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Are you taking the ACT with Writing? No need to stress! The ACT essay follows a predictable format, which means you can practice and prepare beforehand. Take a look at a sample ACT writing prompt and learn five key steps to penning a high-scoring essay.

Keep in mind: The ACT writing essay is optional. Currently, only 27 colleges and universities require the ACT with Writing. You can see the complete list  here . If there is any chance that you might apply to one of those schools, you should register for the ACT with Writing. Not sure where you will apply? You should strongly consider signing up for the essay and keep your options open.

ACT with Writing: Sample Prompt

This example writing prompt comes straight from our book ACT Prep :

Education and the Workplace

Many colleges and universities have cut their humanities departments, and high schools have started to shift their attention much more definitively toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and away from ELA (English, Language Arts). Representatives from both school boards and government organizations suggest that the move toward STEM is necessary in helping students to participate in a meaningful way in the American workplace. Given the urgency of this debate for the future of education and society as a whole, it is worth examining the potential consequences of this shift in how students are educated in the United States.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the shift in American education.

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the issue of how schools should balance STEM and ELA subjects. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.

How to Write the ACT Essay

Your job is to write an essay in which you take some sort of position on the prompt, all while assessing the three perspectives provided in the boxes. Find a way to anchor your essay with a unique perspective of your own that can be defended and debated, and you are already in the upper echelon of scorers.

Step 1: Work the Prompt

What in the prompt requires you to weigh in? Why is this issue still the subject of debate and not a done deal?

Step 2: Work the Perspectives

Typically, the three perspectives will be split: one for , one against , and one in the middle . Your goal in Step 2 is to figure out where each perspective stands and then identify at least one shortcoming of each perspective. For the example above, ask yourself: 

• What does each perspective consider?
• What does each perspective overlook?

Read More: What's a Good ACT Score?

Step 3: Generate Your Own Perspective

Now it's time to come up with your own perspective! If you merely restate one of the three given perspectives, you won’t be able to get into the highest scoring ranges. You’ll draw from each of the perspectives, and you may side with one of them, but your perspective should have something unique about it.

Step 4: Put It All Together

Now that you have your ideas in order, here's a blueprint for how to organize the ACT essay. This blueprint works no matter what your prompt is.

Step 5: (If There's Time): Proofread

Spend one or two minutes on proofreading your essay if you have time. You’re looking for big, glaring errors. If you find one, erase it completely or cross it out neatly. Though neatness doesn’t necessarily affect your grade, it does make for a happy grader.

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Fiveable's ACT Essay Guide

11 min read • august 23, 2021

Akhilesh Shivaramakrishnan

Samhitha Palla

Welcome to the ACT essay guide! We'll break down the prompt and the rubric while we give you strategies to make sure you get an awesome score on the essay! 🎉

ACT: Essay Section

When you sit down to take the ACT exam, you will have 4-5 sections on the test. If you choose to take the essay, it's 5! Your essay will be the last section of the exam. Here's the order:

Writing/Essay📝

The Writing/Essay portion is an optional essay. In this section, you have about 40 minutes 🕖 to write a well-developed essay. Make sure you use each minute of this time to create the best possible essay! Remember, your score on the writing section will not affect the multiple choice or composite score.

💬 Mastering the Prompt

Let's look 👀 at a prompt released by ACT to dissect the key elements of the essay.

Sample prompt, taken from ACT Essay Samples on Official Website .

When you turn the page on your ACT exam and get to the essay section, you'll be presented with:

a debated or controversial topic/issue 🗨

background information about the topic/issue 📃

3 perspectives that take different stances on the topic/issue presented. You may agree, refute, or create your own argument to the perspectives. ☑

a set of fun instructions! 🙃

These instructions connect directly with the rubric for the ACT essay, so let's break down the rubric next. 📄

📄 Mastering the Rubric

There are 4 categories on which your essay is assessed. 2 graders score your essay on a scale of 1-6 for each of the 4 categories. Their scores are combined for a score out of 12 for each category. ☑

Then, your total category scores are averaged to determine your final ACT essay score. You can earn a maximum of 12 🎉 and a minimum of 2.

You can review the entire rubric here , but we'll hit the highlights ✨ on what you need to do to get a high score on each of the four categories.

One thing to note is that the ACT essay is very rubric-oriented 📃 If you do exactly what the rubric asks you to do, you are guaranteed a high score. It is much more formulaic than writing assignments you've likely done in school 🏫

Ready to conquer the essay? Make sure you follow the rubric! Image from Wikimedia Commons , labeled for reuse.

💭 Ideas and Analysis

Here are the rubric descriptors for achieving the highest score of 6 on the ACT essay:

writer generates an argument that critically engages with multiple perspectives on the given issue 🤔

the argument's thesis reflects nuance and precision in thought and purpose 😲

the argument establishes and employs an insightful context for analysis of the issue and its perspectives ✍

the analysis examines implications, complexities and tensions , and/or underlying values and assumptions 🔀

Let's go through what this actually means in practice:

The first thing you must do is choose a perspective 💬 on the issue. Since the essay prompt already gives you three issues ✍ to choose from, it's recommended that you choose one of the three presented to you .

Although you can create 🔎 an entirely new perspective if you'd like (perhaps if you have extensive knowledge on the subject), it is recommended that you stick with one of the 3 given perspectives due to the time ⌚ constraints.

Once you find the perspective that you agree with, you must refine it and add some more detail 🔀 to it. 🤔 Restating the perspective will get you lower scores on the rubric, so you should try to create a more complex argument using the stated perspective as a basis.

Additionally, you should be able to connect 🔀 your chosen perspective/stance to other perspectives. A low scoring essay might simply agree ✔ with one perspective and disagree ❌ with the others without any support, or "nuance" in the words of the rubric. 🤔

On the other hand, a high scoring essay may provide a reason why the other perspectives are not correct. ✅ There should be a clear link 🔃 between the perspectives and it should be evident that the relationship between the perspectives is explained. This should occur both in the initial argument as well as later in the essay. 💪

Finally, you need to examine the effects of your perspectives. ⏩ There should be clear discussion of the "implications, complexities, tensions, values, or assumptions" that accompany your perspective.

In order to do much of this, you need to be able to provide solid support and evidence—which is our next category! 🤓

🙌 Development and Support

These are the rubric descriptors for this section of the ACT essay:

development of ideas and support for claims deepen insight and broaden context 🔎

integrated line of skillful reasoning and illustration effectively conveys the significance of the argument 📄

qualifications and complications enrich and bolster ideas and analysis 💪

This section is SUPER important because you are providing evidence for the claims you made in the "ideas and analysis" section of the rubric. You MUST be able to discuss 💬 your perspective and provide clear evidence that helps demonstrate the implications, effects, and other factors that surround your perspective. 🙌

These reasons and pieces of evidence must be very detailed in order to score in the highest mark bands of the rubric. Often, this means you must use outside knowledge to aid you—solely using what's provided to you in the background information doesn't lend itself to a higher score.

Your best bet here is to make up examples**.** 😎 Yep, you read that right. The examples you use do not have to be true and no one will be fact-checking you. If you feel that a statistic would benefit your essay, make one up! 😉

For example, you could say, "A study done by the New York Times found that 30% of American jobs could be lost to machines over the next 40 years, a concerning statistic that must be acknowledged." 📈

Although this may not be true at all, it could definitely support a claim that you make. The ACT grader will not be Googling this study! As long as you are able to integrate this evidence seamlessly and support your argument well, you will do good in this section! 😉

Organization is super important on the ACT essay! Image courtesy of Picserver , labeled for reuse.

📑 Organization

response exhibits a skillful organizational strategy 📑

response is unified by a controlling idea or purpose 🗨

logical progression of ideas increases the effectiveness of the writer's argument 🔃

transitions between and within paragraphs strengthen the relationships among ideas ⏩

This section is one of the more formulaic parts of the ACT essay 📃 First off, you need to make sure that your ideas flow throughout your essay. An easy way to make sure this happens is to structure your thesis in the same way your overall essay is structured. This will provide an outline for you to lean on as you write.

Additionally, a high scoring essay will reference the controlling idea or purpose 🗨 in EACH paragraph, whether it is a paragraph that supports your stance or one that acknowledges a counterargument. You should essentially be repeating parts of your thesis in each body paragraph to ensure that your essay is "unified" by this controlling idea. 📑

Make sure your essay is separated into paragraphs! 📝This means that it is not all in one big blob of text! 😉 Between each paragraph, include transition words even if you think it might be excessive.

As mentioned before, this part is extremely formulaic, and readers are looking to see that you USED the transitions. ⏩ Make sure to include transitions throughout your paragraph as well. Look up some transition words if you're having trouble with this!

An introduction and conclusion are NOT optional . ‼

These paragraphs help tie your essay together 🔀 and contribute to the "organization" section of the rubric. Make sure you include these parts! 🙂

📝 Language Use

use of language enhances the argument 🙌

word choice is skillful and precise ✅

sentence structures are consistently varied and clear ✍

stylistic and register choices (voice, tone) are strategic and effective 🗨

few minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics don't impede understanding 🔤

This is the "traditional" section of the ACT essay rubric, where you are evaluated on grammar, conventions, sentence structure, and vocabulary. 🔤

Even though this might seem easy, you want to make sure that you review this section of the rubric. You can take several steps to make sure you earn a 6 on this portion! 🙌

The first part is just general grammar. Much of the practice you're doing for the ACT grammar section will help you here. Make sure you don't have run-on sentences or are using the wrong there/their/they're. Simple fixes like these will take you a long way in this section. 😉

That's why it is super important to proofread when you are done! This will help you get those last points. 📖

You also want to consciously make sure you are varying your sentence structure. Add in some complex sentences. An easy way to do this is by adding in some transitions where appropriate. 👍

The last part is to use strong 💪 vocabulary. For example, instead of using "it got worse," use a form of "exacerbate." Use "detrimental" instead of "harmful." As you practice your essays, use a thesaurus to help you find replacements 🔀 for commonly used words. This will help you when you get to the exam!

One way to understand how your essay is graded is to grade essays yourself! 😎 Below, we've included one of the sample writing prompts that ACT released. This is the same one that we referenced earlier.

In addition, ACT also released 6 sample essays—each one scoring a different mark on the rubric. We haven't put them in order, so try using this rubric and see if you can identify which essay scored 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s on each of the 4 categories. We've included the link to the "answers" on the last slide. 🤓

😊 General ACT Essay Tips and Outlining

Before you start your essay, it is very important that you spend some time outlining your essay! Here are some steps to take as soon as you start this section:

📚 Read the background information provided on the topic.

📑 Choose the perspective ****(or a combination of perspectives) that you believe you'll be able to provide the most evidence for.

💬 Come up with 2-3 examples that support your perspective AND some possible counterarguments.

📜 These can be real or made up, as mentioned earlier! You can also use personal anecdotes.

✍ Write a thesis that provides a clear focus for the rest of your essay and helps create a unified theme for your paper!

Organize your paper. When you're outlining, this can just be in bullet points. Once you outline, the actual writing process will be easier!

🗨 Introduction : thesis that acknowledges your perspective + intro sentences that cast doubt on alternate perspectives

🥇 Body Paragraph 1 : a reason why your perspective is valid + evidence (1-2) to back it up

🥈 Body Paragraph 2 : a reason why your perspective is valid + evidence (1-2) to back it up

🥉 Body Paragraph 3: acknowledge the opposing stance and prove why your stance is better (a rebuttal)—use evidence to back up your rebuttal

You should also discuss the implications of your perspective - either in this paragraph or in body paragraphs 1 & 2.

↪↩ Conclusion : restating (NOT repeating) your thesis + tying in everything you've said in the paper together

Let's look at an example of this! This is my thesis: Although the replacement of machines may have negative short term effects for the job market, in the long term, machines will be able to accelerate our technological growth and push us to towards new possibilities, while also creating a highly skilled workforce .

To restate this, I could say: In the short term, replacing machines may not have completely positive effects. However, in the future, machines will not only provide us new opportunities, they will also help us become more industrialized and create a skilled and even more capable workforce.

Note that this is only one way to structure the paper! ✍ Instead of devoting a whole paragraph to just the counterargument, you could instead have 3 body paragraphs 📃 that support your thesis, and provide a short counterargument at the end of each paragraph. It's up to you! Just make sure it's well organized! 😍

🕑You should try to start actually writing your essay within 10 minutes of the session starting This gives you about 30 minutes to put this all together.

Once you have finished writing your essay, PROOFREAD. 🤔

• ↪ Make sure you've included transitions throughout your paper . Key places where you should add them include the beginning of paragraphs, the end of paragraphs, and when making your rebuttal.
• 🔠 Check for spelling and grammar. This might seem minor, but it does have its own section in the rubric! Read your paper and make sure you don't have any major errors.
• ✍ Indent your paragraphs . Make sure it is evident where a new paragraph begins! This is important for the "organization" part of the rubric.

Good luck on the ACT essay! You'll do awesome! Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons , labeled for reuse.

You're Ready! 🥇

One thing you want to keep in mind is that many colleges now do not require the ACT essay! 😍Check out the admissions page of the colleges to which you're applying to see if they require the essay for admission. A "good" score on the ACT essay isn't necessarily a 12.

Often, students fret because they receive an 8 or a 10. Because the ACT and SAT writing scores are not prioritized as much in admissions any more, your score on the essay is not a "make or break" when you apply to college 🙂 It just gives colleges another lens through which they can evaluate you. 👀

That's it! You're ready for the ACT essay! 🎉

Good luck! We have tons of resources for you—both for the ACT and ALL AP classes! Remember, your scores don't define who you are!🎉

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3 ACT Writing Prompts to Improve Your Score

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What’s Covered:

Overview of the act writing test, act practice writing prompts, tips for writing a strong act essay, how does the act impact your college chances.

Preparing for the ACT is a task that many high school students dread, as it requires hours of study and lots of practice before entering that testing room. One of the parts of the ACT that students have to practice for is the writing portion. Keep in mind, the ACT writing portion is actually optional, so you may only have to take it if your intended university requires it. Make sure to verify with your school. 

Learn more about this portion of the ACT, how it can affect your score, and what elements you should include in your writing to achieve the best score you possibly can.

When you sit down to take the ACT writing test, know that it will be important to use your time wisely. You have 40 minutes to read through a prompt and three different perspectives of an issue. Typically, the three perspectives have a conservative view, a moderate view, and a progressive view. Note that this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily political in nature, but more of a view of how change may be positive or negative.

You’ll then assess the prompt, present your own perspective of the issue, and address at least one of the perspectives given to you in the essay. You must write your essay with a No. 2 pencil, so make sure you’re prepared. 

The writing test is combined with your reading and English tests, and you must take the multiple choice portions before proceeding to the writing part of the exam. The test is graded on a score from 1-6, six being the best and one needing the most improvement. Your essay is graded by two separate people and they will combine those scores. So, you can reach a maximum score of 12.

When you get your prompt, it will be centered around an important societal issue. A great way to prepare for these types of prompts is to stay informed. That may mean watching the news, following news updates on social media, or even debating your viewpoints with others to practice. 

Intelligent Machines  

Prompt: Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.

Perspective 1: What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require from us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people. 

Perspective 2: Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone.

Perspective 3: Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities.

How to Approach this Prompt

First, read through the prompt carefully to ensure you understand all aspects of the issue. After that, you need to read all three perspectives. Each will offer a different viewpoint of the situation or issue. Think about each one, decide your own perspective, and then determine which perspective or perspectives from the prompt that you’ll address in your writing. 

After that, try to create a basic outline. Remember, you only have 40 minutes, so make sure to maximize your time. Your outline should have a thesis statement as well as some evidence to back up your viewpoint. 

An essay with the top score of 6 would have insight, cautioning people to move slowly with adopting this kind of technology and addressing the potential economic and cultural implications. It would flow well, use advanced vocabulary, and display knowledge of proper grammar and spelling. 

Public Health and Individual Freedom  

Most people want to be healthy, and most people want as much freedom as possible to do the things they want. Unfortunately, these two desires sometimes conflict. For example, smoking is prohibited from most public places, which restricts the freedom of some individuals for the sake of the health of others. Likewise, car emissions are regulated in many areas in order to reduce pollution and its health risks to others, which in turn restricts some people’s freedom to drive the vehicles they want. In a society that values both health and freedom, how do we best balance the two? How should we think about conflicts between public health and individual freedom?

Perspective One : Our society should strive to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When the freedom of the individual interferes with that principle, freedom must be restricted.

Perspective Two : Nothing in society is more valuable than freedom. Perhaps physical health is sometimes improved by restricting freedom, but the cost to the health of our free society is far too great to justify it.

Perspective Three : The right to avoid health risks is a freedom, too. When we allow individual behavior to endanger others, we’ve damaged both freedom and health.

How to Approach This Prompt

Remember, any essay you write needs to present your individual viewpoint and address at least one of the perspectives. Likely, this prompt was written before the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but if you were to get this prompt, you could address that in the essay and talk about how that has affected the concept of public health vs. freedom. This is a good example of why you need to stay informed in order to give the best argument possible in your essay, as you won’t know the prompt until you get there. That background knowledge could help you get a higher score.

Toys are for children, right? Not anymore. In recent years, things that used to be considered “kids stuff” have grown into popularity among grownups. Nowadays, adults regularly play video games, watch animated movies and television shows, purchase dolls and other collectible figures, and read comic books for their own enjoyment. Is adult enjoyment of children’s entertainment merely a sign of immaturity? In what ways can playing with kid stuff change the way adults understand today’s youth? Given that toys, games, and publications that used to be exclusively for children are growing in popularity among adults, it is worth considering the effects and implications of this trend. 

Perspective one: It’s good for adults to be familiar with kid stuff. They’ll understand the lives of children better and be more responsive to their needs, interests, and problems.

Perspective two: Adults need to be models of maturity and responsibility. When they act and think like children, kids have no one to look to for guidance.

Perspective three: Children need their own cultural space—their own books, their own toys, their own movies—in which to explore their ideas. When adults start to take over that space, kids lose out. 

This prompt asks you to contemplate whether adults should engage with kid’s toys and if the effects of engagement are positive or negative. Since there isn’t much robust data out there (that the wide public is aware of) the “data” you use to back up your opinion can come from your own experience as a kid, or as an adult playing with “kid’s toys.” To write a strong essay, remember to consider all three perspectives and anticipate arguments in favor of all three so you can pick the strongest one. If you are able to refute or acknowledge opposing or differing viewpoints, your essays will likely receive a higher score. Remember to organize your thoughts clearly, in paragraphs that flow from one to the next. 

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While it is impossible to prepare for the exact prompt you’ll get once you’re seated in the testing room, it is possible to prepare yourself for writing an essay in a pretty short amount of time. The most important thing is to practice.

1. Practice, practice, practice.

Use the sample prompts above to draft essays and time yourself to see how long it takes. You’ll need to manage your time wisely, so practice is key to knowing how long you need on each step. Allot yourself some time to create a basic outline before you start. You want to ensure that your essay is as cohesive as possible. 

2. Get organized now.

While you practice your essay, you may find that you tend to align with one perspective over the others. Use that to your advantage on testing day. The one you agree with will be the easiest to write about, and then you can combine the other two into one paragraph where you address why you don’t agree with them. If you head in with a strategy in place, it will make it a lot less difficult to construct your essay in the allotted 40 minutes.

3. Don’t spend too much time on grammar.

Yes, grammar is important. But, it’s not the end-all-be-all of your ACT writing test grade. Your time is precious, and you need to focus on getting your writing done in time. Instead, make sure you address all the key points and present a cohesive, strong essay with critical thinking demonstrated throughout. The same goes for vocabulary. Don’t spend time trying to think of a fancy word for “big.” Only focus on elevating your vocabulary after you have finished writing a cohesive essay. 

4. Stay informed.

Stay up to date on current news events—and don’t just get your information from social media. According to Pew Research , people who get their news from social media are not as engaged and not as knowledgeable. You need to try and follow current events so that you can form an educated opinion for your essay. Those types of opinions, especially if you can back them up with facts, are the ones that are more likely to get you the top score of 5 or 6. 

Along with that, you need to know basic history, too. The prompt may address how the world has changed or is changing in some way. You may need to mention events that have happened in the past, such as World War I, the Civil War, the industrial revolution, the civil rights movement, and others. 

You may also need to use an example from your own life if your background knowledge ends up not applying to the prompt that you get. For example, think about what’s happened in your lifetime—when you were born, likely only a few people had smartphones. Today, almost everyone has one in their pocket with access to all of the information on the internet just a touch away. Sweeping changes that have occurred in your life could help you answer the prompt with substance and background. 

Just like the SAT, your ACT score is influential in your college application. However, remember that not all universities require the ACT writing portion . If you’d like to find out your chances of getting into your dream school, CollegeVine offers a free chancing engine where you can input all of your information like GPA, AP classes, SAT/ACT scores, extracurriculars and more, to get an estimation of your chances. We even share tips on how to improve your odds. 

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ACT Writing Test Scoring, Tips, and Strategies

This prep guide will arm you with tips and strategies to ace the ACT Writing Test and explain the scoring methodology. The ACT Writing Test is an optional fifth and final section of the ACT college admissions exam. Students are allotted 40-minutes to write an argumentation-style essay based off of a controversial topic and 3 different points of views. The ACT Writing Test differs from the other portions of the ACT in three important ways:

• It is optional. Different postsecondary institutions have different needs. Some require an ACT writing test score to make acceptance and/or course placement decisions, while others do not. If you know that the postsecondary institutions to which you are applying do not require ACT writing scores, you can choose to opt out. Otherwise, it is highly recommended that you take the ACT Writing Test.
• It is a written test. Unlike the other four sections of the ACT, which are multiple-choice, the writing test requires you to produce a handwritten essay. Exceptions are available only for approved students with diagnosed disabilities.
• It is scored differently. Because the ACT Writing Test is optional, it is scored separately from the other sections and does not affect your ACT composite score (out of 36). Unlike multiple-choice questions, which have right (and wrong) answers, written essays are scored using a rubric . Each ACT writing test is graded by two different readers, who give the essay a score between 1 and 6 in four areas. The two readers’ scores are averaged, and the test receives a final score between 2 and 12.

This article provides an overview of the ACT Writing Test including tips and strategies plus sample essays for the 2020 Official ACT Practice Test. Click here to see all of our free ACT answer explanations including sample Writing Test essays.

Looking for more general ACT study advice? You might like our articles on How to Improve Your ACT Score and ACT Test Strategies . Need winning strategies for the other ACT sections? Check out all of the articles in our series of ACT strategy guides:

• ACT English Strategies
• ACT Math Strategies
• ACT Reading Strategies
• ACT Science Strategies
• ACT Writing Strategies (this article)

Format of the ACT Writing Test

You will have 40 minutes to complete the writing portion of the ACT. The test consists of one writing prompt that will describe a complex issue and present three different perspectives on that issue. You will then be asked to write an argumentative essay about that issue. Each test’s topic is different, but all students who take that test will write about the same topic.

The test always begins with a brief description of an issue of wide relevance to modern society, like this one from the free official 2020 practice test :

Then, the test presents a set of three possible perspectives on that issue.

Finally, the test presents students with their writing task. This task is always the same; the only portion of the prompt that the ACT changes for each test is the phrase that comes after “Write a unified, coherent essay about . . .”

Remember that you have only 40 minutes to familiarize yourself with the prompt, plan your essay, and write it out. It is recommended that you take no more than 10 minutes to plan your essay, so that you have the rest of the time to write and review it. The test booklet includes blank pages for you to use when planning your essay. These blank pages are not scored; only the lined pages on which you write your essay will be scored.

How the ACT Writing Test is Scored

Because the writing test does not have “right” or “wrong” answers, it is graded differently than the other parts of the ACT. Your essay will be scored by two trained readers (humans), who will compare your writing to the standards of the ACT Writing rubric. The readers will then score your essay on a scale of 1-6 in four different areas, called “domains.”

The four domains are:

• Ideas and Analysis,
• Development and Support,
• Organization, and
• Language Use and Conventions.

You will receive a total of five scores for the ACT Writing Test :

• a score from 2-12 in each of the four domains (the sum of the readers’ scores)
• a single overall score, also from 2-12, found by averaging the four domain scores

In the example below, you can see how the readers’ original scores translate to the final scores the student received.

Although it is not common, sometimes the readers’ scores differ by more than a point. In those cases, a third reader will evaluate the essay to resolve the discrepancy.

How to Get the Highest Domain Scores

Now, let’s take a closer look at the four domains to see what makes each one distinct, and what you should be focused on to excel in each.

• Your essay should have a clear and focused thesis.
• Use your thesis to consider at least two of the provided perspectives
• Don’t just state simple agreement or disagreement with perspectives, fully explore the strengths and weaknesses of each.
• Use specific examples to illustrate larger ideas. Clearly explain why the examples are relevant.
• Each new idea you introduce should build on previous ideas, and deepen the support for your thesis.
• On a large scale, you should have an introduction (with thesis), several body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
• On a smaller scale, your body paragraphs should include topic sentences and move from more general arguments to the use of specific examples.
• All information about the same idea(s) should be grouped together.
• Use proper spelling and grammar; if you feel comfortable doing so, include sentences with a variety of punctuation.
• Try not to be repetitive with your word choices—but remember that spicing things up with too many “big words” can also sound artificial.
• When possible, vary your sentence length and structure.
• Your writing should be professional: don’t use slang or casual abbreviations.

The ACT Writing Test rubric offers a detailed description of what you need to do in each domain to earn each possible score (1-6). You should familiarize yourself with the rubric, and refer to it often when preparing to make sure that you are on track to receive your desired score.

Tips and Strategies for the ACT Writing Test

You’ve been practicing and preparing, and now it’s Test Day! Try to follow these easy steps to ensure maximum success:

1. Remember, the test is predictable

• Before you’ve even seen the test, you know what the format will look like and what you will be asked to do.
• Even the perspectives are (broadly) predictable: one will argue in favor of the topic, and one will argue against; the third is usually a mixed perspective or a different argument for or against.

2. Make a pro/con list for each perspective

• Once you have read the prompt, make a pro/con list for each perspective.
• What are the strengths of each argument? What are possible counterarguments?
• List some concrete examples you could use to support (or refute) each perspective?

3. Use your list to pick your perspective .

• You should pick the one for which you most easily came up with supporting evidence and examples.
• Remember, there is no “right” answer to pick and you will be graded only on the effectiveness of your argument.
• While you can come up with your own original perspective, unless you have a very clear idea, it is advisable to just choose one of the three provided.

4. Write your thesis and outline your essay.

• Now that you’ve chosen your perspective, write your thesis out as a complete sentence. Refer to it when you’re planning your essay.
• Start outlining: the first and last paragraphs will be your introduction and conclusion—easy!
• One possible outline: write one paragraph about each perspective. If you choose this outline, start with the paragraph in support of your chosen perspective, then move on to the other two, explaining why each is wrong.
• Another possible outline: write a few paragraphs, with different examples, showing multiple ways why your perspective is correct, and one paragraph explaining why the others are wrong. This is a good strategy if your thesis is supported by two of the perspectives.

5. W rite your essay !

• Use the outline and your pro/con brainstorm to write your essay.
• Make sure your introduction leads to the thesis statement you already wrote.
• Use topic sentences in your body paragraphs and transitions when introducing examples and starting/ending paragraphs.

6. R e-read what you wrote .

• Correct any spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Double-check that you aren’t unintentionally repeating words, especially modifiers like really and very .

Congratulations—you’ve finished your essay! When you get your scores back, you can see what areas you did well in, and where, if any, you should focus for the next time.

Preparing for the ACT Writing Test

The ACT offers many suggestions to prepare for the writing test , but here are a few key strategies:

• Read and write often and in a diverse variety of styles. The more familiar you are with the process of reading something and writing a response to it, the easier it will be to do so in a test setting. Because of the unique format of the ACT Writing Test, it is recommended that you pay attention to current events and social issues (the Op-Ed pages of newspapers are a great resource).
• Replicate the testing experience . In addition to improving your writing skills, you should also make sure that you are familiar and comfortable with the format and structure of the ACT Writing Test. Take timed practice tests like those found on Piqosity to prepare for test day.
• Get feedback on your writing . Because your ACT essay will be scored by two outside readers, it is a good idea to have other people read and comment on your writing. You could ask your teachers or parents, or work with a tutor to improve the effectiveness of your writing. The score you receive on the ACT Writing Test is based on a rubric , which you should refer to often. Finally, it can be helpful to study sample essay answers, like those found below, to understand what successful (and less successful) essays look like.

View answer explanations and sample essay prompts to official ACT practice tests , and use Piqosity to practice the ACT Writing Test.

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ACT Writing Prompts | Real World Examples

The best way to prepare for the ACT Writing section is getting an idea of what you’ll actually face beforehand. To make life easier, here are a number of previous ACT Writing prompts to practice with before test day.

Here are some additional ACT Writing section hacks to help prepare you before test day.

ACT Writing

The ACT Writing section is the only optional one on the test.

Students have 40 minutes to write one essay. Students will receive an essay prompt providing three different perspectives on a specific issue.

It is then up to the student to write an original essay that presents their own views on the stated issue. However, that view must relate to one of the prompt’s provided perspectives.

Once submitted, two graders evaluate the essay on a scale of 1 to 6 across 4 criteria:

• Ideas and Analysis
• Development and Support
• Organization
• Language Use and Convention

Students receive a total writing score averages together these criteria subscores.

ACT Writing Prompts: Example 1

Intelligent Machines (source: ACT.org )

Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.

Perspective One: What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require from us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people.

Perspective Two: Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone.

Perspective Three: Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities.

Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines.

ACT Writing Prompts: Example 2

Public Health and Individual Freedom (source: ACT.org )

Most people want to be healthy, and most people want as much freedom as possible to do the things they want. Unfortunately, these two desires sometimes conflict. For example, smoking is prohibited from most public places, which restricts the freedom of some individuals for the sake of the health of others. Likewise, car emissions are regulated in many areas in order to reduce pollution and its health risks to others, which in turn restricts some people’s freedom to drive the vehicles they want. In a society that values both health and freedom, how do we best balance the two? How should we think about conflicts between public health and individual freedom?

Perspective One: Our society should strive to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When the freedom of the individual interferes with that principle, freedom must be restricted.

Perspective Two: Nothing in society is more valuable than freedom. Perhaps physical health is sometimes improved by restricting freedom, but the cost to the health of our free society is far too great to justify it.

Perspective Three: The right to avoid health risks is a freedom, too. When we allow individual behavior to endanger others, we’ve damaged both freedom and health.

Write a unified, coherent essay about the conflict between public health and individual freedom.

ACT Prompt Example 3

Kid Stuff (source: ACT.org )

Toys are for children, right? Not anymore. In recent years, things that used to be considered “”kid stuff”” have grown in popularity among grownups. Nowadays, adults regularly play video games, watch animated movies and television show, purchase dolls and other collectible figures, and read comic books for their own enjoyment. Is adult enjoyment of children’s entertainment merely a sign of immaturity? In what ways can playing with kid stuff change the way adults understand today’s youth? Given that toys, games, and publications that used to be exclusively for children are growing in popularity among adults, it is worth considering the effects and implications of this trend.

Perspective One: It’s good for adults to be familiar with kid stuff. They’ll understand the lives of children better and be more responsive to their needs, interests, and problems.

Perspective Two: Adults need to be models of maturity and responsibility. When they act and think like children, kids have no one to look to for guidance.

Perspective Three: Children need their own cultural space—their own books, their own toys, their own movies—in which to explore their ideas. When adults start to take over the space, kids lose out.

Write a unified, coherent essay about the trend of adults playing with kid stuff.

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Far-right podcaster prompts Nebraska move to change electoral system

Charlie Kirk tweet leads to governor backing bill to end splitting of electoral college votes – potentially handing advantage to Trump

The power of the far-right commentator Charlie Kirk was illustrated when his tweet prompted the governor of Nebraska to support a bill to change the state’s system for presidential elections in order to deny Democrats a single electoral vote that could decide the presidency later this year.

“Nebraskans should call their legislators and their governor to demand their state stop pointlessly giving strength to their political enemies,” Kirk wrote.

Jim Pillen acted soon after.

Nebraska has five electoral college votes. Since 1991 , it has split them. Two go to the candidate with most votes statewide, the others to the winners of three electoral districts. Though the state skews heavily Republican, it gave Democrats one electoral vote in 2008 and 2020.

This year, Joe Biden could lose Arizona, Georgia and Nevada to Donald Trump but win the electoral college 270-268 if he won Nebraska’s second district again. All five Nebraska votes going to Trump would produce a 269-269 tie, throwing the election to the US House, where Republicans control more state delegations and would thus pick the winner.

On Tuesday, Kirk posited that scenario and said : “Despite [Nebraska] being one of the most Republican states … thanks to this system, Omaha’s electoral vote leans blue … [and Biden is] likely to win it again this year.

“California would never do this. New York would never do this. And as long as that’s the case, neither should we. This is completely fixable. Nebraska’s legislature can act to make sure their state’s electoral votes go towards electing the candidate the VAST majority of Nebraskans prefer.

“There’s already a bill ready to go – LB764. All Nebraska has to do is put it up for a vote. As I write this, the Nebraska legislature is still in session … call @TeamPillen and let him know you want this fixed.”

Kirk included a phone number. As noted by Semafor, a little over five hours later the Nebraska governor issued a statement “in response to a callout for his support”.

“I am a strong supporter of Senator [Loren] Lippincott’s winner-takes-all bill and have been from the start,” Pillen said. “It would bring Nebraska into line with 48 of our fellow states, better reflect the founders’ intent, and ensure our state speaks with one unified voice in presidential elections.”

The only other state to allow for split electoral college votes is Maine.

Pillen said: “I call upon fellow Republicans in the legislature to pass this bill to my desk so I can sign it into law.”

Not long after that, Donald Trump saluted what he called “a very smart letter”.

The Nebraska legislative session ends this month. Democrats said they were ready to block attempts to pass LB764.

“The Nebraska Democratic party is watching this bill closely and still believes we have the votes to stop the Republicans from removing a fair electoral system that represents voters,” Jane Kleeb, the Democratic state chair, told Semafor.

“The only reason Governor Pillen sent a release today is the extremist Charlie Kirk sent a tweet that, of course, our governor jumped up to respond to.”

Kirk, 30, is a co-founder of Turning Point USA , a youth-oriented fundraising juggernaut , and an influential rightwing podcaster. A dedicated controversialist, he recently made waves by claiming “birth control really screws up female brains”.

On Wednesday, Kirk tweeted footage of pundits discussing his Nebraska gambit, writing : “MSNBC is panicking about Nebraska. BOOM!”

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Supreme Court delay prompts federal judges to act over South Carolina redistricting dispute

W ASHINGTON —The Supreme Court has delayed resolving a South Carolina redistricting case for so long that a lower court has been forced to step in, saying on Thursday that a congressional district it previously ruled was racially gerrymandered can be used in this year’s election.

Last year, a federal court ruled that the Charleston-area district held by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., was unlawfully drawn by removing thousands of Black voters.

But on Thursday, the same court said in an order that the map could be used for this year's congressional election.

The three-judge panel wrote that "with the primary election procedures rapidly approaching, the appeal before the Supreme Court still pending, and no remedial plan in place, the ideal must bend to the practical."

The decision constitutes a setback for Democrats, who might have gained a more favorable map if it was redrawn.

The Supreme Court has spent months considering the merits of whether map-drawers unlawfully considered race when drafting the map but has yet to issue a ruling despite both sides saying it needed to be resolved well before the election.

The justices have also failed to act on an emergency application brought by Republican state officials asking for the existing map to remain in place, at least for now.

In election cases, the Supreme Court often urges parties involved to resolve lawsuits before election deadlines, but in this case it is the justices themselves who contributed to the uncertainty.

"It's really bizarre. I cannot think of another instance like this," said Rick Hasen, an expert on election law at UCLA School of Law.

"It's just inexcusable for the court to say nothing," he added.

Leah Aden, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund representing the plaintiffs, said her side had done everything it could to resolve the case ahead of this year's election.

The lawsuit was filed mere days after the map was approved.

"I cannot begin to predict what is happening at the Supreme Court, what is happening behind the scenes," she said.

With the Supreme Court yet to rule, what is clear is that "we are now likely to have another election under a map we think violates the Constitution," she added.

In a nine-month term running from October to June dominated by cases involving former President Donald Trump, the justices have issued only 11 rulings in argued cases.

Oral arguments in the South Carolina case were held on Oct. 11 , giving the justices ample time to rule.

State officials had argued their sole goal was to increase the Republican tilt in the district in drawing the map. But in January 2023, the lower court ruled race was of predominant concern when one of the state’s seven districts was drawn. Republicans led by South Carolina Senate President Thomas Alexander appealed the decision.

The three-judge panel had said the state did not have to take any action to draw a new map until after the Supreme Court resolved the appeal — on the understanding that the justices would act more quickly.

Republicans redrew the boundaries after the 2020 census to strengthen GOP control of what had become a competitive district. Democrat Joe Cunningham won the seat in 2018 and narrowly lost to Mace in 2020. Two years later, with a new map in place, Mace won by a wider margin.

The roughly 30,000 Black voters who were moved out of the district were placed into the district held by Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, who is Black. It is the only one of the seven congressional districts held by Democrats.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other civil rights groups alleged not only that Republicans unlawfully considered race when they drew the maps, but also that they also diluted the power of Black voters in doing so.

The claims were brought under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which requires that the law applies equally to everyone. The case arose under a different legal theory than was at issue in the major ruling  this year  in which civil rights advocates successfully challenged Republican-drawn maps in Alabama under the Voting Rights Act.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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IR-2024-88, April 2, 2024

WASHINGTON — With the April 15 tax deadline approaching, the IRS reminds taxpayers there is still time file their federal income tax return electronically and request direct deposit.

Filing electronically reduces tax return errors as tax software does the calculations, flags common errors and prompts taxpayers for missing information. Most people qualify for electronic filing at no cost and, when they choose direct deposit, receive their refund within 21 days.

Free electronic filing options

Taxpayers with income of $79,000 or less in 2023 can use IRS Free File guided tax software now through Oct 15. IRS Free Fillable forms , a part of this program, is available at no cost to taxpayers of any income level and provides electronic forms for people to fill out and e-file themselves.

IRS Direct File is now open to all eligible taxpayers in 12 pilot states to decide if it is the right option for them to file their 2023 federal tax returns online, for free, directly with the IRS. Go to the Direct File website for more information about Direct File pilot eligibility and the 12 participating states.

Through a network of community partnerships, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs offer free tax return preparation to eligible people in the community by IRS certified volunteers.

MilTax , a Department of Defense program, generally offers free return preparation and electronic filing software for federal income tax returns and up to three state income tax returns for all military members, and some veterans, with no income limit.

Use Where's My Refund? to check refund status

The Where's My Refund? tool will normally show a refund status within 24 hours after e-filing a 2023 tax return, three to four days after e-filing a 2021 or 2022 return and four weeks after filing a tax return by mail. To use the tool, taxpayers need their Social Security number, filing status and exact refund amount. Taxpayers can also check Where's My Refund? by downloading our free mobile app, IRS2Go , from an iPhone or Android device. The tool updates once a day, so people don't need to check more often.

Taxpayers that owe on their tax return

IRS reminds people they can avoid paying interest and some penalties by filing their tax return and, if they have a balance due, paying the total amount due by the tax deadline of Monday, April 15. For residents of Maine or Massachusetts, the tax deadline is Wednesday, April 17, due to Patriot’s Day and Emancipation Day holidays.

Payment options for individuals to pay in full

The IRS offers various options for taxpayers who are making tax payments :

• Direct Pay – Make a payment directly from a checking or savings account without any fees or registration.
• Pay with debit card, credit card or digital wallet – Make a payment directly from a debit card, credit card or digital wallet. Processing fees are paid to the payment processors. The IRS doesn’t receive any fees for these payments. Authorized card processors and phone numbers are available at IRS.gov/payments . 
• Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) – This free service gives taxpayers a safe, convenient way to pay individual and business taxes by phone or online. To enroll and for more information, taxpayers can call 800-555-4477 or visit eftps.gov .
• Electronic funds withdrawal – Taxpayers can file and pay electronically from their bank account when using tax preparation software or a tax professional. This option is free and only available when electronically filing a tax return.
• Check or money order  – Payments made by check or money order should be made payable to the “United States Treasury.”
• Cash  – Make a cash payment through a retail partner and other methods. The IRS urges taxpayers choosing this option to start early because it involves a four-step process. Details, including answers to frequently asked questions, are at IRS.gov/paywithcash .

Payment options for individuals unable to pay their taxes in full

Taxpayers that are unable to pay in full by the tax deadline, should pay what they can now and apply for an online payment plan . They can receive an immediate response of payment plan acceptance or denial without calling or writing to the IRS. Online payment plan options include:

• Short-term payment plan – The total balance owed is less than $100,000 in combined tax, penalties and interest. Additional time of up to 180 days to pay the balance in full.
• Long-term payment plan – The total balance owed is less than $50,000 in combined tax, penalties and interest. Pay in monthly payments for up to 72 months. Payments may be set up using direct debit (automatic bank withdraw) which eliminates the need to send in a payment each month, saving postage costs and reducing the chance of default. For balances between $25,000 and $50,000, direct debit is required.

Though interest and late-payment penalties continue to accrue on any unpaid taxes after April 15, the failure to pay penalty is cut in half while an installment agreement is in effect. Find more information about the costs of payment plans on the IRS’ Additional information on payment plans webpage.

Unable to file by the April 15 deadline?

Individuals unable to file their tax return by the tax deadline can apply for a tax-filing extension in the following ways:

• Individual tax filers, regardless of income, can electronically request an automatic tax-filing extension through IRS Free File by filing a Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return PDF .
• Make an electronic payment using Direct Pay, debit card, credit card or digital wallet and indicate the payment is for an extension.
• Mail Form 4868 by the tax deadline.

Things people should know when requesting a tax-filing extension:

• Tax-filing extension requests are due by the tax deadline date, and it does not give an extension of time to pay the taxes.
• Avoid some penalties by estimating and paying the tax due by the tax deadline.
• Special rules for tax deadlines and automatic tax-filing extensions may apply for taxpayers serving in a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty areas , living outside the United States , and people living in certain disaster areas . They may not need to submit a tax-filing extension; however, people should check to see if they qualify before the tax deadline.

Use IRS.gov for the quickest and easiest information

Taxpayers can visit IRS.gov 24 hours a day for answers to tax questions , more tips and resources by visiting the Let us help you page.

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Collapse of NBA, NHL Arena Deal Prompts Recriminations, Allegations of Impropriety in Virginia

The collapse of a proposal to relocate the Washington NBA and NHL teams to northern Virginia has set off an extraordinary round of bitter recriminations among some of the officials and companies that were parties to the deal

Stephanie Scarbrough

Ted Leonsis, right, owner of the Washington Wizards NBA basketball team and Washington Capitals NHL hockey team, speaks during a news conference with Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, left, and DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, center, at Capitol One Arena in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The majority owner of the Washington Wizards and Capitals, Ted Leonsis, told a crowd in December he had “goosebumps” at the thought of moving his NBA and NHL teams from Washington to Virginia, “if all goes as planned.”

It did not.

Leonsis' handshake deal with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to relocate the teams to a taxpayer-backed arena in Alexandria collapsed Wednesday , weeks after a bumpy slog of a defeat in the Virginia General Assembly. Leonsis, apparently not willing to wait for a second shot in Virginia, reemerged in Washington, which had offered his Monumental Sports & Entertainment a more than half-billion-dollar arena deal to stay.

The demise of the project, a top priority for Youngkin, set off an extraordinary round of bitter recriminations among Virginia officials and companies that were parties to the deal, including allegations of possible impropriety and slander. It also sparked fears about impacts to the state’s future economic development prospects.

“We made mistakes. I know the governor made mistakes. Monumental made mistakes. JBG made mistakes. And I’m sure the General Assembly made mistakes,” Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson said of the key players.

The outpouring of blame began when Alexandria announced the negotiations were over Wednesday, in a statement that expressed disappointment in “what occurred between the Governor and General Assembly.”

Photos You Should See

Democratic leaders of the General Assembly blamed Youngkin.

“He mismanaged the process,” said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, who had agreed to sponsor legislation underpinning the deal. The legislation called for a quasi-governmental entity to issue bonds to finance most of the project, repaid through a mix of projected tax revenues recaptured from the development. Surovell's bill never made it out of his own chamber — due to opposition from one of his colleagues, powerful budget committee chairwoman L. Louise Lucas — even though a companion bill passed the House of Delegates .

House Speaker Don Scott faulted the governor for bringing the Legislature into the conversation too late in the game.

Youngkin told The Associated Press in an interview he believed “politics and personal agendas” in the Senate had derailed what he's called the single largest economic development deal in Virginia's history.

Leonsis, in a news conference with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, took a couple of jabs at Virginia. Meanwhile, JBG SMITH, a real estate company and partner to the deal as the proposed developer, unleashed.

In a statement, JBG CEO Matt Kelly questioned the motives of key Senate leaders including Lucas, who had stymied the legislation and gleefully celebrated its demise on social media. Specifically, JBG questioned whether the arena was blocked as part of a “scheme” to benefit a competing developer, Comstock, that had been pushing for a northern Virginia casino . Kelly’s statement did so without mentioning any lawmaker or company by name, but while including enough context to make the criticism understood to people following the matter closely.

Kelly said the deal was derailed due to “partisan politics.” Without offering proof, he also suggested the outcome was influenced by “special interests and potential pay-to-play influences within the Virginia legislature.”

There was, in fact, an 11th-hour pitch to combine the casino and arena, Surovell said. But it was just one of a number of suggestions he made over the course of the session to try to salvage the arena deal, he said.

Lucas said on social media that “the incompetent losers behind the effort are out telling lies and conspiracy theories" instead of admitting their own failure.

Comstock CEO Chris Clemente told AP the idea of pairing the casino with the arena had been bandied about by lawmakers of both parties. He rejected the notion that there was any kind of coordinated attempt to hold off the initial arena deal in favor of an arena-casino pairing, calling JBG's statement “slanderous” and “ridiculous.”

Wilson, the mayor, said in an interview that Richmond's opaque legislative process erodes confidence. He cited the work of political consultant Ben Tribbett, who is paid by both Lucas and by Comstock, as creating an appearance of impropriety that casts doubt on whether the Legislature was acting in the public interest.

“I find the whole thing unseemly," he said.

Tribbett said that it’s not unusual for a consulting business to advise many kinds of clients, and that each of his clients’ interests are kept confidential.

“If you’re an architect, it’s not a conflict to work on multiple buildings. And if you’re a political consultant, it’s not a conflict to work with multiple political clients,” Tribbett said.

A number of other factors contributed to the Alexandria project’s demise, according to interviews with lawmakers and others close to the deal-making, who for months described the talks as chaotic, or worse.

Youngkin never enjoyed vocal support from Republican legislators, who mostly kept their heads down as the deal imploded. The project also faced well-organized local opposition.

Alexandria’s economic development director, Stephanie Landrum, said the failure to close the deal because of what she sees as politics will cause other prospective businesses looking to come to the commonwealth to question whether to come to Virginia.

But Greg LeRoy, executive director of incentives watchdog Good Jobs First, said it’s laughable to think that turning away a sports team seeking public financing will hurt the state’s business climate.

“Other regions would kill for a business climate like northern Virginia’s," said LeRoy, whose organization opposed the deal.

Youngkin said Virginia deserved better than the way things panned out, but he understood why Leonsis moved on.

“Eventually you’ve got to go negotiate something else. And, boy, did D.C. provide him with a remarkable alternative,” he said.

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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China's internet is filled with well-wishes for earthquake-stricken Taiwan — and veiled references that the PLA can help

• Taiwan's 7.2-magnitude earthquake has drawn seemingly friendly messages on China's social media.
• The well-wishes are a striking departure from the usual hostile rhetoric toward Taiwan.
• But they're also indicative of China's ambitions for Taiwan, and what Chinese people think of the island.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Taiwan on Wednesday morning prompted a wave of concerned messages on mainland China's social media, diverting from the usual hostile rhetoric toward the self-governed island.

Footage posted online of the eastern Taiwanese county of Hualien, the quake's epicenter , showed collapsed buildings and a multi-story building tilted at a nearly 45-degree angle.

The quake has killed four people and injured about 50 as of Wednesday noon local time, with about 20 more people still trapped and needing rescue, Reuters reported.

On Weibo, China's version of X, the typical talk of war with Taiwan, gave way to thousands of comments wishing safety for those caught in the tremors. Like many of China's social media platforms, Weibo is heavily censored and moderated.

"This time, it feels like the earthquake was very strong in many places. Wishing for safety," one top comment said.

Discussion of the earthquake soared to the top of Weibo's trending topics, reaching 520 million views in an hour, per data seen by Business Insider.

The response is indicative of online attitudes toward Taiwan, with Beijing long maintaining that the island should come under mainland rule and that its people belong to China as "one family."

Related stories

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has postured aggressively on matters of potential war to achieve that end — opening the way for a rise in hostile rhetoric online against Taiwan. However, kinetic conflict is still widely viewed on social media as only one of several options for unification.

Polls show that Taiwan's people are increasingly balking at the idea of being part of mainland China, and Chinese disdain for that opposition was on full display even amid the well-wishes on Wednesday.

"I hope everyone is safe (except the Taiwan independence separatist forces)," one person wrote in a top-liked comment for a state media report on the earthquake.

"May the patriotic Chinese be safe" was a frequently posted phrase on Wednesday.

Some suggested that the People's Liberation Army, China's armed forces, step in.

"In such a big earthquake, I personally feel that it is necessary for the People's Liberation Army to provide support," one person wrote.

It's a jab at Taiwan's autonomy that technically doesn't threaten invasion. In China, the PLA is typically mobilized to provide mass manpower for relief and rescue after major disasters.

In 2008, for example, the PLA scrambled some 130,000 troops in response to an 8.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated Sichuan province, though some of the soldiers were reportedly unprepared for the relief work.

Fears of a cross-strait war between Beijing and Taipei have burgeoned in recent years as Xi continues to step up talk of military readiness and Taiwan's ruling party builds support for resisting the mainland.

Observers warn that war is likely to drag the US into conflict with China, posing disastrous consequences for the global economy. One expert previously told BI that the effects could be worse for the world than the 1929 stock market crash.

Watch: China shows how it would attack Taiwan as tensions rise

• Main content

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'Suspicious disappearance' of 2 women prompts an investigation in Oklahoma

Oklahoma authorities are investigating the "suspicious disappearance" of two women who never showed up to pick up children last week.

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“They never made it to the pickup location,” the advisory said. Their vehicle was later found abandoned on the side of a road.

Butler's stepmother, Guadalupe Torres, and father, Clinton Butler, separately told NBC News that Veronica had been engaged in a heated custody dispute. Court records show a custody case was opened in late March 2015 and closed nearly a month later.

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The Texas County Sheriff’s Department requested the state agency’s assistance in the investigation, according to the bureau.

"Agents are still working around the clock on this to try to find where these women are, what may have occurred," McKee said, adding there are no suspects in the investigation, and no threats against the women have been reported.

Butler has red hair, green eyes and several tattoos, the advisory said. Kelley has brown hair, blue eyes and a butterfly tattoo on her left forearm.

A Sunday Facebook post from Willow Christian Church in Indianola said the church would have a "time of prayer" for the women and encouraged attendees to leave a "favorite verse or note of encouragement for their families through this difficult time.

The Kansas City Star reported that Kelley is the wife of the church's new minister, Heath Kelley, who was appointed in November. Efforts to reach him and the church Tuesday were unsuccessful.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, (updated) act essay scoring: completely explained.

ACT Writing

It's finally that day you've circled on your calendar—the day when ACT essay scores are released. You log into ACTstudent and look at your essay score . There's an "8" for your overall Writing score as well as four different "domain" scores of 6, 8, 9, and 10. What does your ACT Writing score mean and how is your ACT essay scored? This article will shed some light on both of these things.

Feature image credit: eppny by woodleywonderworks , used under CC BY 2.0 /Resized from original.

A Quick Look Into ACT Essay Scoring

On test day, you complete the first four sections of the ACT then write your essay. What happens next?

Once ACT, Inc. receives your essay, it is scanned and uploaded to an essay grading program for graders to score. In addition, ACT.org states that "[a]n image of your essay will be available to your high school and the colleges to which you have ACT report your scores from that test date."

Each ACT essay is scored by two different graders on a scale of 1-6 across four different domains, for a total score out of 12 in each domain. These domain scores are then averaged into a total score out of 12.

NOTE : The ACT Writing Test from September 2015-June 2016 had a slightly different scoring scale; instead of averaging all the domain scores to get a total ACT Writing score out of 12, the domain scores were combined and scaled into a total score out of 36. On June 28th, 2016, however, ACT, Inc. announced that starting in September of 2016, the Writing test would no longer be scored on a scale of 1-36, due to the confusion this had caused. This change to out-of-12 ACT Writing scores is still different from the pre-September 2015 ACT essay scoring, since that system relied on graders giving the essay one holistic score (rather than 4 analytical domain scores).

Because the ACT Writing is optional, your essay score will not be factored into your ACT composite score. It will, however, be factored into your English-Language Arts subscore, which averages your English, Reading, and Writing scores and rounds up to the nearest whole number.

So what are the four domains that your essay is scored across?

#1: Ideas and Analysis

Scores in this domain relate to your discussion of the perspectives on the essay topic.

#2: Development and Support

Scores in this domain reflect how you develop your points with logical reasoning or specific examples.

#3: Organization

Scores in this domain relate to your essay's organization on both a macro (overall structure) and micro (within each paragraph) level.

#4: Language Use

Scores in this domain depend on your command of standard written English (including grammar and punctuation); variety in sentence structure and vocabulary is also rewarded in this domain.

For more on what goes into each domain score, read my article on the ACT Writing Rubric .

ACT Essay Scoring: Official Policy

Every essay is graded by two graders , who must score the essay within one point of each other. If the graders' scores disagree by more than one point, a third grader will be brought in to resolve the issue. It's currently unclear whether this means a greater-than-one-point difference in domain score or overall essay score between graders—stay tuned for more information.

While your essay receives scores in each of the four domain areas, the domains themselves are graded holistically . For example, in the Language Use domain, there are no guidelines that instruct scorers to deduct 1 point for every 10 grammatical errors.

Another important part of official ACT essay scoring policy is that factual accuracy is not important. ACT essay graders are not supposed to score essays based on whether or not the facts are accurate. The point of the ACT essay is NOT to write a research paper with well-documented facts on a topic. Instead, you're asked to argue in favor of a perspective on the topic and compare your perspective to at least one other perspective ; as long as your examples support your arguments, it doesn't matter if the examples aren't 100% true.

ACT Writing Scores in Practice

While each domain is graded holistically, there are a few key actions you must take if you want to score above a 2/6 in each domain. I've extracted these ACTions via analysis of the essay scoring rubric as well as through scrutiny of the sample essays the ACT provides on its website .

As I go through each domain, I'll be using the following official sample ACT prompt for any examples:

Intelligent Machines

Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.

Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines. In your essay, be sure to

• clearly state your own perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective
• develop and support your ideas with reasoning and examples
• organize your ideas clearly and logically
• communicate your ideas effectively in standard written English

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different.

Ideas and Analysis

You must: Have a clear thesis in your essay.

Because you are writing a persuasive essay, it is imperative that you make your position on the topic clear . Otherwise, how can you persuade someone that your view is the correct view?

Since you have limited time and have to compare your perspective with at least one other perspectives anyway, the most straightforward thing to do choose one of the three perspectives given to you by the ACT to argue for in your thesis.

Alternatively, you may choose to take a more nuanced perspective (that may combine aspects of more than one of the ACT perspectives); however, if you do this, it's important to make sure your perspective isn't so nuanced as to be unclear.

For example, acknowledging that intelligent machines challenge what we think humans can be (both in positive and negative ways) is a clear, yet nuanced thesis that combines aspects of Perspectives 1 and 3. Stating that intelligent machines push humans and machines toward new, previously-unimagined possibilities but also take away our humanity because of changes to our daily encounters is an unclear thesis that argues for both Perspectives 1 and 3 being true. This second thesis is not only unclear, but will run into difficulty with the next part of ideas and analysis: comparing your perspective to at least one other.

You must: Discuss the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective.

The prompt explicitly states that you need to "analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective." If you fail to discuss how your perspective relates to any other perspective, it will be very difficult to score above a 2 or 3 in the Ideas and Analysis Domain.

The easiest way to do this is to take your perspective and compare it to one of the perspectives the ACT lays out for you. With the above "Intelligent Machines" prompt, for instance, you could compare your position to at least one of the following: how machines cause us to lose our own humanity (Perspective One), how they are efficient and create prosperity (Perspective Two), or how machines challenge us and push us to new possibilities (Perspective Three).

It is possible to come up with your own perspective and compare it to another perspective that isn't at all mentioned in the prompts the ACT lays out; however, because time is of the essence in the ACT essay, you'll probably find it more efficient to form your own perspective (possibly from a combination of a couple of the given perspectives) and compare it to the ACT perspectives that don't match yours.

Development and Support

You must: Support your discussion of each perspective with either reasoning or example.

There are a couple of ways you can support your arguments. One way is to use reasoning , which tends to be more abstract. For example, if you were using reasoning to support your argument for Perspective Two, you could discuss how machines taking over lower skill jobs frees up humans to do higher skilled tasks that require more creative thinking.

The other way you can support your points is through use of specific examples . For example, to support Perspective Two, you could use the example of how the mass-production of clothes has made it less expensive for everyone to own things like good boots.

For a high score in this domain, you must: Discuss both positive and negative aspects of the perspectives you disagree with as well.

In order to achieve a high score in this domain, you must show that you understand the complexities of the issue. The main way to do this is to discuss the pros as well as the cons of the perspectives you disagree with.

For instance, if you agree with Perspective Two in the above prompt (machines make us more efficient and that's good), if you compare it to Perspective One, you should provide a brief instance of that perspective being "sort of" true before moving on to show how it is not as true as Perspective Two. Learn how to juggle both sides of a perspective in our article on how to write an ACT essay step-by-step .

Organization

You must: Group your ideas logically.

Writing an organized essay will make it easier for the essay graders to follow your logic and reasoning. Grouping your ideas logically can mean separating out ideas into different paragraphs (for instance, putting each perspective into its own paragraph), or it can involve clearly linking different aspects of the same idea in the same paragraph . No matter how you plan out your essay, try to make it as easy as possible to follow your arguments.

Language Use

You must: Write clearly.

Being able to communicate clearly is a key skill for college and life in general, so it makes sense that it would be tested on the ACT (a college entrance exam). ACT essay graders care more about the clarity of your thoughts than the fanciness of your language. Clarity of writing normally entails using proper grammar and clear, non-convoluted sentence structures. Throwing in fancy vocab won't get you anywhere if it makes things less clear instead of more clear (I've seen this happen too many times to count).

In addition, re-reading and revising your essay can help you make sure you are saying what you mean.

Example of an unclear sentence: Machines are more practical because they are cheaper and so you can hire less people to do the work and pay less money overall and so you have a better profit margin.

Example of a clearer sentence (revised): Machines are more practical and cheaper in the long run because you can hire fewer people to get the same work done.

TURNS out, the steam engine was more practical (and cheaper in the long run) than a thousand people pushing and pulling a train by hand.

What Does This Mean for Your ACT Essay?

From the lists of actions above, you can probably tell that the most important part of the ACT essay is to be clear . The ACT Writing test is designed to measure insight, not just how advanced your vocabulary is. Remember to...

#1: Be clear up front what your perspective on the issue is. Don't hide your thesis.

#2: Make it obvious when you're discussing your perspective (and make sure to discuss the relationship between your perspective and at least one other ).

#3: Support each argument with reasoning and/or specific examples.

#4: Take time to plan so you can write an organized essay.

#5: Focus on writing clearly before you start worrying about using advanced vocabulary.

What's Next?

Want to learn more about how to write an ACT essay? Read my step-by-step guide to ACT Writing .

You've learned what your essay needs to include. But how you do you decode the prompt? Follow along as I teach you how to attack ACT Writing prompts .

Is a longer ACT essay always a better ACT essay? Find out how essay length can affect your score on ACT Writing here .

Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points?

Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program . We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more.

Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses . If you liked this ACT Writing lesson, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get your ACT essays hand-graded by a master instructor who will give you customized feedback on how you can improve. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next.

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Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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