Your Guide to the Optional SAT and ACT Essays
Here are 4 questions you should know the answers to before taking the SAT or ACT with optional essay.
1. When I take the SAT or ACT, do I have to take it with the optional essay?
Yes. More and more colleges are dropping the essay requirement on the SAT and ACT so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not even offered a couple years from now. In fact, I read that only 10% of colleges require it. But for now, a few schools still require or recommend it, and all the UC schools still require the essay. I always take terms like “optional” and “recommended” to mean “required,” especially if we’re talking about a highly selective school. A couple more reasons to sign up for the test with essay: a scholarship application might require it or a college may use the essay as a placement test for freshman English composition classes.
2. How important is the essay?
Not nearly as important as the multiple choice parts of the exams and overall probably not that important. I’ve never heard a college rep actually say, “The ACT/SAT essay is not important.” I’ve also never heard a college rep say, “The ACT/SAT essay is important.” Here’s why I think it’s not that important.
Reason 1: If the essay were important, it would be part of the composite score not a completely separate score. It used to be part of the composite score, but then they separated it, which to me suggests colleges didn’t want the subjective essay score tainting the verbal score.
Reason 2: Colleges don’t publish average essay scores like they do for the multiple choice sections. (The UC system notably does, which I’ll discuss in the next section.)
Reason 3: I’ve never been asked what my SAT essay score was (though I’ve been asked innumerable times what my SAT score was). No one cares about the essay score.
Reason 4: From a common sense perspective, I don’t know what college would use a timed standardized test essay to evaluate a student’s writing ability. There are plenty of other writing pieces in an application for that (eg your child’s highly polished personal statement), not to mention the student’s grades in English classes. Notably, Princeton now requires and Brown encourages the submission of a graded paper.
Bonus FAQ: Can a college actually read my child’s ACT/SAT essay? Yes. But I doubt any do except in extreme situations (eg the multiple choice score and the essay score are wildly inconsistent). They have far more interesting things to read. Like the aforementioned mind-blowing personal statement.
3. What’s a good score on the ACT/SAT essay, and do I need to retake the test if I get a low essay score?
For context, let me explain how the essays are scored. The SAT essay is scored by two graders. They each give a score from 1-4 (4 being the best) in three categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. The scores from the two graders are added within each category so you can get a maximum score of 8 in each of the three categories. Just remember 888 RAW. The scores are then added up to give a total essay score out of 24. The ACT is also scored by two graders, but they give scores from 1-6 (6 being the best) in four categories: Ideas & Analysis, Development & Support, Organization, and Language Use. The scores from the two graders are added within each category so you can get a max score of 12 in each of the four categories. Just remember 12-12-12-12 IDOL. The scores are then averaged because ACT likes to average things and you’re given a score out of 12.
According to the College Board, the average SAT essay score is 5-4-5. If you like statistics and bar graphs you can find that info here. For the ACT essay the average score is 6.7. Again, for all you data miners that info can be found here. Ok. I know all the pre-Ivy Leaguers out there are thinking those are just averages. What’s a good score? I mentioned earlier that the UCs publish their 25-75 percentile SAT essay scores. Those scores were 16-20 for Berkeley’s admitted class for fall 2018. So for one of the nation’s top colleges, getting a slightly better than average 6-6-6 puts you safely in the middle 50% of admitted students.
As for retaking a test just to raise an essay score, I almost always advise against it. Even if you were applying to a very selective school and your essay score was average, I still wouldn’t retake the test just to improve the essay score. I just don’t think it’s that important. But just to be safe, let’s make sure you get the best score you can. Read on!
4. How do I get a decent score on the ACT/SAT essay?
The ACT and SAT essay component scores basically measure the same things: how well did you understand the text, how well did you analyze the text, and how good is your writing technique. The task of the essays, however, is very different so the following tips are specific to each one.
ACT essay tips:
For the ACT, you are given 40 minutes to analyze three different perspectives on an issue. You must support one of the perspectives. You could technically come up with your own perspective that’s not one of the three given, but that would be tough to do within the time limit. You could also pick and choose aspects of the three different perspectives and synthesize a new perspective. My advice is to keep it simple and choose one of the given perspectives. I would choose the perspective that’s easiest for you to support, not necessarily the one you agree with.
For the intro, briefly address all the perspectives, then clearly state what your position is in the last sentence of the intro. This will be your thesis. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to make sure your position is clear.
I would have two or three body paragraphs. You are required to discuss the relationship of your perspective with at least one of the other perspectives. Devote a body paragraph to comparing your perspective with each of the other perspectives then an additional one in support of your perspective. The order of the paragraphs doesn’t really matter as long as your overall argument is logical, but I would probably structure the essay in the following order:
1) address and support your perspective
2) address and counter one of the alternate perspectives
3) address and counter the other alternate perspective
You could also just as easily do the reverse of that (3-2-1). When analyzing and working through the perspectives, consider assumptions and any expected or unexpected consequences. You should also include specific examples and/or counterexamples to illustrate and support your statements.
Make sure to include a conclusion. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just summarize. You want to have a conclusion to get the organization points.
I would definitely practice a few essays. Here are some official prompts:
SAT essay tips:
Most students will find the SAT essay easier because it’s similar to what they have to do in school. For the SAT essay, you are given 50 minutes to read a passage and analyze how the author makes his argument. It’s longer but it requires less creativity than the ACT essay.
For the intro, I would use SOAPS. That stands for Speaker-Occasion-Audience-Purpose-Subject. Address as many of those as you can, but keep in mind that not every passage reveals all of the elements of SOAPS. The last sentence of the intro will be your thesis in which I would name the rhetorical devices you are going to discuss. Each body paragraph will discuss one device.
The best way to prepare for the SAT essay is to have a list of your favorite rhetorical devices. Here are some of mine: diction, imagery, personal anecdote, statistics, and counterarguments. Additionally you can structure your essay around appeals to emotion (pathos) and appeals to logic (logos). Within each body paragraph, make sure to identify the technique and cite specific examples of it using direct quotes or paraphrasing. Equally important is making sure to explain how the technique contributes to the argument. I like to end every body paragraph with a sentence like “The use of [rhetorical device] strengthens the author’s argument by [blank]” just to make sure the reader got it.
Just as with the ACT essay, it’s important to have a conclusion, but it doesn’t have to be anything fancy.
Practice SAT essays can be found here.
And one final note that applies to both essays - the more you write the higher the score. You’re given four sheets of paper. You must get to the third. You don’t have to fill out the third page, but you must get to it. And don’t skip lines between paragraphs, indent an unusual amount, make the margins bigger, or write unnaturally largely to make the essay seem longer. It takes practice to be able to write that much by hand, legibly, and in pencil in the time allotted so make sure to practice. Drills make skills!
Recap: Whether you’re taking the SAT or ACT, my recommendation is to sign up for the optional essay. Follow the tips in this blog post and do practice a few times, but don’t spend an inordinate amount of time prepping for the essay component.