From the simplest system of pulleys and ropes to the most complex supercomputer in the world today, machines have had (and continue to have) a profound influence on the development of humanity. Whether it is taking over monotonous, low-skill tasks or removing that messy "human" element from our day-to-day interactions, machines have answered the call to duty. The increasing prevalence of intelligent machines challenges us to change long held beliefs about our limitations and to continue forward to new and even more advanced possibilities.
One common argument against the increased presence of machines in our day to day lives is that machines leach from us our basic humanity. Indeed, certain people whose only social interactions are anonymous text-based conversations with other anonymous Internet forum dwellers over computers may begin to lose basic human courtesy and empathy. This is crystal clear with a glance at the comments section of any popular news article. Yet machines are also capable of enhancing people's abilities to communicate. An example of this can be found in Tod Machover's lab at MIT, where breakthroughs in neurotechnology have made it possible for quadripalegics to manipulate text on computers with their minds. Such interactions would be impossible without the existence of intelligent machines. Therefore, I must disagree with Perspective one. Rather than losing part of our own humanity to machines, we instead make that most-essential-to-humanity of acts, communication, possible.
Another school of thought (Perspective Two) argues that machines are good at how and high skill repetitive jobs, which leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone. This can be seen in the human work hours that are saved daily with automated phone menus. Before intelligent machines made automatic telephone menus possible, every customer service call ate up valuable employee time. Now, menus allow callers to choose the number that best suits their needs, routing calls to appropriate destinations without the need for human employees to waste time explaining for the hundredth time that "our business hours are 10am-6pm." On the other hand, no mechanized system of this kind is perfect, because it can't predict all future outcomes. In terms of automated telephone menus, this means that sometimes, no menu options are correct. While automated systems may take the burden off of human workers, it is a mistake to think that they can replace humans entirely. Why else would the last line of resort for most automated phone menus be "Dial "0" to speak to an operator/customer service representative?" Perspective Two is true, but it only goes so far.
A final example will demonstrate how intelligent machines challenge longstanding ideas and push us towards new, unimagined possibilities (perspective three). At my high school, all students had to take diagnostic tests in every main subject to figure out our strengths and weaknesses, and we were then sorted into class by skill level. A truly remarkable pattern emerged as a result of this sorting: it turned out that every kid in my medium-level physics class was also a talented musician. The system that sorted us allowed us to find this underlying pattern, which changed the way our teachers taught us
Because the essay is so formulaic, it's always possible to get at least a 10 in each domain. And, on top of this, no college worth its salt is going to base your college admission on getting those last two points on an essay you had to write in 40 minutes. The goal, really, is to show that you can write a decent essay in that time, and a 10 in each domain shows that just as well as a 12 does.
The 6 essay gives a more specific and logically precise context. The thesis and argument show a deep understanding of the issue, while the analysis not only mentions, but also inspects the complexities and implications of the issue.
Important: If you haven't read these two other ACT Writing guides before, take a minute and read them now:
Part II: The Difference Between a 10 and a 12
Perspective Three: Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities.
Now, read the ACT essay example below, and try to notice how it meets the criteria in the table above.
Now we'll look at a sample essay and how it demonstrates the characteristics of the 6 essay above. First, let's look at the prompt:
You'll have to practice this specific essay. The perfect ACT essay is like a puzzle that happens to be in writing form—it can be mastered, but to do it well and completely every time requires a few month's practice. Knowing how to write other kinds of essays will only help you a limited amount.
The articles in this first section of our ultimate ACT Writing Guide introduce you to the ACT essay task and scoring without getting too far into the details. Use these articles to learn the best way to approach the ACT essay.
We've written the best study guide to ACT Writing section and the ACT essay available anywhere.
This article serves as an introduction to ACT Writing test changes that were implemented September 2015. We go into the difference between the current ACT essay and the previous ACT Writing test, which is great if you took the old ACT Writing and aren't sure what the new one looks like. It's also a helpful general overview of what's in the section and how it differs from other essays you might have written in the past.
There are both pros and cons to choosing to take the ACT essay. This article will help you learn what all the factors are and whether they apply to you.
ACT Writing: The Basics
It can be a little tricky to figure out what impact ACT Writing has on your college application, particularly since it's not required (or even recommended) by all schools. Read this article to better understand the rationale behind schools requiring ACT Writing and what role the ACT essay plays in the college admissions process.
If all the information in this guide is overwhelming you and you're not sure you'll be able to adequately prepare for the ACT essay on your own, consider trying out our ACT prep platform. Built by Harvard grads, our program learns your individual strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics and then uses that information to customize your prep to you. Our product also includes scoring and custom feedback for real ACT essay prompts.
As with the ACT overall, it's important to have a score goal in mind when you study for ACT Writing. Because the weight placed on ACT Writing scores varies from school to school and schools' average ACT Writing scores are not always in line with their other ACT scores, you'll want to set your ACT Writing score goal based on the specific requirements of the schools you're applying to and nothing else.
Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines. In your essay, be sure to
For a high score in this domain, you must: Discuss both positive and negative aspects of the perspectives you disagree with as well.
Being able to communicate clearly is a key skill for college and life in general, so it makes sense that it would be tested on the ACT (a college entrance exam). ACT essay graders care more about the clarity of your thoughts than the fanciness of your language. Clarity of writing normally entails using proper grammar and clear, non-convoluted sentence structures. Throwing in fancy vocab won't get you anywhere if it makes things less clear instead of more clear (I've seen this happen too many times to count).
Scores in this domain relate to your discussion of the perspectives on the essay topic.
ACT Writing Scores in Practice
It is possible to come up with your own perspective and compare it to another perspective that isn't at all mentioned in the prompts the ACT lays out
#1: Be clear up front what your perspective on the issue is. Don't hide your thesis.
The prompt explicitly states that you need to "analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective." If you fail to discuss how your perspective relates to any other perspective, it will be very difficult to score above a 2 or 3 in the Ideas and Analysis Domain.
We've written the best study guide to ACT Writing section and the ACT essay available anywhere.
If all the information in this guide is overwhelming you and you're not sure you'll be able to adequately prepare for the ACT essay on your own, consider trying out our ACT prep platform. Built by Harvard grads, our program learns your individual strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics and then uses that information to customize your prep to you. Our product also includes scoring and custom feedback for real ACT essay prompts.
You'll need to practice with official ACT Writing prompts to truly excel at the ACT essay. This article includes all of the free and public official ACT essay prompts, along with four other prompts I constructed based on those official prompts. I also discuss the core question each prompt is asking and how to preplan examples to use in any ACT essay.
You'll want to make sure you're allocating your time and energy during ACT Writing practice to activities that will yield the greatest score improvement. Read these tips for quick strategies that can have a big impact on your score.
The Ultimate ACT Writing Study Guide: Tips, Strategies, and Practice
We do the work of keeping up with ACT Writing score data releases and percentile rankings for you and give you the big picture of what it all means in this article.
What's the line for what is and is not acceptable when it comes to using ACT essay templates? I draw upon my essay grading experience and ACT Writing expertise to advise you on how to prepare yourself for the essay without plagiarizing.
It can be a little tricky to figure out what impact ACT Writing has on your college application, particularly since it's not required (or even recommended) by all schools. Read this article to better understand the rationale behind schools requiring ACT Writing and what role the ACT essay plays in the college admissions process.
Because ACT Writing is optional, many students are unsure whether they need to add the extra 40 minutes to the test. However, there's a simple answer to whether you should take the ACT with writing or without writing: it depends on whether the colleges you want to apply to require a writing score.
If you're more focused on other sections of the test, check out our ultimate prep guides for ACT Reading, English, and Science.
So far I've focused on reasons you would want to take the Writing section, but there are also some costs associated with doing so.
. take the ACT with Writing. You won't be able to get in without it, so it's worth the slightly higher fee and extra time commitment.
Should You Take the ACT With or Without Writing?
Another minor note: if you're taking the ACT through your school, you may or may not take it with Writing, depending on which state you live in. If your state doesn't administer ACT Plus Writing and you are applying to schools that require it, you'll need to retake the whole test with Writing.
. take the ACT with Writing, unless the cost and stress profoundly outweigh the potential benefit of more information for colleges.
Florida State University requires applicants to submit the ACT with Writing. (Jackson Myers/Flickr)