They write essays all the time.
(*Facepalm*) The problem is, the ACT’s writing section differs from the others enough through the writing normally done at school that I see lots of students underperform in a manner that is completely preventable. Typically « good » writers are receiving scores of 6 or 8 (away from 12), if they must certanly be getting decidedly more numbers that are competitive.
Although it’s certainly not an grade that is 11th teacher’s « job » to do ACT/SAT prep or even « teach to the test », there is a problematic reality that when teachers do not get involved a little, most students won’t get this knowledge and/or skills anywhere else. And that, my teacher friend, is worrisome.
An english teacher can take to help juniors be more ready so what’s going on, and what are the easiest steps?
Here are the biggest culprits:
1. The timing is much more intense than school. It’s 30 minutes total, including reading the prompt and the entire brainstorm, draft, and proofread process. That task could be daunting if students get writer’s block, have test anxiety, do not understand the prompt when you look at the heat for the brief moment, or battle to wrestle their ideas into submission.
In the event the students haven’t done timed writing in a while, are used to 45 minutes, or are not good at it, chances are they’ll need make it possible to cope. Take a look at my timed writing unit to help students get practice completing a cohesive draft in a shorter time.
2. Students do not know the (new) rubric.When the ACT changed the writing test in 2016, the style that is prompt the rubric both changed. The assessment isn’t any longer just a typical 5-paragraph (or so) opinion essay. Students are meant to also:
- acknowledge, support, or refute other viewpoints
- provide some combination of context, implications, significance, etc.
- recognize flaws in logic or assumptions built in a viewpoint, utilizing it for their advantage if required
- (still write a cohesive essay with a thesis and many different evidence, as before)
all in 30 minutes or less. English teachers might help by at the least groing through the rubric in class, if not assigning an essay that is ACT-style gets assessed as part of the class.
3. The linguistic bar is high. Aside from the content characteristics described in #2, students are supposed to have decent grammar, varied sentence structures for good flow, transitions within and between paragraphs, and extremely great fiction or synonyms.
English teachers: in the event your writing rubrics or style that is gradingn’t typically address these, consider bringing it up in class, assessing for those characteristics on the next essay, or reading over a mentor text that DOES meet this bar (see #4).
4. They have to see examples. I highly recommend that students head to this link to not merely read a sample 6/6 essay, but compare it to a 4 or 5 essay to see its differences. I do a compare/contrast activity for this reason when I teach my ACT writing lessons. The stakes are high enough that it’s worth groing through a mentor text to see just what the expectations are and debunk the basic proven fact that you will never complete.
The conclusion I’ve been tutoring the ACT long enough to acknowledge the distinctions between the old and new versions, as well as without « teaching buy essays online into the test », you will find easy steps educators usually takes to help juniors stay at or over the average that is national achieve their college dreams. Using even some of these tips will help students be a little more ready on test day, and a lot more grateful which they had you as a teacher.