<p>Is the ACT essay score based on length or on content?</p>
<p>If the answer is yes, then I am switching over to the ACT for good.
With strong erudition from the SAT, the ACT should be a no-brainer.</p>
<p>length–write as much as you can</p>
<p>cursive–no printing</p>
<p>follow their instructions and examples for a template.</p>
<p>does cursive writing really help the score?</p>
<p>Why cursive?</p>
<p>I have never heard anything about doing the essay in cursive. Wouldn’t that make it more difficult to read and grade?</p>
<p>^it seems like it would…</p>
<p>I believe the NY Times had an article indicating three aspects of the essay tended to obtain higher scores. Cursive and length of essay are two aspects. I can’t remember the third.</p>
<p>Most colleges are dismissing the essay. the grading is too subjective, too formulative and easy to manipulate.</p>
<p>Many kids who are excellent writers, winning school essay contests, etc. score poorly because they don’t write in the box designed by the standard test designers.</p>
<p>For anybody who got a high score on the essay, did you use cursive?</p>
<p>i got an 11. cursive? no way. i have never used cursive on my essays. length-try to make it at least 2 pages. just b.s. as much as you can in 30 min</p>
<p>I got a 10. I’m no special writer. No award winner. Just a student. </p>
<p>I wrote 3 pages. One page every 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Good to know. Thank you :)</p>
<p>I’m not planing on using cursive. even if it helps scores, it won’t help mine…</p>
<p>it really should be that you spend about 5 minutes collecting your thoughts and planning. with some practice essays, i felt that if i just jumped in and started writing, i kept jumbling my thoughts and addressing both sides. </p>
<p>like i said before, spend about 5 minutes planning, 23 minutes writing, and the last 2 just doing some minor corrections. you dont want to ramble, and you also want to finish the essay. write 1 intro, 3 body, and 1 conclusion. it will look bad (and look like you are only writing for length) if you end in the middle of the paragraph. when the essay feels like it is done, and it could only be 2 pages, then stop. theres no need to freak out becuase it isnt 3</p>
<p>The statement about the cursive is true, studies have shown that people who write curly, not necessarily cursive, but with looped letters score higher on AP, SAT, and ACT essays.</p>
<p>W T F ?</p>
<p>Weird .</p>
<p>Its because people with fancy writing styles are more likely to be more literary, english, types and thus will get higher scores. Don’t try writing in cursive if you usually dont because you think it will get you a better score, it just may hurt you because of illegibility.</p>
<p>Its like if you buy a Ferrari, that doesn’t make you a millionaire. But many millionaires own Ferraris
If you write with cursive, you wont necessarily get a good grade. But kids that get better scores sometimes use cursive.</p>
<p>I always use cursive when people will read my writing. Its loopy and very uniform. Pretty to look at but I am not a english person at all. But my normal handwriting is barely legible.</p>
<p>What kind of specific examples do you guys usually use for the essay topics? Do you still use like examples from literature, history, and stuff? The topics are a lot different than the SAT topics, so what kind of examples would you use for them?</p>
<p>I guess technically you’re supposed to use your own life experiences to write the essay. The ACT essays are focused on you and your opinion.</p>