Whats an Average ACT Writing Score

What's an Average ACT Writing Score SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips It's approximately one month after your ACT test date. You get your ACT score report and see your ACT Writing score. But what does that number actually mean? Did you do better than average? Worse? Exactly average? Learn what an average ACT Writing score is in this article. Feature image credit: meet average! by Maria Ly, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped and modified from original. What Is the ACT Writing Score Range? ACT Writing scoring differs from the other test sections in three important ways. Unlike your scores for English, Math, Reading, and Science, your ACT Writing score... is on a scale of 2-12, rather than 1-36. is optional. You can take the ACT with or without Writing. is not included when calculating your composite score. On your ACT score report, you'll see subscores in each of four domains (scored from 1-6). Because two graders score your essay, you'll receive a total score out of 12 in each domain. Your four domain scores are then averaged to get your total ACT Writing score, also out of 12. The four domains your essay is scored across are as follows: #1: Ideas and Analysis Do you discuss all three perspectives provided? What's your perspective on the topic? [How] Do you compare the perspectives to one another? #2: Development and Support Do you use logical reasoning or employ detailed examples to support and explain your ideas? #3: Organization Is your essay organized? Are ideas separated into their own paragraphs? Is your writing organized within each paragraph as well? #4: Language Use Do you use standard English written grammar? Are your sentences clear and varied in structure? Do you use appropriate vocabulary? For more about what goes into each domain score, read our article on the ACT Writing Rubric. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Tired of wasting time prepping in ways that don't work? We have the industry's leading ACT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and ACT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. It's the best prep program available right now. Best of all, we guarantee your money back if you don't improve your score by 4 points or more. Check out our 5-day free trial today: Improve Your ACT Score by 4+ Points, Guaranteed What’s an Average ACT Writing Score? The average ACT Writing score is between 6/12 and 7/12 (based on the most recent data from ACT, Inc). The following table has a more detailed breakdown of Writing test percentiles: 2-12 Score (2018-2019) Cumulative Percent 2 2 3 4 4 12 5 24 6 47 7 65 8 88 9 95 10 99 11 99 12 100 Because your total ACT Writing score is the average of your four domain scores, the average domain scores (Ideas Analysis, Development Support, Organization, and Language Use) are also likely around 6/12 or 7/12, although ACT, Inc. doesn't provide specific information about the cumulative percentiles of the domain scores. How Much Does My Essay Score Matter? Does your essay score even matter? While there are many colleges that require or recommend ACT Writing scores, most don't give an ACT Writing score range they want to see. For students applying to humanities programs, colleges might consider the new English-Language Arts subscore, which combines scaled English, Reading, and Writing performance. At a few colleges (like the University of Montana), your ACT Writing score might be used for freshman writing class placement purposes. If that's the case for you, you might want your Writing score percentile to be close to (or higher than) your English and Reading score percentiles. In general, though, my best advice is to make sure your ACT Writing score percentile isn’t drastically (20 percentile points) lower than your other ACT section scores- that kind of discrepancy might raise a red flag for admissions staff. Otherwise, colleges just don't care that much about the ACT essay (especially compared to other parts of your application like your personal statement). What’s Next? Now that you know what an average ACT essay score is, what's a good essay score for you? Read our article on how to calculate your target ACT Writing score. What strategies can you use to make sure your ACT Writing score is better than average? Take a look at our full analysis of the ACT Writing scoring rubric. How long does your ACT essay need to be? Find out how essay length affects your score here. Confused about the domain scores? Get the inside story on ACT Writing scoring with our complete guide. 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. Check out our 5-day free trial: