How to Write an ACT Sample Essay

How to Write an ACT Sample EssayThere are two ways to look at the Act's sample essay: it is either a complete mess, or a complete masterpiece. It's a question of opinion, but after spending some time studying the following examples, it seems that the entire project was a colossal failure, not least for this young man:My former exam tutor, who gave me an old version of the test, came to me in tears and she was so frightened about my failing that she jumped off the sofa. To be fair to her, I am sure she knew the dangers of the subject. However, this test was a true minefield.I later sat on the opposite side of the class as my old exam tutor and she found the same horror story about me when I sat on her sample essay. The subject had proven quite tricky, I might add, and a good English major like myself could have done with a little help.Despite their apparently even application, these samples were confusing, especially since both authors recommend a 'book review' technique, and then eac h individual chapter contained five pages of non-review/non-review-like info. After an average of eighty pages, a copy editor still had not finished and had to be redone. This could be embarrassing, particularly if the author had required four and a half pages from each chapter, and the book review required nine.Many questions I have seen asked on what was the best way to approach the Acts sample essay have been along the lines of, 'Could I get an alternative solution?' Unfortunately, these samples do not contain a good list of alternatives, either, with obvious inconsistencies on how the verbs are used within the sentence structure.The 'old version' of the sample essay itself, while that sounds pretty damning, is often referred to as the first draft and is likely to be the most accurate. If one can trust this particular phraseology, I suppose it is possible that the final 'final version' might have been much more accurate.From all that I have read on the subject, I am left with lit tle confidence that the Act sample essay can actually be regarded as a good teaching resource. Even the ACT requirements state that the essays should be designed in such a way that they are easy to understand, and that the student should use them to demonstrate understanding of the skills being taught.