Fiveable's ACT Writing: Essay Tips and Tricks

What is the ACT Essay Section?

The ACT Essay section is an optional section, where you have to write an essay in 40 minutes. You are given three perspectives on a topic, and must form your own perspective and write about it. It's graded on a scale of 2-12 points, with the criteria:

• • 💡 Ideas and Analysis: Establish relevant ideas in your essay and address multiple perspectives.
• • 🗻 Development and Support: Explain your ideas, provide examples, and help the reader understand your perspective.
• • 📂 Organization: Organize your ideas, transition between different points, and write with clarity.
• • 💬 Language Use: Adjust your tone and style; use proper grammar, word usage, and mechanics.

The criteria for this section can be found in greater depth here.

Here's a link to the official ACT rubric. It may seem impossible to write a full essay in 40 minutes, but hopefully, these tips will save you some time! 🤗

❌ Don't Stress Over Grammar

Surprisingly, the ACT graders aren't super strict on grammar. The official ACT rubric states that minor grammatical errors are okay as long as it doesn't affect the clarity of your essay. Of course, this doesn't mean you should completely disregard grammar and focus all of your attention on the content of your essay. Try your best to spell everything right, use proper punctuation, and use words correctly in context. However, it's okay if you have a minor spelling error here and there.

✍ Practice, Practice, Practice!

The best way to maximize your score on the ACT essay portion is to practice writing as much as possible. You don't even have to use sample ACT essay prompts all the time! FRQs (free-response questions) from any AP Histories help a lot because they require you to form an argument and back up your claim. Using generic argumentative essay prompts helps too. The point is, when you or someone else reads your final essay, you can identify your weaknesses and focus on them next time you practice. For example, maybe your friend read your essay and couldn't understand what your perspective on the topic was. Next time you write, you can focus on establishing a better thesis that solidly states your view on the topic. Continuously practicing also helps with time management during the real test. 📚

⌚ Plan Ahead

Some people start writing as soon as the ⏰ starts ticking, and it's usually to save time. However, planning what you're going to write before you actually start is so, so important and tends to save more time than when you don't plan. Organization is a section on the ACT rubric, and if you plan as you go, your essay probably won't be as organized as it could be. Here are some organizational tips:

• • Write your thesis out 🖊. If you don't have a solid thesis, no matter how well you write, you can't score well. Your entire essay is centered around your thesis, and it establishes your perspective on a topic. Without this key piece, the reader will be lost. Here is a good thesis template:
• • Write out your reasoning and counterargument 🖊. The structure for a solid argumentative essay tends to be the following: introduction (thesis), body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2, counterargument, body paragraph 3 (the strongest point), and conclusion. Many people put the counterargument right before the conclusion, but putting it before your last body paragraph really helps emphasize your perspective and strengthens your essay. Also, before you start writing, come up with 3 supporting reasons and a counterargument. That way, you can organize your essay and make transitions easier. Here's an outline to help you out:

1. • Introduction: hook ➡ thesis ➡ transition
2. • Body 1: reason 1 ➡ evidence ➡ explanation ➡ transition
3. • Body 2: reason 2 ➡ evidence ➡ explanation ➡ transition
4. • Counterargument: address other side ➡ explain ➡ refute claim ➡ evidence ➡ explanation ➡ transition
5. • Body 3: reason 3 ➡ evidence ➡ explanation ➡ transition
6. • Conclusion: restate thesis ➡ call to action (what should the reader take away from this?)

✔ Understand and Use Literary Devices

Engaging the reader is very important when it comes to writing. To do so, there are two specific things to focus on: sentence variation and word choice. A great way to establish both of these in your writing is to use literary devices. This includes things like alliteration, allusion, similes, metaphors, rhetoric, and more. A really good example of this is a line from "Venus and Adonis" by Shakespeare: "Vexed as the sea, seducing sights their vow." This alliteration sounds both smooth and flowy, like the 🌊, because of the repeated s sound and the words being used. Of course, something like this probably won't be used in an argumentative essay, but this shows the impact of using literary devices in your writing. It adds variation, engages the reader, and can help set the tone for your essay. 💐 

📖 Read!

Advanced vocabulary is great to use in writing, and the best way to strengthen your vocabulary is by reading! Reading any sort of published works, like poems, newspapers, and books can help with grammar, structure, literary devices, and most importantly, the words you read. It's important to keep in mind that you should only use more advanced vocabulary when it helps with conciseness or getting your point across; don't use them everywhere to try to sound more sophisticated because it may confuse the reader and make it harder to read. 

Reading Recommendations:

• • Classics (To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby) 📔
• • Political news: This website has many controversial and daily issues that are covered by all political sides. It shows how to back your opinion up with evidence persuasively. 📰
• • Scientific articles: Shows how evidence is used to back up a claim. There's also a lot of new vocabulary. 🧪

Good Luck!

You got this. Your score doesn't define your worth. All that matters is you tried your best and put as much effort as you could into preparing. Keep practicing and have fun! 😎