SAT vs. ACT Writing Part - Pretty Much the Same???

[jhschool]

Hi everyone

 

Are the Writing portions of the ACT and SAT  pretty much the same?

 

If I prepare DS for one, will he be prepared for the other?

 

Are the grading methods different?  

 

The prompts all seem slightly daunting for both, but I have to think

about preparing DS to do this, as we write mostly literary essays

and tend to not like or do well on the prompted timed ones.

 

Thank you in advance for any responses!

 

 

[anne1456]

The topics for the ACT tend to be more school related.  When my daughter took it the essay topic was something on school uniforms, and since she had never been to school she didn't really do a good job of addressing the topic.  But overall the general idea is the same, and practicing writing organized essays in a limited time is key.

[Barbara H]

There are some skills that carry over for both exams such as - good mechanics, clearly identifying a position and supporting it with arguments and writing an organized essay quickly.

 

The SAT is a quote response that requires students to be able to find the themes in a quoted passage. The ACT topic is on that tend to be relevant to teens and that can include questions that may refer to features of school or teen life. Some students find they can prepare a range of examples ahead of time that can be to different SAT prompts but that doesn't work well for the ACT. It is also more important on the ACT to acknowledge the counter arguments and provide context.

 

Here are the score guidelines:

http://www.actstudent.org/writing/scores/guidelines.html

http://sat.collegeboard.org/scores/sat-essay-scoring-guide

[jhschool]

There are some skills that carry over for both exams such as - good mechanics, clearly identifying a position and supporting it with arguments and writing an organized essay quickly.

 

The SAT is a quote response that requires students to be able to find the themes in a quoted passage. The ACT topic is on that tend to be relevant to teens and that can include questions that may refer to features of school or teen life. Some students find they can prepare a range of examples ahead of time that can be to different SAT prompts but that doesn't work well for the ACT. It is also more important on the ACT to acknowledge the counter arguments and provide context.

 

Here are the score guidelines:

http://www.actstudent.org/writing/scores/guidelines.html

http://sat.collegeboard.org/scores/sat-essay-scoring-guide

Thank you!

[jhschool]

The topics for the ACT tend to be more school related.  When my daughter took it the essay topic was something on school uniforms, and since she had never been to school she didn't really do a good job of addressing the topic.  But overall the general idea is the same, and practicing writing organized essays in a limited time is key.

Thank you--this is helpful.

 

The SAT prompts seem slightly more "professional" but I don't really know

what I mean by that.

 

But I've only seen a couple of each.

 

Thanks for your response!