ACT Essay Writing: 4+ Days of Test Prep (2021-22 Edition with Google)

Need to prep your juniors and seniors for the ACT? Looking for something a little more engaging (or less expensive) than photocopying from a test prep book or buying a costly prep class?

This bundle of lesson & practice materials is ready to print and teach! TEACHERS can use it to prepare juniors and seniors; PARENTS can teach their child directly, or gift it to be used in a self-paced manner.

I earned a perfect score on the ACT and SAT essays when I was in high school, and now I can bring you my additional knowledge from 8 years of experience tutoring for the ACT. While NO one can ever guarantee a perfect score, this advice has helped my students see increases in their writing score, and some have gotten a 36 themselves. (Psst - you might like my related blog post, How to Help Juniors with ACT Essay Writing.)

Use the PowerPoint lessons to guide your student(s) through a crash course on what the scorers are looking for and how to survive the experience; then, quickly move into higher-level discussions of how to analyze the logic in the prompt and bring needed complexity in a draft.

Day 1: Crash Course lesson AND a practice activity analyzing two sample essays to evaluate the quality of their writing. Also comes with guided notes!

Day 2: Higher-level logic lesson AND a practice activity identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the three "sides" of the prompt

Day 3: Timed in-class essay using the provided prompt, practice paper, and rubric!

Day 4 (Optional): An additional prompt if you want to do a second timed essay (or do one as homework!)

This EDITABLE download includes the following:

• Google Docs, Word/PowerPoint, and PDF versions included

• A dense PowerPoint full of hyperlinks that guides the class through all three days of lessons

• Two activities to practice the skills from the lessons

• Guided notes for students as they follow the PPT

• Sample lined paper for students to write their practice essays

• A Common Core rubric aligned very similarly to the ACT’s criteria, based on Grades 11 and 12 argumentative writing and grammar (language) standards

• A copy of the 2014-15 edition of this lesson, in case you want to see how the essay has changed over time (or if you still want to teach that content anyway!)

NOTE:

• No major changes have been made to this unit for the 2021-22 school year since there have been no visible changes to the ACT essay this year.
• I do not claim any endorsement or affiliation with the ACT or the CCSS, nor with any test prep companies. All of my work is my original creation, based on patterns over years of success for myself and my students.

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You may also like my other essay writing materials:

• If your students need remedial help learning how to organize an essay, try my Five-Paragraph Essay Lesson & Sample Essay.

• Looking for other higher level, test-like writing opportunities? Check out my "Why Grammar?" essay project, in which students defend or deny the need to know grammar in the 21st century.

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