The ACT Writing Test assesses your writing skills. The Writing Test includes one prompt describing a complex issue and three perspectives related to that prompt. Your goal is to write an essay in which you present your own reasoned perspective; this perspective might—but does not need to—relate to one or more of the three perspectives in the prompt, but your essay must include a discussion of both your own perspective and at least one other. The specific perspective you decide to take will not affect your final score.
The issue discussed in the prompt might be a familiar one, but it might also be completely new to you. The Writing Test will always include a paragraph providing background on the issue because prior knowledge is not required.
The ACT Writing Test will be broken down into four categories for scoring: Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions. Each of these elements will be scored on a scale of 2 to 12, and you will receive a single subject-level writing score, also on a scale of 2 to 12.