing from your point, you'll be in really good shape.
The introduction and conclusion are the "bookends" of the essay: they hold it together and are guaranteed to be read more closely than the rest of the essay.
ACT graders have to read a lot of essays very quickly, and they give most of them a 3 or a 4 in each domain. The fastest way for them to score an essay is to find the thesis (to make sure that it's there, that it answers the prompt, and that the rest of the essay supports it) and then skim the first and last paragraphs.
Here's why: if a student's introduction and conclusion paragraphs are well-written and logical, it's likely the rest of the essay will be too. By reading these parts, the grader can usually tell with confidence what the score will be. They'll scan the middle to make sure it makes sense, but they probably won't read every word as closely.
On the other hand, if you don't have time to write an introduction or conclusion, you will be heavily penalized. It'll be hard to score above an 8 without an introduction and conclusion, particularly if you don't make your thesis, or point of view, clear in the first paragraph. This might be the most important ACT essay tip we can give you.
A strong ACT writing strategy includes preparing enough time to write and revise your introduction and conclusion paragraphs, as we explain below.
Because you only have 40 minutes to write the ACT essay, you need to have a game plan before you start the test. Here's a step by step guide on how to write an effective ACT essay.
One of the things that students often find hardest about the essay is quickly thinking of support for the thesis. But it can be done in a simple, methodical way, which we explain below. Let's start with a sample prompt.
Intelligent Machines
Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.
Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the increasing presence of intelligent machines.
Perspective One: What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require from us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people.
Perspective Two: Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone.
Perspective Three: Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities.
Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines. In your essay, be sure to:
Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different.
In the prompt above, the ACT gives you three viewpoints so that you have a starting point for ideas to consider in your discussion of various perspectives. But you'll need to elaborate on these as well. Let's look at the viewpoints this prompt gives us.
Supporting each viewpoint is a slew of possible reasons, and these are what you want to lay out clearly in your essay. You can, of course, choose any side of the argument, but one is usually easier to argue than the other (because it is opposite the other two given perspectives, which gives you more opportunity to compare and contrast).
For this prompt, it's easier to argue against intelligent machines than to argue for their efficiency or progress, so we'll look at potential support for the "conservative" argument, which is that "Intelligent machines lead to problems."
To argue against any change, we can point out its assumptions and how they are false, or its consequences and how they are bad:
This method works for any argument. If you find yourself supporting the proposal in the prompt, like that a right to avoid health risks is a more important freedom than the right to do whatever you want, then you just need to think of ways it would be positive. That can be much simpler. But you can still use the assumptions-and-consequences method above for the paragraph in which you address at least one other perspective.
This is a tried and true structure for earning a great score on the ACT essay. Just by following this template and keeping in mind the ACT writing tips above, you're pretty much guaranteed a 6 or higher out of 12. Do a decent job and you'll easily get an 8 or higher. Here are a few real ACT prompts to keep in mind as we go through the steps:
Time: 8-10 minutes
#1: Decide on your thesis, choosing one of the three sides. You can try to form your own, fourth perspective, but since you have to compare your perspective with at least one other perspective, you might as well argue for one of given perspectives and save some time for writing.
#2: Quickly brainstorm two or three reasons or examples that support your thesis.
#3: Brainstorm counterarguments for or analyses of at least one other perspective and your responses.
#4: Organize your essay. Make sure you order your points in a way that makes sense.
#5: Check your time. Try to have 30 minutes left at this point so you have enough time to write. If you don't, just keep in mind that you might have to cut out one of your supporting points.
Time: 25-28 minutes
#2: Paragraph 2: Transitions & Opposing Perspective.
#3: Body Paragraphs (those remaining before the conclusion):
#4: Conclusion
Time: 2-4 minutes
Hopefully, you still have 2-4 minutes to read over your essay. In this time, you can do several things.
#1: You can, of course, correct mistakes.
#2: You can replace dull words with fancier words.
#3: You can make sure that your introduction and conclusion "match" by stating the same thesis (in different words, of course).
Notice the two time-checking steps (in the Planning and the Body Paragraphs stages). It's very easy to get caught in the planning stage and run out of time on your actual essay, which is easy to avoid if you practice checking your time.
If you have to make a choice between explaining a perspective or writing a conclusion paragraph, always choose the explanation. You can get by with a short sentence for a conclusion as long as you have a clear thesis in your introduction, but if you leave out the analysis of the relationship between your perspective and one of the ACT's perspectives in your essay, you'll lose a lot of points.
Now you practice. Print out the template above, consult our ACT Essay Prompts Article (or think of any controversial issue in the world today), and get to work. You may find that many issues can be argued using the same reasoning or examples.
For instance, the argument that the benefits of the changes happening in the world don't necessarily outweigh the problems they create can apply to many of the new ACT prompts. You can research concrete information to support this kind of useful argument, like a newspaper article about how the Industrial Revolution led to increased environmental destruction.
More like Industrial Re-POLL-ution, am I right?
Remember: the more you practice, the easier it gets, as you learn how to reuse information to suit different purposes and your brain becomes used to thinking in this way.
Hungry for more practice ACT Writing prompts? Look no further than our article containing links to all the freely available official ACT Writing prompts that have been released so far, as well as bonus prompts I constructed.
