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Are you taking the ACT with Writing? No need to stress! The ACT essay follows a predictable format, which means you can practice and prepare beforehand. Take a look at a sample ACT writing prompt and learn five key steps to penning a high-scoring essay.

Keep in mind: The ACT writing essay is optional. Currently, only 27 colleges and universities require the ACT with Writing. You can see the complete list  here . If there is any chance that you might apply to one of those schools, you should register for the ACT with Writing. Not sure where you will apply? You should strongly consider signing up for the essay and keep your options open.

ACT with Writing: Sample Prompt

This example writing prompt comes straight from our book ACT Prep :

Education and the Workplace

Many colleges and universities have cut their humanities departments, and high schools have started to shift their attention much more definitively toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and away from ELA (English, Language Arts). Representatives from both school boards and government organizations suggest that the move toward STEM is necessary in helping students to participate in a meaningful way in the American workplace. Given the urgency of this debate for the future of education and society as a whole, it is worth examining the potential consequences of this shift in how students are educated in the United States.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the shift in American education.

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the issue of how schools should balance STEM and ELA subjects. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.

How to Write the ACT Essay

Your job is to write an essay in which you take some sort of position on the prompt, all while assessing the three perspectives provided in the boxes. Find a way to anchor your essay with a unique perspective of your own that can be defended and debated, and you are already in the upper echelon of scorers.

Step 1: Work the Prompt

What in the prompt requires you to weigh in? Why is this issue still the subject of debate and not a done deal?

Step 2: Work the Perspectives

Typically, the three perspectives will be split: one for , one against , and one in the middle . Your goal in Step 2 is to figure out where each perspective stands and then identify at least one shortcoming of each perspective. For the example above, ask yourself: 

• What does each perspective consider?
• What does each perspective overlook?

Read More: What's a Good ACT Score?

Step 3: Generate Your Own Perspective

Now it's time to come up with your own perspective! If you merely restate one of the three given perspectives, you won’t be able to get into the highest scoring ranges. You’ll draw from each of the perspectives, and you may side with one of them, but your perspective should have something unique about it.

Step 4: Put It All Together

Now that you have your ideas in order, here's a blueprint for how to organize the ACT essay. This blueprint works no matter what your prompt is.

Step 5: (If There's Time): Proofread

Spend one or two minutes on proofreading your essay if you have time. You’re looking for big, glaring errors. If you find one, erase it completely or cross it out neatly. Though neatness doesn’t necessarily affect your grade, it does make for a happy grader.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, act writing tips: 15 strategies to raise your essay score.

ACT Strategies , ACT Writing

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.

ACT Essay Tips

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!

What ACT, Inc. Does Tell You: 4 Elements to Remember

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.

What ACT, Inc. Doesn't Tell You: 3 Secrets

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.

#1: You Don't Need to Know the Facts

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.

#2: You Should Write More Than a Page

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.

#3: Your First Paragraph and Conclusion Matter More Than the Middle

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.

Key Strategy: How to Write A Successful ACT Essay in 40 Minutes

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.

Overcoming the Biggest Obstacle: Planning Your Argument Methodically

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:

• clearly state your own perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective
• develop and support your ideas with reasoning and examples
• organize your ideas clearly and logically
• communicate your ideas effectively in standard written English

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.

• Conservative: "Intelligent machines lead to problems, which is bad."
• Utilitarian: "Intelligent machines allow us to be more efficient, which is good."
• Progressive: "Intelligent machines lead to progress, which is good."

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:

• it assumes that machines lead to progress [assumption made by perspective 3]
• it assumes that machines allow us to be more efficient [assumption made by perspective 2]
• it assumes that the benefits machines give to us outweigh the negatives
• it could lead to progress in some areas, but also to new problems caused by that progress
• it could let us be more efficient in some ways, but end up creating more
• it would hurt us more than it would help because people would end up becoming less courteous and respectful to and tolerant of other people [perspective 1]

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.

The Golden Essay Template

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:

• Intelligent machines : they're not good, they're good and practical, or they're good and lead to progress.
• Public health and individual freedom : freedom is more important than physical health, society should strive for the greatest good for the most people, or the right to avoid health risks is more important than individual freedom.

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

• Write your introduction. If you can think of an interesting first sentence that brings your thesis into a larger discussion (say, of how intelligent machines have changed the way people interact with each other), start with that.
• Narrow down from the larger context to your specific response to the question (your thesis), which should be at or near the end of the first paragraph.
• It can be helpful to the reader to have your reasons and examples "previewed" in the introduction if it fits in well.

#2: Paragraph 2: Transitions & Opposing Perspective.

• When you start paragraph 2, try to think of a first sentence that refers back to the first paragraph.
• "In contrast to [my perspective], some people claim that [other perspective]…" is a simple example of an effective way to transition into the second paragraph. If you're arguing for perspective one for the intelligent machines prompt, for instance, you'd replace the first part of the sentence with, "In contrast to the assumption that intelligent machines will inevitably lead to problems," and replace [other perspective] with the perspective you're comparing to your own.
• Then, address a perspective opposing yours and why its supporters are wrong or misguided. In the example about intelligent machines above (where we've chosen to argue Perspective 1), you could argue against perspective 2 or 3 (or some other clearly defined perspective) in this paragraph.

#3: Body Paragraphs (those remaining before the conclusion):

• Introduce your first reason or example in support of the perspective you'll be discussing.
• In 3-5 sentences, explain your reasoning as to how this perspective relates to your own (using explanations of your thinking or specific examples to support the point).
• Connect your example to the thesis and then state that it supports your thesis.
• Check your time . Try to have 7 minutes left by this point.

#4: Conclusion

• (Optional) Relate your two or three examples back to your thesis. Add one or two sentences if you want.
• End with a restatement of your thesis or a return to your first lines to wrap up the essay.

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.

What's Next?

Read more about the new ACT Writing Test and how to score a perfect score on your ACT essay .

Want more in-depth guides? Check out our step-by-step guide to writing top-scoring ACT essay as well as a complete breakdown of the new ACT Writing Scoring Rubric .

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.

Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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ACT Writing Tips

The ACT Writing test is a 40-minute essay that you will have to write with pen-and-paper. Although not all schools require the ACT Writing Test, you have to take all four previous tests in order to take the Writing Test. It cannot be done separately from the other sections.

The prompt will describe an issue in a short paragraph, then give you three different perspectives on that issue. Each perspective will be in its own separate box, and they will be labeled “Perspective One,” “Perspective Two,” and “Perspective Three.” Below the perspectives boxes will be the Essay Task, which will look like this:

Notice you must accomplish all three of the bulleted tasks. No matter what perspective you take, your score will NOT be affected if the reader does not share the same opinion. You are only scored on your ability. Here’s how to structure your 40-minutes:

• Step 1 – 5 minutes to Plan
• Step 2 – 30 minutes to Produce
• Step 3 – 5 minutes to Proofread

Thirty minutes may not sound like a lot of writing time, but if we break it down that’s 5 minutes for each paragraph! Aim for 5 paragraphs total, and you’ll be able to finish in the allotted time with a bit of practice, especially if you take enough time to plan out your essay.

How do I Plan? Start by reading the prompt paragraph, and the three perspectives. Part of what you will have to do is choose your OWN position on the topic, and rather than come up with a completely new perspective, choose ONE of the three perspectives that is closest to your own opinion. That perspective will be your thesis, which will be the last sentence of your introductory paragraph. Next, plan out your essay using this template!

ACT Essay Template

This is a sample outline for the ACT essay. Aim for 5 paragraphs. If you have trouble completing 5 paragraphs, see if you can streamline your body paragraphs. They can often be bloated with unnecessary wordiness. Keep the introduction and the conclusion short and sweet.

Paragraph 1 – Introduction (3 sentences)

Begin your essay with two sentences summarizing the other two perspectives (the ones you do not agree with).  Your last sentence will be your thesis, and it will be a powerful and confident statement that encapsulates the ideas of the third perspective (the one you do agree with). For example, it could be structured like this:

Regarding the issue of _________, some people mistakenly believe that _________. Others think _____________. However ____________; in fact, ____________.

Let’s say the essay was about saving the environment. You introduction could be structured thusly:

Regarding the issue of protecting the environment, some people mistakenly believe that recycling and more awareness would be enough to solve the world’s pollution and waste management problems. Others think our world economy’s dependence on oil and fossil fuels is the main source of the problem. However, both these perspectives are too limited; in fact, to truly guarantee our environment’s long-term stability, it is vital that we invest our money and resources in developing alternate technologies.

From this introduction, we have clarified our position: alternative technology is the way to go! We also have clarified the two positions we will attack: recycling/awareness and oil/fossil fuel criticism.

Be sure to reuse key words from each perspective so it is extremely clear which perspectives you are criticizing, and which of the three you are strongly supporting. Do not mention the individual perspectives by number. It is more subtle if you can write your essay as if it is not based on a prompt at all!

Paragraph 2 – Criticism of One Perspective (4-6 sentences)

In this paragraph, you should explain how recycling and awareness doesn’t work. You have three tasks in your body paragraphs:

• Introduce the perspective you will attack.
• Demonstrate you understand it.
• Explain why it is incorrect or ineffective. You should be spending the majority of your body paragraph doing the third step: explaining why it is incorrect or ineffective . You must convince the reader through very concrete detail how your position on the issue is correct. If you can incorrect a SPECIFIC real-world example, that will make your essay even stronger! Check out our “example list” below for an idea on how you can brainstorm possible examples, even before Test Day!

Paragraph 3 – Criticism of Second Perspective (4-6 sentences)

In this paragraph, you should explain how dependence on oil and fossil fuels doesn’t work. Just like you did in the first body paragraph, you will:

• Explain why it is incorrect or ineffective.

Paragraph 4 – Prove Why Your Perspective is Best (4-6 sentences)

Use a transition phrase, and reiterate your thesis in the first sentence. In the rest of the paragraph, elaborate why it is correct. Again, if you can use a specific example, that would be ideal.

Paragraph 5 – Conclusion (2 sentences)

In your conclusion, warn about the future consequences if your perspective were not considered. Then reinforce the correctness of your own thesis. This takes care of having to come up with a conclusion- you’ll already know what to do! Here’s how it might look:

Although some people insist _________ or __________, these perspectives are shortsighted. In order to ________________, the only viable solution is __________.

How to Get Specific Examples

You may not know the prompt topic, but you CAN make a list of extremely specific people, places, current events, etc. from which you could draw on Test Day!

You’ll see a list of examples below – come up with your own list BEFORE Test Day that you can “pull from.”

Example List (sample)

• Oprah Winfrey
• Martha Stewart
• 9/11 (e.g. NYPD/NYFD, post-9/11, etc.)
• Global Warming
• Vietnam / Gulf / Iraq War
• A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (book)
• Citizen Kane (movie)
• A Tale of Two Cities (book)
• The Scarlet Letter (book)
• Othello (play)
• Britney Spears
• Lena Dunham and “Girls”
• The Olympics
• 12 Years a Slave (book or movie)
• Marie Curie
• Sigmund Freud
• Adolf Hitler
• World War I
• Ancient Egypt

Notice that your examples can be from literature, politics, current events, history! Think about 4-5 topics you covered in each of your classes in the past year. You already know about these, so there might be a way to incorporate them into your essay!

For example, in our sample above, if we were discussing why recycling and awareness doesn’t work, you could say that people don’t just change their behaviors because they are more aware of negative things, and use “12 Years a Slave” as an example. Even though the book was written in 1853, many people did not change their minds about the evils of slavery until years later. Don’t feel like you need to shoehorn examples if they really don’t fit, but you might surprise yourself with how creative you can be!  One specific example per body paragraph is enough. Try to make them different. For instance, if you’re going to use “12 Years a Slave” for one paragraph, don’t use books for the other two paragraphs. Perhaps choose a current event, or an item from history to prove your other points.

ACT Essay Scoring

Like the other sections of the ACT, your Writing score will be out of 36. You will also receive sub-scores (between 1-12) in four individual categories:

• Ideas and Analysis
• Development and Support
• Organization
• Language Use and Conventions

These scores do not add up to the final score, but they break down your writing abilities to give colleges more clarity on your strengths. Your score is given by two independent readers, who will assign a score between 1-6 in each of these four areas. These sub-scores are added together to get a raw score, and that raw score is then converted into the final scaled score. Make sure you familiarize yourself with what a reader is looking for in a “perfect” essay:

As long as you follow the template here, choose a clear perspective on the prompt, and thoroughly criticize the other perspectives, and support your ideas with clear, specific examples, it isn’t too challenging to get a perfect score!  Ready to practice? Try out some of our sample ACT Writing prompts .

Find what you need to study

Fiveable's ACT Essay Guide

11 min read • august 23, 2021

Akhilesh Shivaramakrishnan

Samhitha Palla

Welcome to the ACT essay guide! We'll break down the prompt and the rubric while we give you strategies to make sure you get an awesome score on the essay! 🎉

ACT: Essay Section

When you sit down to take the ACT exam, you will have 4-5 sections on the test. If you choose to take the essay, it's 5! Your essay will be the last section of the exam. Here's the order:

Writing/Essay📝

The Writing/Essay portion is an optional essay. In this section, you have about 40 minutes 🕖 to write a well-developed essay. Make sure you use each minute of this time to create the best possible essay! Remember, your score on the writing section will not affect the multiple choice or composite score.

💬 Mastering the Prompt

Let's look 👀 at a prompt released by ACT to dissect the key elements of the essay.

Sample prompt, taken from ACT Essay Samples on Official Website .

When you turn the page on your ACT exam and get to the essay section, you'll be presented with:

a debated or controversial topic/issue 🗨

background information about the topic/issue 📃

3 perspectives that take different stances on the topic/issue presented. You may agree, refute, or create your own argument to the perspectives. ☑

a set of fun instructions! 🙃

These instructions connect directly with the rubric for the ACT essay, so let's break down the rubric next. 📄

📄 Mastering the Rubric

There are 4 categories on which your essay is assessed. 2 graders score your essay on a scale of 1-6 for each of the 4 categories. Their scores are combined for a score out of 12 for each category. ☑

Then, your total category scores are averaged to determine your final ACT essay score. You can earn a maximum of 12 🎉 and a minimum of 2.

You can review the entire rubric here , but we'll hit the highlights ✨ on what you need to do to get a high score on each of the four categories.

One thing to note is that the ACT essay is very rubric-oriented 📃 If you do exactly what the rubric asks you to do, you are guaranteed a high score. It is much more formulaic than writing assignments you've likely done in school 🏫

Ready to conquer the essay? Make sure you follow the rubric! Image from Wikimedia Commons , labeled for reuse.

💭 Ideas and Analysis

Here are the rubric descriptors for achieving the highest score of 6 on the ACT essay:

writer generates 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 🔀

Let's go through what this actually means in practice:

The first thing you must do is choose a perspective 💬 on the issue. Since the essay prompt already gives you three issues ✍ to choose from, it's recommended that you choose one of the three presented to you .

Although you can create 🔎 an entirely new perspective if you'd like (perhaps if you have extensive knowledge on the subject), it is recommended that you stick with one of the 3 given perspectives due to the time ⌚ constraints.

Once you find the perspective that you agree with, you must refine it and add some more detail 🔀 to it. 🤔 Restating the perspective will get you lower scores on the rubric, so you should try to create a more complex argument using the stated perspective as a basis.

Additionally, you should be able to connect 🔀 your chosen perspective/stance to other perspectives. A low scoring essay might simply agree ✔ with one perspective and disagree ❌ with the others without any support, or "nuance" in the words of the rubric. 🤔

On the other hand, a high scoring essay may provide a reason why the other perspectives are not correct. ✅ There should be a clear link 🔃 between the perspectives and it should be evident that the relationship between the perspectives is explained. This should occur both in the initial argument as well as later in the essay. 💪

Finally, you need to examine the effects of your perspectives. ⏩ There should be clear discussion of the "implications, complexities, tensions, values, or assumptions" that accompany your perspective.

In order to do much of this, you need to be able to provide solid support and evidence—which is our next category! 🤓

🙌 Development and Support

These are the rubric descriptors for this section of the ACT essay:

development of ideas and support for claims deepen insight and broaden context 🔎

integrated line of skillful reasoning and illustration effectively conveys the significance of the argument 📄

qualifications and complications enrich and bolster ideas and analysis 💪

This section is SUPER important because you are providing evidence for the claims you made in the "ideas and analysis" section of the rubric. You MUST be able to discuss 💬 your perspective and provide clear evidence that helps demonstrate the implications, effects, and other factors that surround your perspective. 🙌

These reasons and pieces of evidence must be very detailed in order to score in the highest mark bands of the rubric. Often, this means you must use outside knowledge to aid you—solely using what's provided to you in the background information doesn't lend itself to a higher score.

Your best bet here is to make up examples**.** 😎 Yep, you read that right. The examples you use do not have to be true and no one will be fact-checking you. If you feel that a statistic would benefit your essay, make one up! 😉

For example, you could say, "A study done by the New York Times found that 30% of American jobs could be lost to machines over the next 40 years, a concerning statistic that must be acknowledged." 📈

Although this may not be true at all, it could definitely support a claim that you make. The ACT grader will not be Googling this study! As long as you are able to integrate this evidence seamlessly and support your argument well, you will do good in this section! 😉

Organization is super important on the ACT essay! Image courtesy of Picserver , labeled for reuse.

📑 Organization

response exhibits a skillful organizational strategy 📑

response is unified by a controlling idea or purpose 🗨

logical progression of ideas increases the effectiveness of the writer's argument 🔃

transitions between and within paragraphs strengthen the relationships among ideas ⏩

This section is one of the more formulaic parts of the ACT essay 📃 First off, you need to make sure that your ideas flow throughout your essay. An easy way to make sure this happens is to structure your thesis in the same way your overall essay is structured. This will provide an outline for you to lean on as you write.

Additionally, a high scoring essay will reference the controlling idea or purpose 🗨 in EACH paragraph, whether it is a paragraph that supports your stance or one that acknowledges a counterargument. You should essentially be repeating parts of your thesis in each body paragraph to ensure that your essay is "unified" by this controlling idea. 📑

Make sure your essay is separated into paragraphs! 📝This means that it is not all in one big blob of text! 😉 Between each paragraph, include transition words even if you think it might be excessive.

As mentioned before, this part is extremely formulaic, and readers are looking to see that you USED the transitions. ⏩ Make sure to include transitions throughout your paragraph as well. Look up some transition words if you're having trouble with this!

An introduction and conclusion are NOT optional . ‼

These paragraphs help tie your essay together 🔀 and contribute to the "organization" section of the rubric. Make sure you include these parts! 🙂

📝 Language Use

use of language enhances the argument 🙌

word choice is skillful and precise ✅

sentence structures are consistently varied and clear ✍

stylistic and register choices (voice, tone) are strategic and effective 🗨

few minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics don't impede understanding 🔤

This is the "traditional" section of the ACT essay rubric, where you are evaluated on grammar, conventions, sentence structure, and vocabulary. 🔤

Even though this might seem easy, you want to make sure that you review this section of the rubric. You can take several steps to make sure you earn a 6 on this portion! 🙌

The first part is just general grammar. Much of the practice you're doing for the ACT grammar section will help you here. Make sure you don't have run-on sentences or are using the wrong there/their/they're. Simple fixes like these will take you a long way in this section. 😉

That's why it is super important to proofread when you are done! This will help you get those last points. 📖

You also want to consciously make sure you are varying your sentence structure. Add in some complex sentences. An easy way to do this is by adding in some transitions where appropriate. 👍

The last part is to use strong 💪 vocabulary. For example, instead of using "it got worse," use a form of "exacerbate." Use "detrimental" instead of "harmful." As you practice your essays, use a thesaurus to help you find replacements 🔀 for commonly used words. This will help you when you get to the exam!

One way to understand how your essay is graded is to grade essays yourself! 😎 Below, we've included one of the sample writing prompts that ACT released. This is the same one that we referenced earlier.

In addition, ACT also released 6 sample essays—each one scoring a different mark on the rubric. We haven't put them in order, so try using this rubric and see if you can identify which essay scored 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s on each of the 4 categories. We've included the link to the "answers" on the last slide. 🤓

😊 General ACT Essay Tips and Outlining

Before you start your essay, it is very important that you spend some time outlining your essay! Here are some steps to take as soon as you start this section:

📚 Read the background information provided on the topic.

📑 Choose the perspective ****(or a combination of perspectives) that you believe you'll be able to provide the most evidence for.

💬 Come up with 2-3 examples that support your perspective AND some possible counterarguments.

📜 These can be real or made up, as mentioned earlier! You can also use personal anecdotes.

✍ Write a thesis that provides a clear focus for the rest of your essay and helps create a unified theme for your paper!

Organize your paper. When you're outlining, this can just be in bullet points. Once you outline, the actual writing process will be easier!

🗨 Introduction : thesis that acknowledges your perspective + intro sentences that cast doubt on alternate perspectives

🥇 Body Paragraph 1 : a reason why your perspective is valid + evidence (1-2) to back it up

🥈 Body Paragraph 2 : a reason why your perspective is valid + evidence (1-2) to back it up

🥉 Body Paragraph 3: acknowledge the opposing stance and prove why your stance is better (a rebuttal)—use evidence to back up your rebuttal

You should also discuss the implications of your perspective - either in this paragraph or in body paragraphs 1 & 2.

↪↩ Conclusion : restating (NOT repeating) your thesis + tying in everything you've said in the paper together

Let's look at an example of this! This is my thesis: Although the replacement of machines may have negative short term effects for the job market, in the long term, machines will be able to accelerate our technological growth and push us to towards new possibilities, while also creating a highly skilled workforce .

To restate this, I could say: In the short term, replacing machines may not have completely positive effects. However, in the future, machines will not only provide us new opportunities, they will also help us become more industrialized and create a skilled and even more capable workforce.

Note that this is only one way to structure the paper! ✍ Instead of devoting a whole paragraph to just the counterargument, you could instead have 3 body paragraphs 📃 that support your thesis, and provide a short counterargument at the end of each paragraph. It's up to you! Just make sure it's well organized! 😍

🕑You should try to start actually writing your essay within 10 minutes of the session starting This gives you about 30 minutes to put this all together.

Once you have finished writing your essay, PROOFREAD. 🤔

• ↪ Make sure you've included transitions throughout your paper . Key places where you should add them include the beginning of paragraphs, the end of paragraphs, and when making your rebuttal.
• 🔠 Check for spelling and grammar. This might seem minor, but it does have its own section in the rubric! Read your paper and make sure you don't have any major errors.
• ✍ Indent your paragraphs . Make sure it is evident where a new paragraph begins! This is important for the "organization" part of the rubric.

Good luck on the ACT essay! You'll do awesome! Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons , labeled for reuse.

You're Ready! 🥇

One thing you want to keep in mind is that many colleges now do not require the ACT essay! 😍Check out the admissions page of the colleges to which you're applying to see if they require the essay for admission. A "good" score on the ACT essay isn't necessarily a 12.

Often, students fret because they receive an 8 or a 10. Because the ACT and SAT writing scores are not prioritized as much in admissions any more, your score on the essay is not a "make or break" when you apply to college 🙂 It just gives colleges another lens through which they can evaluate you. 👀

That's it! You're ready for the ACT essay! 🎉

Good luck! We have tons of resources for you—both for the ACT and ALL AP classes! Remember, your scores don't define who you are!🎉

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New Act Essay Writing Section

The new act essay, your full guide to act writing section.

Since September of 2015, the ACT essay / writing section has gone through a radical change. And that’s amazing news for you.

The ACT essay was always easy to master with a bit of practice and the right techniques. However, the new ACT essay is even easier to perfect than the old one ever could have been . This short guide will teach you exactly what’s changing, how to prepare for the new essay, and how to take full advantage of this new format.

Quick side note: If you’re looking for a proven ACT prep system to help you write a flawless essay check out my ACT prep program . It is built on my proven tactics and methodologies and has an average user score improvement of over +4.66 points.

Why did ACT test change?

The new “CORE-friendly” ACT essay / writing portion just makes this test more beatable than it already was. I’ll leave the rest to the ACT’s PR team. For now, let’s get into what you should do about it.

What is Different?

The old ACT writing / essay section gave you a simple prompt, then asked you to take a side on that prompt and argue your point. The basic format looked something like this:

“Watching TV can be bad for your brain. However, sometimes it’s educational, so some people think it’s good for your brain. So in your opinion, do you think that TV is good or bad?

In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on this question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.”

The old format couldn’t have been any simpler. “Here are two opinions on a topic. Pick one and then write about it for a few paragraphs.”

The new ACT writing / essay format is much more complicated. But here’s the funny thing: while the new ACT writing / essay FORMAT is much more complex, the process of WRITING these essays has become VASTLY SIMPLER .

Here’s what it looks like now: https://www.act.org/actnext/pdf/SampleWritingPrompt.pdf

Take the time to read through all of this and really get a feel for what the new ACT writing / essay section looks like. Once you do, we shall move on:

How Do You Write This Thing (and why is it so much easier)?

In the old ACT essay, you only had to do one thing – pick a side and argue it. Now, you have to do so much! You need to evaluate three different arguments, you need to come up with your own argument, and then you have to relate your argument to the three arguments given. Oh, the humanity!

But here’s the thing: in the old version of the ACT essay, you had to both come up with an argument and come up with the reasons why you support it. In the new ACT essay, all of the arguments and reasoning behind them is provided for you!

It’s the difference between being asked to “make lasagna or pizza for dinner tonight” and “grabbing something off the McDonald’s dollar menu.” Sure, there are more options on the McDonald’s menu – but they’re already cooked for you!

At first, it seems like there’s a ton more to do. In reality, the ACT is doing all of the hard work for you! All you need to do is read carefully, pick what you like, and then follow a simple process to “plug in your opinion.”

A reminder: If you’re eager to succeed with a proven ACT prep system to help you write a flawless essay check out my ACT prep program . It is built on my proven tactics and methodologies and has an average user score improvement of over +4.66 points .

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Preparing for the ACT Test with Writing

About the act writing test.

The ACT writing test is a 40-minute essay test that measures your writing skills. The test consists of one writing prompt that will describe a complex issue and present three different perspectives on that issue.  It is a paper-and-pencil test. You will write your essay in pencil (no mechanical pencils or ink pens) on the lined pages of an answer folder that will be provided to you. The only exception is for approved students with diagnosed disabilities who cannot hand write the essay. (See Accommodations .) 

The ACT writing test complements the English and reading tests. The combined information from these tests tells postsecondary institutions about students’ understanding of the conventions of standard written English and their ability to produce a direct sample of writing. The writing test cannot be taken without first taking all four multiple-choice tests in the same session. 

You are asked to read the prompt and write an essay in which you develop your own perspective on the issue. Your essay should analyze the relationship between your perspective and one or more other perspectives. You may adopt a perspective from the prompt, partially or fully, or you may generate your own. Your score will not be affected by the point of view you take on the issue.

Some colleges require the ACT writing test. You should decide whether or not you should take it based on the requirements of the colleges you are applying to or considering.

Why the ACT Writing Test Is Optional 

Because postsecondary institutions have varying needs, we offer the ACT writing test as an option. 

• Postsecondary institutions are making their own decisions about whether to require the results from the ACT writing test for admissions and/or course placement purposes. 
• Students will decide whether to take the writing test based on the requirements of the institutions they are considering. 

Practice Your Writing Skills 

Read. Write. Repeat. 

There are many ways to prepare for the ACT writing test that don't even include writing at all. Reading newspapers and magazines, listening to news analyses on television or radio, and participating in discussions and debates about issues and problems all help you build a foundation for your writing skills. These activities help you become more familiar with current issues, with different perspectives on those issues, and with strategies that skilled writers and speakers use to present their points of view. 

Of course, one of the best ways to prepare for the ACT writing test is to practice writing. But you don’t have to sit at a desk and fill a notebook with essays. Practice writing for different purposes, with different audiences in mind. The writing you do in your English classes will help you. Practice writing stories, poems, plays, editorials, reports, letters to the editor, a personal journal, or other kinds of writing that you do on your own—including, yes, essays. 

The ACT writing test asks you to explain your perspective on an issue in a convincing way, so writing opportunities such as editorials or letters to the editor of a newspaper are especially helpful. Practicing various types of writing will help make you a versatile writer able to adjust to different writing assignments. 

Finally, don’t forget you only have 40 minutes on test day. Get some practice writing within a time limit. This will not only give you an advantage on the test, but also will help you build skills that are important in college-level learning and in the world of work. 

Build Your Writing Skills 

Everyday ways to improve your writing 

You can strengthen your writing skills just about anywhere, anytime. Read below for some ideas to make writing, responding, and organizing your thoughts part of your daily routine:   

• Read and write frequently.  Read as much as you can from a variety of sources, including plays, essays, fiction, poetry, news stories, business writing, and magazine features. 
• Become familiar with current issues in society and develop your own opinions.  Think of arguments you would use to convince someone of your perspective. Taking speech and debate classes can help you think through issues and communicate them to others. 
• Practice writing in different formats and in as many real situations as possible.  Write letters to the editor, or letters to a company requesting information. 
• Try some writing in extracurricular activities.  School newspapers, yearbooks, and creative writing clubs offer opportunities to express ideas in writing. 
• Share your writing with others and get feedback.  Feedback helps you anticipate how readers might interpret your writing and what types of questions they might have. This can help you anticipate what a reader might want to know. 
• Learn to see writing as a process —brainstorming, planning, writing, and then editing. This applies to all writing activities. 
• Listen to the advice your English teacher gives you about your writing. 
• Strive for well-developed and well-organized writing  that uses precise, clear, and concise language. 
• Remember that everyone can improve their writing skills.  Confidence and skill will grow with the more writing you do. Practice and work lead to achievement. 

Tips for Taking the ACT Writing Test

Pace yourself.

The ACT writing test contains one question to be completed in 40 minutes. When asked to write a timed essay, most writers find it useful to do some planning before they write the essay and to do a final check of the essay when it is finished. It is unlikely that you will have time to draft, revise, and recopy your essay.

Before writing, carefully read and consider all prompt material. Be sure you understand the issue, its perspectives, and your essay task. The prewriting questions included with the prompt will help you analyze the perspectives and develop your own. Use these questions to think critically about the prompt and generate effective ideas in response. Ask yourself how your ideas and analysis can best be supported and organized in a written argument. Use the prewriting space in your test booklet to structure or outline your response.

Establish the focus of your essay by making clear your argument and its main ideas. Explain and illustrate your ideas with sound reasoning and meaningful examples. Discuss the significance of your ideas: what are the implications of what you have to say, and why is your argument important to consider? As you write, ask yourself if your logic is clear, you have supported your claims, and you have chosen precise words to communicate your ideas.

Review Your Essay

Take a few minutes before time is called to read over your essay. Correct any mistakes. If you find any words that are hard to read, recopy them. Make corrections and revisions neatly between the lines. Do not write in the margins. Your readers know you had only 40 minutes to compose and write your essay. Within that time limit, try to make your essay as polished as you can.

There are many ways to prepare for the ACT writing test. These include reading newspapers and magazines, listening to news analyses on television and radio, and participating in discussions and debates.

One of the best ways to prepare for the ACT writing test is to practice writing with different purposes for different audiences. The writing you do in your classes will help you. So will writing essays, stories, editorials, a personal journal, or other writing you do on your own.

It is also a good idea to practice writing within a time limit. Taking the practice ACT writing test will give you a sense of how much additional practice you may need. You might want to take the practice ACT writing test even if you do not plan to take the ACT with writing, because this will help build skills that are important in college-level learning and in the world of work.

Find more info about how the writing test is scored .

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How to Write an ACT Essay

Last Updated: October 11, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Arash Fayz . Arash Fayz is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of LA Tutors 123, an academic consulting and private tutoring company based in Los Angeles, California. Arash has over 10 years of educational consulting experience, managing the tutoring of students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to score higher on standardized tests and gain admission to their target schools. He has a BA in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 3,676 times.

The ACT may seem a bit daunting, particularly the writing section, and if you're feeling that way, don't worry. While no one can guarantee you a perfect store, you can do well on the essay section as long as you practice a little first. When writing the essay, take 5-10 minutes to organize your thoughts, then write your essay in a standard 5-paragraph format with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. If you have time in the end, spend a few minutes reading over what you wrote to correct any mistakes.

Organizing Your Thoughts

• When reading through them, analyze them. Think about what each perspective assumes and what each perspective leaves out.
• For instance, if one perspective is "The electoral college is beneficial because it makes it easier for a state to vote together," that assumes a state should vote together, and it may leave off the individual's vote.
• Repeat for each perspective.

• You will have space to plan in your notebook, so write down the perspective you choose to take.

• For example, if the perspective is "The electoral college is beneficial," you might write, "The electoral college is beneficial to states with smaller populations, which gives farming areas a much-needed advantage."

• For instance, you might write, "While the electoral college does have pitfalls due to the way it distributes electoral votes, that very distribution gives rural voters the advantage they need to be on an even playing field with urban voters, as it places a slightly higher weight on the votes of people in small states with high rural populations."

• For instance, one example might be that the electoral college helps protect farmers by giving slightly more power to rural voters.
• Whatever example you use, try to get as specific as possible with it. [6] X Research source

Writing the Essay

• When giving an overview, present what examples you plan to use, in order, such as "The electoral college gives farmers a voice, allows for rural voices to be heard in Washington D.C., and helps elect a president that represents all citizens."

• You can use 4-6 paragraphs, but make sure you stick to the format of an introductory paragraph, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion paragraph.

• For instance, you might write, "Farmers' perspectives are important, but they aren't the only ones who benefit from the electoral college. It also gives rural people a voice in Midwestern and Southern states where all electoral votes must go to one candidate."
• Another example might be, "Rural people deserve to have their voices heard, as a president should represent all people, not just those in large cities."

• For example, you may write, "All in all, the electoral college does more good than harm. It gives farmers and rural voters the opportunity to elect a candidate that also considers their needs, along with those in the urban centers of the country. After all, a president should be for all citizens, not just those who have a pretty house in a big city."

Correcting Your Essay

• However, even 5 minutes spent on proofreading can be helpful.

• Avoid writing in the margins. Only write neatly between the lines.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/act-writing-prompt
• ↑ https://magoosh.com/hs/act/act-writing/2016/how-i-got-a-perfect-36-on-the-new-act-essay/
• ↑ https://writewellapp.com/how-write-act-essay
• ↑ http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-preparation/writing-test-prep.html#scrollNav-1-5

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How to Write an ACT Exam?

Your high school GPA may play an important role in your college admission, but the ACT exam may have the final say. What is an ACT exam? The ACT is an entrance exam that most colleges utilize to decide on a candidate's admission. The main purpose of the writing test is to disclose and measure the applicants' readiness for college studies. 

The admission officers review the test score along with your high school GPA to make their final decision. Of course, the classes that you took, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation from your teachers, and your application, where you discuss the high school experience from your own perspective, will be reviewed as well. While the importance of the ACT scores may vary from college to college, the higher the score, the more options for the college enrollment you have. 

The ACT exam consists of four sections that include English, Reading, Math, and Science. Aside from that, the prospective candidates are given forty minutes to do the writing test. Writing an essay can be quite difficult; that's why you need to prepare for it. The good news is that ACT essay examples are available online, and you can view sample in this article as well. So, basically, that's what the ACT exam is about. But let's dive into the details with our dissertation help services team. 

What is the ACT Exam?

The ACT exam 2022 consists of several sections that reveal your knowledge of various school subjects. The ACT exam stands for “American College Test”. It's a multiple-choice test where you have a number of questions and several options of answers. And you need to be ready to give it almost four hours. 

How long is the ACT exam exactly? You have two hours and fifty-five minutes for the multiple-choice test and forty minutes for the writing section. The ACT exam 2022 length gives you enough time to choose the correct answers and dive into your essay, which is quite complex. Basically, in the writing test, you will have to expand on the provided important topic and three different perspectives on it. 

When writing a coherent essay, make sure that you show your abilities in several core aspects. You need to be capable of generating ideas and analyzing them from various perspectives. It's also crucial that you provide pieces of evidence that support your viewpoint. The essay must be organized logically, so the reader can easily slide through the narrative. Finally, proper written language use and conventions are also extremely important. 

The Structure of the ACT Writing Test

If you are planning to pass the ACT exam 2022, you need to know the structure of the exam. First, let's look at the time you're given for completing each section, as well as the number of questions each ACT section has. What is the ACT exam, if not an exercise on time management? You have to plan basically every minute while you're taking it. Let's divide the ACT exam length for every section:

How to Write an Act Exam

All in all, you have 3 hours and 35 minutes for the ACT exam, meaning that you have just enough time to go through the test once and mark all of the right answers. Aside from it, students have a ten-minute break after the Math section and five minutes rest before they start writing the essay. Try doing an ACT practice exam and actually see when you might need breaks. You've already learned the most important aspects of the written ACT exam scoring. Now, let's take a look at each section of the multiple-choice test. 

English Test

The ACT English test consists of 75 questions, and the 45 minutes given for it means that you'll have between 30 and 40 seconds for each writing. This section can be divided into three parts in terms of content:

Conventions of Standard English 

This is by far the largest part of the test, as more than 50% of the test is devoted to the conventions. The questions focus on grammar, syntax, punctuation, and the correct use of words. Here you may be asked to choose the correct verb or tense. This part focuses on the general rules of English, so you don't have to write essays, sharing your own perspective on world problems or books.

Production of Writing

Around 30% of the test is devoted to the production of writing. Here, students are given passages from the various texts to check how good they are at seeing the big picture. You must choose the correct answer based on the tone or purpose of the passage. Questions in this section also concern the literary style and strategies used by the author. 

You may need to also know what is diversity essay while preparing for the exams.

Knowledge of Language

This is the smallest part of the English test, as its share ranges between 10% and 20%. This segment focuses on style, tone, and precision. 

The Math test may seem to be a bit too easy at the beginning. But that's because it's arranged in order of difficulty. Basically, you can say that out of sixty questions; the first twenty are quite easy. The next twenty questions are of medium difficulty, while the last twenty questions are the most difficult ones. Check an ACT practice exam to see at what point you really start to struggle with the questions so that you have an idea of what to review. Now, let's see the percentages that each math topic has in the test:

• Pre-algebra - accounts for 20%-25% of questions;
• Elementary algebra - ranges between 15% to 20% of questions;
• Intermediate algebra - up to 20% of questions;
• Coordinate geometry - takes 15%-20% of questions;
• Plane geometry - around 25% of questions;
• Trigonometry - ranges between 5% to 10% of questions;

The good thing is that the ACT exam allows using a calculator, so you don't have to waste a lot of time if you are not the brightest in terms of calculation. 

Reading Test

The reading test has a lot in common with the production of writing questions in the English test. In this section, students are given passages from texts and questions about the passages. You may be asked to identify the author's attitude toward the main subject of the passage. The meaning of this or that word in the context of the passage. The main idea of the body paragraphs. The meaning of the phrase or the function this or that sentence serves within the text. The important part is that you don't have to develop your unique perspective of the text - this is the part of the test that measures your ability to analyze given information without adding your own perspective on the issue.

Science Test

The Science section includes topics like biology, chemistry, space and earth sciences, and physics. You may be asked to pick the right conclusion from the options you have for graphs and diagrams. The section includes questions on conflicting viewpoints. Here, students are provided with a description of a certain phenomenon with several hypotheses on its explanation. Then you need to choose which assumption reflects the notion provided in the questions. 

How to Improve Your Writing Skills?

Considering the ACT exam dates 2022, you still have time to practice the ability to discuss ideas and convey arguments with clarity - improve your writing skills for the essay. You don't know the topic you’ll get, so deciding to buy an essay paper won't be that helpful. But there are a few things that you can do to improve your writing for the ACT exam. 

• Read and write - if you do it frequently, you won't have problems with the test;
• Get familiar with current social issues and various opinions on them;
• Taking debate classes will prepare you for the essay;
• Try writing extracurricular activities, like creative writing clubs;
• Share your writing with others;

Basically, improving your writing can be shaped into a simple formula: read-write-repeat. Read how other people write and try writing yourself. That will master the style and improve your ACT exam scoring. You can try blogging to master your skills. As for the organization of your writing, you can always seek advice from your English teachers and generate productive ideas. Asking your classmates and friends what they think of your writing can also help greatly. Just remember that no one is born with perfect writing skills. You can achieve it only through practice. 

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How to Write an ACT Essay?

After all, despite the complexity of the ACT exam 2022 multiple-choice tests, the essay task remains the most difficult part of it. You might have checked ACT essay examples, but writing one yourself in a short time of 40 minutes can be quite stressful. You need to have a strategy for writing. So, here are the steps that can help you. 

• Devote around ten minutes to planning your essay. 
• Think of the way you're going to organize it. 
• Read the one writing prompt and the multiple perspectives, and choose the one you're going to work on. If you check an example ACT essay, you know what to do. 
• Brainstorm the ideas and analysis, as well as supporting pieces of evidence you can provide. 
• Picture the structure of your essay, and then devote 30 minutes to writing it so that you will have just enough time on the test day. 

You want to know how to write Common App Essay Prompts 2022-2023? We encourage you to check out the fresh topics in our article.

ACT Essay Sample

Finally, we are getting to something you can build your essay on. So, you are to get a prompt with three different perspectives on it, and you need to choose which one of them you're going to write your essay, just like the example ACT essay. Let's imagine that the writing prompt you get will be on cancel culture, as shown in many of last year's ACT essay examples.

"Cancel or callout culture is a tradition of removing the support for certain individuals or their work based on their actions or opinions that can be considered objectionable. Traditionally, individuals are called out on social media, which leads to the general awareness of their perceived offense. In most cases, canceling takes the form of pressuring organizations to prevent the subject of the canceling from public appearances. When it comes to business, it can include boycotting their products" — that's what the writing prompt may look like. 

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Now, let's check the three perspectives that you can be provided to defeat the ACT exam scoring system:

Perspective 1:

Cancel culture allows marginalized people to hold their tormentors accountable via public opinion when the justice system fails them. Movements like #metoo allowed numerous women and men to call out their abusers. The cancel culture leads to a safer world, free from abuse of various forms. 

Perspective 2:

While the cancel culture allows people to call out their abusers, we cannot disregard the fact that certain people can use it for their own benefit. The culture leads to people being canceled based on proofless claims, which turns the anti-abuse campaign into witch-hunting. 

Perspective 3:

Cancel culture may lead to a change in power but is ultimately unproductive when it comes to social change. As soon as it became big, it turned into simply casting stones at each other. While we may think that it leads to social justice, it's just engaging in the social media frenzy that doesn't affect real life. 

So, here you have the complex issue and three perspectives on it. First, you need to analyze and organize ideas of everything you know about the cancel culture. Think about the examples that you are acquainted with well. Then, examine each of the perspectives presented to you. Think which one is closest to your own thoughts about the issue. Alternatively, you can choose the perspective that you can support with more pieces of evidence. 

You start your essay with an analysis of the cancel culture as a whole. Then you should move to one of the perspectives given. There, you can expand and convey arguments on the topic by providing your own viewpoint. Your viewpoint must be supported by pieces of evidence. Regardless of the perspective you've chosen, in the case of cancel culture, the Harvey Weinstein and Depp vs. Heard cases will surely have something to do with it. Then you finish your essay with a logical conclusion. 

Don't forget that there must be a logical transition between the passages of your essay. The next passage must expand on the information provided in the preceding one. Your viewpoint must be followed by the supporting evidence. Here’s a sample of an essay that uses perspective two as the foundation: Here you go the ACT exam sample:

Is the ACT Essay Optional?

If you checked the ACT exam dates 2022, you have several months to prepare yourself. The first exam will occur on September 10, 2022, while the last one in the calendar year will be held on December 10, 2022. The biggest question that bugs students is whether the essay is optional. Yes, it is.  Moreover, not every college requires applicants to write an optional ACT essay.

Another important thing is that the total ACT exam scoring is not affected by your essay score. Some colleges think writing the ACT test gives candidates a more rounded score. So, all in all, the essay score matters only together with your multiple-choice results. So, why bother writing the essay at all? 

If you are highly competitive, you should try your hand in the ACT writing section. To prepare for it, you can follow the instructions given in this article and read through the ACT essay examples. If you are a mid-range student, you can opt for the writing test, but you should stress out about it, considering that many colleges do not require completing this section. Less competitive students should avoid the ACT writing test and stick to the multiple-choice test. The only reason they should take it is if the college board requires the essay for admission. 

How to Pass ACT with Flying Colors?

Now that we have discussed the ACT exam meaning, you can realize that it is not an easy task, but it's not that difficult either. Given all the information provided here, you know what to expect from the multiple-choice test and the writing portion, and you already know the ACT exam scoring system. ACT exam dates 2022 are approaching, but there is nothing to be scared of. Check the ACT essay examples , read through test tips once again, solve a few training tests, think about the logical structure of your essay, and keep the scoring rubric in mind- now you are ready to go and take the test without fearing the final score!

Let the experts do the work while preparing for the ACT!

You just can't get it all, so don't compromise and get the best of your last few months of school! Graduate with a great GPA by delegating some of the tasks to our experts while you'll be spending time getting ready for the big test! If you need essay help , just give us your requirements and we'll give you a hand asap.

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Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, act essay writing tips.

Hey guys, does anyone have any killer tips for writing a top-notch ACT essay? I'm kinda stressed about this part, and I want to make sure I'm well-prepared.

Hey there! No need to stress, I've got you covered with some helpful tips for writing a great ACT essay. Just remember to practice and keep these tips in mind while you prepare:

1. Understand the prompt: Make sure you thoroughly read and comprehend the prompt. It will present a complex issue with three different perspectives. Your task is to analyze and develop your position on the issue while considering other perspectives as well.

2. Plan your essay: Take a couple of minutes to plan your essay before diving into writing. This will help you to organize your thoughts and create a smooth, logical flow. Outline your main points, introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

3. Write a clear thesis statement: Develop a concise thesis statement that presents your position on the issue. It should be included in the introduction and guide the rest of your essay.

4. Address the three perspectives: While writing your essay, make sure to discuss each of the three perspectives provided. Analyze the pros and cons, and explain how they relate to your thesis. By doing this, you'll demonstrate critical thinking and analytical skills.

5. Use specific examples: To support your arguments, provide specific examples and evidence. These can be drawn from your own experiences, readings, or current events. Make sure to connect these examples to your thesis in a clear and concise manner.

6. Stay organized: Structure your essay into an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each body paragraph should focus on a different point or argument. A well-organized essay will be easier for the reader to follow, leading to a higher score.

7. Remain focused and concise: Stay on topic throughout your essay, and don't use unnecessary words. Make sure each sentence contributes to your overall argument.

8. Proofread your essay: After writing your essay, take a few minutes to proofread it. Check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, as well as any awkward phrasing or logical inconsistencies.

9. Practice, practice, practice: To get comfortable with the ACT essay format, practice with sample prompts, and get feedback from others. The more you practice, the more confident and prepared you'll feel on test day.

Lastly, stay positive, and don't forget to breathe! Keep these tips in mind, and you'll be on your way to writing a strong ACT essay. Good luck!

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‘New Territory’ for Americans: Deadly Heat in the Workplace

Deaths are rising sharply, and the Biden administration is trying to respond. Its plan faces big hurdles.

Telitha Solis, an airplane cabin cleaner, recalls sweating, shaking and feeling nauseated at work. “Any kind of air cooling would make a big difference,” she said. Credit... Mark Felix for The New York Times

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By Coral Davenport and Noah Weiland

Coral Davenport has reported on climate policy since the George W. Bush administration. Noah Weiland has covered health care policy since the first days of the Covid pandemic.

• Published May 25, 2024 Updated May 28, 2024

For more than two years, a group of health experts, economists and lawyers in the U.S. government has worked to address a growing public health crisis: people dying on the job from extreme heat.

In the coming months, this team of roughly 30 people at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to propose a new rule that would require employers to protect an estimated 50 million people exposed to high temperatures while they work. They include farm laborers and construction workers , but also people who sort packages in warehouses, clean airplane cabins and cook in commercial kitchens.

The measure would be the first major federal government regulation to protect Americans from heat on the job. And it is expected to meet stiff resistance from some business and industry groups, which oppose regulations that would, in some cases, require more breaks and access to water, shade and air-conditioning.

But even if the rule takes effect, experts say, the government’s emergency response system is poorly suited to meet the urgency of the moment.

Last year was the hottest in recorded history, and researchers are expecting another record-breaking summer, with temperatures already rising sharply across the Sun Belt. The heat index in Miami reached 112 degrees Fahrenheit last weekend, shattering daily records by 11 degrees.

The surge in deaths from heat is now the greatest threat to human health posed by climate change, said Dr. John M. Balbus, the deputy assistant secretary for climate change and health equity in the Health and Human Services Department.

“The threat to people from extreme heat is reaching a point where we have to rethink how, at all levels of government, we are preparing and putting in place a response that matches the severity of the problem,” Dr. Balbus said in an interview. “This is new territory.”

An estimated 2,300 people in the United States died from heat-related illness in 2023 , triple the annual average between 2004 and 2018. Researchers say all those figures are probably undercounts , in part because of how causes of death are reported on death certificates.

Emergency room visits for heat illness shot up around the country last summer compared with the previous five years, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Heat kills more people each year than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined , according to the National Weather Service.

President Biden has tried to respond to the threat , notably with a call for worker protections in 2021. His administration tapped Dr. Balbus to be the first senior official to address the health impacts of climate change.

“Even those who deny that we’re in the midst of a climate crisis can’t deny the impact that extreme heat is having on Americans,” Mr. Biden said in July, adding that “it hits our most vulnerable the hardest: seniors, people experiencing homelessness who have nowhere to turn, disadvantaged communities that are least able to recover from climate disasters.”

But Mr. Biden’s efforts to respond to the extreme heat linked to climate change will almost certainly be erased if former President Donald J. Trump returns to the White House, Republican strategists said in interviews. Initiatives like the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity could be wiped away. And the proposed OSHA heat rule would very likely be shelved and ignored.

“So far this rulemaking seems bound up in policy concerns about climate change and structural racism,” said Jonathan Berry, who served as a senior Labor Department official under Mr. Trump. “I don’t see a second Trump administration supporting rules on those bases.”

You could ‘cook an egg up here’

The health effects of extreme heat can be devastating even to the healthy and the young. High temperatures can damage organs, depriving the heart and kidneys of oxygen and blood, and overwhelm the body’s ability to cool down.

Dr. Jerry Snow Jr., a medical toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at Banner-University Medical Center in Phoenix, saw patients last summer with confusion, unresponsiveness and body temperatures above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Blood tests would reveal kidney or brain damage and muscle that had broken down. People who collapsed on hot concrete or asphalt arrived with burns, he said.

Juan Villalpando, 43, a roofer in Gary, Ind., battled 94-degree temperatures this week. “You can physically cook an egg up here,” said Mr. Villalpando, who has experienced episodes of heat illness, with fatigue, cold sweats, chills and disorientation. “When that happens to guys, they can fall off and die.” (As the heat has broken records in Indiana, Mr. Villalpando’s employer has provided more water breaks and shade.)

Telitha Solis, 57, an airplane cabin cleaner at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, recalls sweating, shaking and feeling nauseated while working without air-conditioning. “Any kind of air cooling would make a big difference,” she said.

The White House has pushed officials at the Labor Department, which oversees OSHA, to publish a draft heat rule this summer. But even if that happens, it is unlikely to be finalized this year and faces broad opposition from industry groups that say new regulations would be unreasonably complicated and expensive.

Marc Freedman, a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business lobbying group, wrote that such a rule would present huge challenges for employers and that “it is extraordinarily difficult for them to determine when heat presents a hazard because each employee experiences heat differently.” Mr. Freedman said the unpredictable nature of heat creates “a substantial barrier to efforts to determine when employees require protection.”

The rule, which would set clearer standards for employers, would most likely include two heat index thresholds, one at 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the other at 90 degrees, for worker protections in both outdoor and indoor settings, according to an outline that OSHA officials presented in late April . The heat index is a measure of how hot it really feels outside , factoring in humidity and other factors along with the temperature.

At the first, lower threshold, employers would be required to offer drinking water and break areas and to allow workers to start with lighter workloads. The higher threshold would require breaks and monitoring for signs of heat illness.

Since April 2022, OSHA, which has nearly 2,000 inspectors, has conducted about 5,000 inspections related to heat exposure. That resulted in 54 citations to employers for heat-related violations of the agency’s general duty clause , which requires companies to maintain workplaces free of hazards, said Mandy McClure, an agency spokeswoman. Out of those 54 citations, a dozen were issued after heat-related hospitalizations and 25 after heat-related deaths, she said.

Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat who went on a thirst strike in July to pressure OSHA to expedite the heat rule, said that “it would take OSHA nearly 150 years to inspect every workplace in the country, because they’re constantly underfunded.”

About half a dozen states have implemented their own protections for outdoor workers. But some of those protections have faced backlash from conservatives .

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, both Republicans, signed legislation to prevent local governments from requiring heat protections for outdoor workers.

According to data compiled by the Health and Human Services Department, 445 people died of heat exposure in Texas last year, and 77 died in Florida.

The Texas measure was designed to prevent a patchwork of local laws that conflict with or exceed state laws in a number of areas, including workplace safety. Mr. Abbott has said the goal was to “remove the barriers of government to encourage competition, and empower consumers to choose,” and that the measure “increases economic liberty while still ensuring customer safety.”

The Florida law was enacted after Miami-Dade County sought to enact a worker protection rule over the objections of the business community. “I think they were pursuing something that was going to cause a lot of problems down there,” Mr. DeSantis said.

An invisible but deadly crisis

In October 2022, after a record-breaking, triple-digit heat dome formed over California , Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to declare a major disaster, which would have unlocked federal assistance.

The agency denied the request, responding that “precedent is to evaluate discrete events and impacts, not seasonal or general atmospheric conditions.” The 1988 Stafford Act, which authorizes the federal government to declare a disaster or emergency, does not include extreme heat in its list of 16 causes. No president has declared an emergency in response to heat.

Local officials and health providers say FEMA’s requirements for activating an emergency response typically involve things like property damage from a disaster. A heat crisis that stresses human health can be harder to measure.

A heat crisis “is not a big visual episode,” said Jane Gilbert, the chief heat officer of Miami-Dade County.

The most perilous heat-related health crisis could come if heat takes down an electric grid. Extreme heat can send demand for electricity soaring, straining transmission, and can damage equipment, hobbling production. The result is a steamy community, in the dark, without air-conditioning, refrigeration or relief. “That would be an overwhelming situation where I think you would probably have to see a federal response,” Dr. Balbus said.

Blackout events that leave more than 50,000 people without power for at least an hour have increased more than 60 percent in the United States between 2015 and 2021 as climate change has intensified heat waves, according to research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology .

In Atlanta, Detroit and Phoenix, a multiday blackout event during a heat wave would more than double the estimated rate of heat-related deaths, a 2023 study found .

“In Atlanta, we have an undersized network of cooling centers, mostly high school gymnasiums,” said Brian Stone Jr., a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and an author of the study. “And not a single cooling center has backup generators.”

Kate Brown, a former Oregon governor, recalled that Portland had used air-conditioned city buses as cooling sites during heat waves.

“Emergency management was designed to deal with huge disasters that cause great destruction to public infrastructure,” she said. “This is people dying in their homes because of the heat.”

Coral Davenport covers energy and environment policy, with a focus on climate change, for The Times. More about Coral Davenport

Noah Weiland writes about health care for The Times. More about Noah Weiland

Our Coverage of Climate and the Environment

News and Analysis

Human-caused warming has doubled the chances that southern Brazil will experience extreme, multiday downpours  like the ones that recently caused disastrous flooding there, a team of scientists said.

Over the past year of record-shattering warmth, the average person on Earth experienced 26 more days of abnormally high temperatures  than they otherwise would have, were it not for human-induced climate change, scientists said.

The Biden administration laid out for the first time a set of broad government guidelines around the use of carbon offsets  in an attempt to shore up confidence in a method for tackling global warming that has faced growing criticism.

Adopting Orphaned Oil Wells:  Students, nonprofit groups and others are fund-raising to cap highly polluting oil and gas wells  abandoned by industry.

Struggling N.Y.C. Neighborhoods:  New data projects are linking social issues with global warming. Here’s what that means for five communities in New York .

Biden Environmental Rules:  The Biden administration has rushed to finalize 10 major environmental regulations  to meet its self-imposed spring deadline.

F.A.Q.:  Have questions about climate change? We’ve got answers .

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