Do you have to write the essay on the digital SAT or the ACT? Should you, if given the option? And will any of that change in the near future? If you have any essay questions whatsoever, then this post is for you.
In case we haven’t met, and you’re wondering who this person is that’s giving you advice: hi, I'm Kristina. I'm the owner and founder of Ivy Lounge Test Prep®. Over 15 years of helping students all over the globe drastically raise their SAT and ACT test scores, I’ve accumulated a lot of knowledge—and opinions—about all things standardized testing. So, ready to get started? I sure am.
ARTICLE CONTENTS
1. Video version of this article
2. Does the SAT have a writing section in 2024?
a. The history of the SAT essay
ii. The 2016 reboot
3. Does the new ACT require an essay?
a. Can you just take the ACT essay?
b. Can I skip the essay on the ACT?
c. Which colleges recommend the ACT essay?
4. How the SAT and ACT essay affects you
a. What role should the essay play in your standardized testing decision?
b. How much should you prep for the ACT and Digital SAT essay?
c. If you're applying to Martin Luther College and taking the ACT
d. Does the ACT or Digital SAT essay help your college application?
5. Conclusion
Watch this article in video form:
Does the 2024 SAT have a writing section?
We’ll begin with the SAT essay. I know what you're thinking: “But I thought the SAT didn't have an essay any more!”
Well, you’re sort of right. But there’s been some confusion around this issue lately—because the Blue Book app includes practice Digital SAT essays! Let me clear things up for you.
History of the essay on the SAT
Before 2016
Around 10 years ago, when the SAT was scored out of 2400, everyone taking the test had to write the essay. It was the very first section of the test and took 25 minutes to complete. Along with two multiple-choice sections, the essay made up part of your actual Writing score out of 800.
The 2016 revised SAT and the writing section
Then, the SAT got redesigned, and became a new test in January of 2016. All of a sudden, writing was folded into the Reading section. (Math was the other section.) And the whole thing totaled 1600 points. Most importantly, the essay was now optional, and was taken (if the student opted in) at the end of the test.
During this period, some colleges would require that if you took the SAT, you’d have to take the essay. Some colleges would require that if you took the ACT, you’d to do the essay. Some would require it for both. And some would require a mixture of things: if you take this test, then you do have to do the essay, but you don’t have to take the essay if you pick the other test. Some would require it for neither test.
So, college hopefuls were understandably a bit frazzled by all this essay-related decision-making. I had many students and their parents approach me to work one-on-one, and the first thing we'd figure out in our Ace the Test Game Plan™ is which test—the SAT or the ACT—would be better suited for that particular student. And often, one of the things that would make a decision for us (or at least help us make the decision) would be the respective essay policies of the schools that they were planning to apply to.
But gradually, fewer and fewer colleges started requiring that essay. And then when the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, the College Board made a big decision. Beginning in January of 2021, the SAT would no longer have an essay....AT ALL. Even if you wanted to compose a beautiful piece of writing while sitting for your SAT…sorry. Not possible.
Is there an essay on the current SAT?
But THEN, in 2024, the Digital SAT became the only game in town. And, as with the 2016 reboot, there's still no essay. Which is why it’s a bit confusing that….when you go into your Blue Book app to practice for the test, you may be presented with a practice essay!
What the heck is going on?!
Here’s what’s up. If you are registering to take the Digital SAT on one of the seven national test dates—in March, May, June, late August, October, November, December—then you are NOT offered an essay option. All you’ll encounter are two sections, each with two modules: Reading & Writing, and Math.
However, sometimes students will take the SAT during what is called a School Day Administration. A given high school or school district can choose to participate in such days. On School Day Administrations, everyone at that high school will get to do one sitting of the SAT, and the school or the school district will pay for it.
The reason that a lot of schools will jump on this opportunity is because they might have many students who cannot afford a registration fee, or perhaps the logistics of getting to a testing center on a weekend might be too much for them. So to level the playing field and provide at least one opportunity for everyone to be able to take the test, many schools will offer the test during a school day administration.
Now, if you are a student whose high school is offering to let you take a free SAT during the school day, it could be that your state may offer or require an essay. This is not going to apply to everyone. (In fact, none of the students I've personally worked with have even been given the option to write the essay.) But according to the College Board's website, some states for a school day administration might offer or require an essay.
So if that's you, cool. Just go ahead and do the essay. In my opinion, you don’t really need to study for it. Because frankly, no college is going to require it of you.
And if you’re never even given the option to write the essay—which is going to be most of you reading this post—then obviously the essay is effectively nonexistent for you.
Does the new ACT require an essay?
Now onto the ACT essay, also known as the writing test.
First, a few basics about the ACT and its essay:
You’re given 40 minutes to write the essay if you are a regular time test-taker.
If you are registering to to do the ACT with the added optional essay, it would increase your registration fee by $25, so from $69 to $94.
The essay is graded independently of your multiple choice sections. The essay is scored on a range from 2 to 12, but it does NOT affect your composite score.
Your composite score, which can be anywhere from 1 to 36, is the average of your multiple-choice sections.
Now, a note about those multiple-choice sections: currently, the ones that count towards your composite score are English, Math, Reading, and Science. But if you are taking the new version of the ACT online, so in April 2025 or after, then it will be the just the first three sections that get averaged for your composite score: English, Math, and Reading. Science would be a separate score (up to 36) because it's optional. And the Writing section is still optional.
If you're taking the ACT not online but with pencil and paper, then you will be encountering this new format come September 2025. So, again, only the first three sections will be averaged for your composite. The Science section will be optional, and will issue a separate score if you do take it. The Writing test will also be optional, and will issue a separate score if you do take it.
ACT: can you do only the essay?
I do occasionally get asked this question, and the answer is a definitive no, you can't just take the writing or the essay portion of the ACT by itself. You have to actually sign up to take the multiple choice sections, too, and then the Writing test is an add-on to that.
Can I skip the essay on the ACT?
As I mentioned when I was discussing the evolution of the SAT essay above, over time, fewer and fewer schools have been requiring the essays for either test. That ultimately drove the College Board to drop the SAT essay entirely.
When it comes to the ACT, the essay still exists. But every year, the number of colleges that require it from applicants continues to dwindle. Even as recently as a few years ago, there were a handful of schools that still required the ACT essay.
But I just searched all over the internet, reading the testing policies on various colleges’ websites. And it appears that there is currently only one school that requires the writing test.
Are you ready? The one holdout is Martin Luther College in Minnesota. This is literally the only college in the U.S. that actually requires you to submit the Writing test score with your ACT (if the ACT is your test rather than the SAT).
Now, very recently, the United States Military Academy (also known as West Point) in New York State used to require the writing component for ACT-takers. It definitely did last year for the people who were going to enter in and become West Point's class of 2028. However, for students who are currently applying right now—in fall of 2024, meaning you're graduating high school in spring of 2025, and would be graduating West Point in 2029—it appears that there is NO essay requirement anymore.
I say this because I looked all over their website, and it no longer mentions anything about the essay. It doesn't include a related question in the FAQ like it used to. And according to many online forums that I pored over, apparently, when people have met in-person with representatives from West Point, they’ve been told that the school has dropped the requirement. So, you might want to call West Point just to double- or triple-check, but it appears that the ACT essay is no longer required for the US Military Academy.
Which colleges recommend the ACT writing portion?
Let me take a guess about your next question: “Got it, Kristina—only one college in the United States even requires the essay for the ACT anymore. But aren't there some schools that, you know, encourage you to take it?”
Well, there used to be. A couple years ago, there were four schools that recommended that you submit an essay score with your ACT. They were Colorado School of Mines, Bethune Cookman University in Florida, Morehouse College in Georgia, and Molloy University in New York.
However, when I completed my recent college website review, I noticed that none of these four institutions even mentions the essay on the ACT anymore, let alone requires or recommends it. Furthermore, all four of those colleges are now test optional. So you don't even have to submit an ACT score or SAT score at all in order to be considered for admission to their college. So, no, those four schools don't really care about the ACT essay anymore.
How the SAT and ACT essays affect you
So now that we’ve laid out the facts, what do they mean for you going forward? Here are my four pieces of advice.
1. What role should the essay play in your standardized testing decision?
When you're determining whether you should take the ACT or the Digital SAT, don't even consider the essay as a factor. It’s no longer relevant. Just focus on your performance and timing needs on the multiple-choice sections.
2. SAT and ACT prep: writing section
As you start to study for the SAT and the ACT, you can focus exclusively on the multiple-choice sections of your preferred test. Just assume you won't have to do the essay.
The one exception to this is…
3. If you're applying to Martin Luther College and taking the ACT
There’s a chance you’re among the small number of people whose college list requires that you write the ACT essay. That number is so small because there is exactly one scenario in which that is the case. You have to be someone who chooses the ACT, and also someone whose college list includes Martin Luther College on it.
You have to fall in that narrow slice of the Venn diagram of various criteria for you to have to even think about writing an essay during your standardized test.
So if you do happen to be an ACT person and you do plan on applying to Martin Luther College, then, yes, you will need to register for the ACT with Writing, but don't bother actually studying for the essay until two or three weeks before the test. That’s because the essay does not matter nearly as much as your composite score will. And all the other colleges on your list will only be looking at that composite score.
So it's okay to “procrastinate” in this case because it actually isn't procrastinating—it's prioritizing what matters. Capisce?
4. Does the ACT or Digital SAT essay help your college application?
Some of you may be thinking, “Wait a second, I know it's not required and maybe it's not even recommended, but could the ACT essay still help me get into college?”
Now there are some parts of the college prep process where something is technically not required, but you should do it in order to show colleges you’re really passionate about getting in. In such cases, you should do more than the bare minimum to get in.
For instance, this would apply in a lot of situations where you have some test optional colleges on your college list, but it would still be a good idea to show those admissions committees that you’re academically ready for college by preparing for and taking one of the tests and then submitting a nice score. That’s an example where going above and beyond can help you.
But a place where going above and beyond does NOT help you—and, indeed, is kind of a waste of your time—would be the ACT essay. You do not need to do the essay. So, like, literally, unless you are applying to Martin Luther College and the ACT is your test, not the digital SAT, you don’t need to bother.
Conclusion
I hope you’ll agree that this is all good news. Because there are so many developments in college process news where the takeaway is, “Ugh. I guess I have to do that extra bit of work now, too.” But the essay is the case where, honestly, you don’t have to sweat it.
If you want to find out even more ways to save your sanity and your time during this whole test prep and college admissions process, I have more good news for you: I’m going to give you a fail proof college prep plan in my free webinar. Just click this link to register:
