by Natalie Villacorta
Starting September 2015, the ACT will have a new optional writing test. The essay is still a demonstration of a student’s ability to make an argument, but the prompt has been revised to resemble more closely real-world argumentation.
Previously, the prompts all focused on school issues, such as whether students should be required to wear uniforms or maintain a “C” average in order to obtain a driver’s license. Now, the prompts will relate to a broader set of contemporary issues, such as whether something is lost when intelligent machines replace humans.
Issues raised in the old prompts were clearly divided into two sides, and students were asked to take a position for or against the issue. The new essay prompts offer students three diverse perspectives, allowing them to engage with the issue in a more nuanced way. On the new writing test, students should not just take a position on an issue, they should put their position in conversation with several other points of view.
And finally, the new test is 10 minutes longer than the first, with 40 minutes now provided to plan and write the essay.
Despite these changes, students can and should approach the essay in the same way. They should begin by planning out their essay, brainstorming detailed pros and cons for each of the three perspectives before selecting their own perspective to make the case for. Their introduction should still begin with a broad overview of the issue, summarize the various perspectives, and state their own perspective. Their conclusion should still recap the points presented earlier and make a strong case for one point of view.
The biggest change will come in the body paragraphs of their essays, since the student will need to engage with each of the three perspectives provided in the prompt rather than simply looking at the issue as if there were only two sides to it.
Essays will now be graded differently as well. The new grading system can help students to think through the elements of a top-scoring essay. Instead of one score, students will receive four scores in each of four domains: ideas and analysis; development and support; organization; and language use and conventions. Two readers will evaluate each student’s essay and assign them a score of between 1 and 6 for each domain. Domain scores will then be used to determine the student’s overall writing test score on a scale of 1-36.
The following prompt is from the free ACT to be found on p.54 of the test booklet. http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf A second example can be found at http://www.actstudent.org/writing/sample/