Enhanced Writing Test
FAQ
COMMENCEMENT 2015
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY: ACT
While the
enhancement and
evolution of The ACT
continue and
additional scores will
be provided, The ACT
will remain a
curriculum-based
achievement exam,
and the well-respected
1-to-36 score scale will
not change.
Enhancements to the Writing Test
Why are you enhancing The ACT writing test?
Based on these rich sources of research and our ACT College and
Career Readiness Standards, we have developed a Writing
Competencies Model that will guide our continuum of writing
assessments from elementary school to career.
The enhanced ACT writing test and the expanded score reports will
ultimately provide more insights to help students become college and
career ready. Students will receive scores for four critical writing
competencies:
ideas and analysis
development and support
organization
language use
What will the enhanced ACT writing test look like?
While the current ACT writing test is an exercise in classic
persuasion, the enhanced ACT writing test presents students with a
rhetorical purpose that is more broadly argumentative.
Each prompt will present a paragraph that introduces and gives
context to a given issue, and three perspectives on the issue.
Included in the test booklet are two pages of planning space, which
introduce a series of critical questions that support writers as they
develop and express their ideas in response to the rhetorical
situation.
The writer’s task has three subcomponents. The writer is asked to
“evaluate and analyze” the given perspectives; to “state and
develop” his or her own perspective; and to “explain the
The familiar 1-to-36
score scale used on
The ACT will not
change. We will be
providing additional
scores and indicators
to give students,
parents, and educators
more detailed
information so they
may better plan for
future success.
relationship” between his or her perspective and those given. Writers
may adopt a perspective from the prompt, partially or fully, or may
generate their own.
Taken as a whole, these pieces constitute a rich argumentative task
that draws from subgenres including evaluative argument and
rhetorical analysis, and that also calls upon the tools of expository
writing.
How does the enhanced ACT writing test connect to the tasks
expected of people in postsecondary education and the
workplace?
This task finds many real-world corollaries. At its core, this task asks
students to thoughtfully consider multiple perspectives and ideas. It
also prompts them to respond meaningfully, leveraging their own
knowledge, experience, and worldview as they build a sound,
substantiated argument. This fundamental exercise in thinking and
writing lies at the heart of many forms of argument. By asking
students to enter into rhetorical dialogue with a number of
alternative perspectives, the task elicits from them a skill that is
necessary in the many social contexts in which they will participate
as students, employees, and citizens.
What scores will students receive?
In addition to a subject-level score which will be on the familiar 1–36
scale, The ACT writing test will provide scores for four important
domains of writing competency reflected by the ACT Writing
Competencies Model: ideas and analysis, development and support,
organization, and language use. The test will measure students’
ability to evaluate multiple perspectives on a complex issue and
generate their own analysis based on reasoning, knowledge, and
experience, enabling them to more fully demonstrate their analytical
writing ability. Assessing these critical writing competencies
separately will enable ACT to better identify and reward the
strengths students exhibit in their writing, while also noting specific
deficiencies.
Students will also receive a new score that combines the scores from
the English and reading tests with the writing subject-level score
(called an ELA Score). As is the case today, the writing score does
not affect the 1–36 ACT Composite score.
Can you tell us more about the four domain scores and what
they will evaluate?
The enhancements to The ACT writing test will provide scores for
four domains of writing competency outlined in the ACT Writing
Competencies Model.
There will be an
expanded number of
reporting categories
compared to the
current subscore
categories, and
breakdowns will be
provided for every
subject. The reporting
categories are based
on the ACT College
Readiness Standards
and are aligned to the
Common Core State
Standards.
Ideas and Analysis
Scores in this category represent a student’s ability to comprehend
the rhetorical situation; generate productive ideas in response; think
critically about the task; evaluate and analyze multiple perspectives;
and employ effective rhetorical strategies.
Development and Support
Scores in this category reflect a student’s ability to illustrate, explain,
and substantiate claims and ideas. Strong writers discuss and
explore their ideas, making clear their pertinence by way of detailed,
persuasive examples and sound reasoning. They bolster their claims
by marshaling evidentiary support, drawing from their knowledge
and relevant experience.
Organization
Scores in this category indicate a student’s ability to structure an
argument logically, sequence ideas strategically, and organize writing
clearly.
Language Use and Conventions
Scores in this category denote a student’s ability to use standard
written English in service of a persuasive purpose. Competent writers
demonstrate control over the conventions of grammar, syntax, word
usage, and mechanics. Stronger writers make effective rhetorical
choices in voice and tone, and express nuanced ideas by way of
precise word choice.
What insights will the new writing scores provide?
The move to analytic scoring allows for a fine-grain evaluation of
students’ writing abilities. We will continue to link reported scores to
our ACT College and Career Readiness Standards for Writing and
Ideas for Progress.
The additional information offered by reporting four separate domain
scores can be acted upon by all stakeholders—students, educators,
and postsecondary institutions.
For students, analytic scores are important diagnostic information.
ACT research shows that students often take the test more than
once, and they use the scores they receive to help build on strengths
and improve weaknesses in their skillsets. Because our test serves a
diagnostic function for many students, our enhanced test reports will
provide them with information that can help in their development as
writers.
Educators also benefit from the new writing scores. Schools can work
closely with individual students to cultivate a deeper understanding
of their skill in academic writing, using the score report and a
student’s essay as tools. For State and District testing clients,
The additional
information will make it
easier for students,
parents, and educators
to understand the
makeup of any subject
score and see
students’ strengths
and areas for
improvement.
Reporting categories
will be added in 2016.
aggregated data can identify trends at school, district, and state
levels, allowing educators to develop plans to help students improve
their weaknesses and leverage their strengths. Furthermore, all
student essays are available for schools to review at no cost via ACT
Essay View.
Postsecondary institutions gain a fuller picture of student readiness
in writing. Institutions have more information at their disposal,
allowing them to make admissions or placement decisions based on
the writing competencies that are most valuable within their
programs. For example, some colleges may desire matriculating
students to demonstrate facility with rhetorical strategies; these
colleges might weigh the first domain, Ideas and Analysis, more
heavily than the others. Other institutions may want to make
placement decisions based on a student’s control over the
conventions of standard written English; these schools may do so by
emphasizing students’ scores in Language Use. Still others may use
this test as a means of allowing students to opt out of entry-level
writing courses; these schools may want to see evidence of
exemplary performance in all four domains.
What will the score reports look like from students who took
the current ACT writing test?
Scores for the current ACT writing test will be reported as they are
currently, a single score on the 2–12 scale.
For more information and resources go to:
http://www.act.org/actnext/faq.html
http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/
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