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Are you taking the ACT with Writing? No need to stress! The ACT essay follows a predictable format, which means you can practice and prepare beforehand. Take a look at a sample ACT writing prompt and learn five key steps to penning a high-scoring essay.

Keep in mind: The ACT writing essay is optional. Currently, only 27 colleges and universities require the ACT with Writing. You can see the complete list  here . If there is any chance that you might apply to one of those schools, you should register for the ACT with Writing. Not sure where you will apply? You should strongly consider signing up for the essay and keep your options open.

ACT with Writing: Sample Prompt

This example writing prompt comes straight from our book ACT Prep :

Education and the Workplace

Many colleges and universities have cut their humanities departments, and high schools have started to shift their attention much more definitively toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and away from ELA (English, Language Arts). Representatives from both school boards and government organizations suggest that the move toward STEM is necessary in helping students to participate in a meaningful way in the American workplace. Given the urgency of this debate for the future of education and society as a whole, it is worth examining the potential consequences of this shift in how students are educated in the United States.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the shift in American education.

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the issue of how schools should balance STEM and ELA subjects. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.

How to Write the ACT Essay

Your job is to write an essay in which you take some sort of position on the prompt, all while assessing the three perspectives provided in the boxes. Find a way to anchor your essay with a unique perspective of your own that can be defended and debated, and you are already in the upper echelon of scorers.

Step 1: Work the Prompt

What in the prompt requires you to weigh in? Why is this issue still the subject of debate and not a done deal?

Step 2: Work the Perspectives

Typically, the three perspectives will be split: one for , one against , and one in the middle . Your goal in Step 2 is to figure out where each perspective stands and then identify at least one shortcoming of each perspective. For the example above, ask yourself: 

• What does each perspective consider?
• What does each perspective overlook?

Read More: What's a Good ACT Score?

Step 3: Generate Your Own Perspective

Now it's time to come up with your own perspective! If you merely restate one of the three given perspectives, you won’t be able to get into the highest scoring ranges. You’ll draw from each of the perspectives, and you may side with one of them, but your perspective should have something unique about it.

Step 4: Put It All Together

Now that you have your ideas in order, here's a blueprint for how to organize the ACT essay. This blueprint works no matter what your prompt is.

Step 5: (If There's Time): Proofread

Spend one or two minutes on proofreading your essay if you have time. You’re looking for big, glaring errors. If you find one, erase it completely or cross it out neatly. Though neatness doesn’t necessarily affect your grade, it does make for a happy grader.

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How to Write an ACT Essay

Last Updated: October 11, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Arash Fayz . Arash Fayz is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of LA Tutors 123, an academic consulting and private tutoring company based in Los Angeles, California. Arash has over 10 years of educational consulting experience, managing the tutoring of students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to score higher on standardized tests and gain admission to their target schools. He has a BA in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 3,668 times.

The ACT may seem a bit daunting, particularly the writing section, and if you're feeling that way, don't worry. While no one can guarantee you a perfect store, you can do well on the essay section as long as you practice a little first. When writing the essay, take 5-10 minutes to organize your thoughts, then write your essay in a standard 5-paragraph format with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. If you have time in the end, spend a few minutes reading over what you wrote to correct any mistakes.

Organizing Your Thoughts

• When reading through them, analyze them. Think about what each perspective assumes and what each perspective leaves out.
• For instance, if one perspective is "The electoral college is beneficial because it makes it easier for a state to vote together," that assumes a state should vote together, and it may leave off the individual's vote.
• Repeat for each perspective.

• You will have space to plan in your notebook, so write down the perspective you choose to take.

• For example, if the perspective is "The electoral college is beneficial," you might write, "The electoral college is beneficial to states with smaller populations, which gives farming areas a much-needed advantage."

• For instance, you might write, "While the electoral college does have pitfalls due to the way it distributes electoral votes, that very distribution gives rural voters the advantage they need to be on an even playing field with urban voters, as it places a slightly higher weight on the votes of people in small states with high rural populations."

• For instance, one example might be that the electoral college helps protect farmers by giving slightly more power to rural voters.
• Whatever example you use, try to get as specific as possible with it. [6] X Research source

Writing the Essay

• When giving an overview, present what examples you plan to use, in order, such as "The electoral college gives farmers a voice, allows for rural voices to be heard in Washington D.C., and helps elect a president that represents all citizens."

• You can use 4-6 paragraphs, but make sure you stick to the format of an introductory paragraph, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion paragraph.

• For instance, you might write, "Farmers' perspectives are important, but they aren't the only ones who benefit from the electoral college. It also gives rural people a voice in Midwestern and Southern states where all electoral votes must go to one candidate."
• Another example might be, "Rural people deserve to have their voices heard, as a president should represent all people, not just those in large cities."

• For example, you may write, "All in all, the electoral college does more good than harm. It gives farmers and rural voters the opportunity to elect a candidate that also considers their needs, along with those in the urban centers of the country. After all, a president should be for all citizens, not just those who have a pretty house in a big city."

Correcting Your Essay

• However, even 5 minutes spent on proofreading can be helpful.

• Avoid writing in the margins. Only write neatly between the lines.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/act-writing-prompt
• ↑ https://magoosh.com/hs/act/act-writing/2016/how-i-got-a-perfect-36-on-the-new-act-essay/
• ↑ https://writewellapp.com/how-write-act-essay
• ↑ http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-preparation/writing-test-prep.html#scrollNav-1-5

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How to Write an ACT Exam?

Your high school GPA may play an important role in your college admission, but the ACT exam may have the final say. What is an ACT exam? The ACT is an entrance exam that most colleges utilize to decide on a candidate's admission. The main purpose of the writing test is to disclose and measure the applicants' readiness for college studies. 

The admission officers review the test score along with your high school GPA to make their final decision. Of course, the classes that you took, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation from your teachers, and your application, where you discuss the high school experience from your own perspective, will be reviewed as well. While the importance of the ACT scores may vary from college to college, the higher the score, the more options for the college enrollment you have. 

The ACT exam consists of four sections that include English, Reading, Math, and Science. Aside from that, the prospective candidates are given forty minutes to do the writing test. Writing an essay can be quite difficult; that's why you need to prepare for it. The good news is that ACT essay examples are available online, and you can view sample in this article as well. So, basically, that's what the ACT exam is about. But let's dive into the details with our dissertation help services team. 

What is the ACT Exam?

The ACT exam 2022 consists of several sections that reveal your knowledge of various school subjects. The ACT exam stands for “American College Test”. It's a multiple-choice test where you have a number of questions and several options of answers. And you need to be ready to give it almost four hours. 

How long is the ACT exam exactly? You have two hours and fifty-five minutes for the multiple-choice test and forty minutes for the writing section. The ACT exam 2022 length gives you enough time to choose the correct answers and dive into your essay, which is quite complex. Basically, in the writing test, you will have to expand on the provided important topic and three different perspectives on it. 

When writing a coherent essay, make sure that you show your abilities in several core aspects. You need to be capable of generating ideas and analyzing them from various perspectives. It's also crucial that you provide pieces of evidence that support your viewpoint. The essay must be organized logically, so the reader can easily slide through the narrative. Finally, proper written language use and conventions are also extremely important. 

The Structure of the ACT Writing Test

If you are planning to pass the ACT exam 2022, you need to know the structure of the exam. First, let's look at the time you're given for completing each section, as well as the number of questions each ACT section has. What is the ACT exam, if not an exercise on time management? You have to plan basically every minute while you're taking it. Let's divide the ACT exam length for every section:

How to Write an Act Exam

All in all, you have 3 hours and 35 minutes for the ACT exam, meaning that you have just enough time to go through the test once and mark all of the right answers. Aside from it, students have a ten-minute break after the Math section and five minutes rest before they start writing the essay. Try doing an ACT practice exam and actually see when you might need breaks. You've already learned the most important aspects of the written ACT exam scoring. Now, let's take a look at each section of the multiple-choice test. 

English Test

The ACT English test consists of 75 questions, and the 45 minutes given for it means that you'll have between 30 and 40 seconds for each writing. This section can be divided into three parts in terms of content:

Conventions of Standard English 

This is by far the largest part of the test, as more than 50% of the test is devoted to the conventions. The questions focus on grammar, syntax, punctuation, and the correct use of words. Here you may be asked to choose the correct verb or tense. This part focuses on the general rules of English, so you don't have to write essays, sharing your own perspective on world problems or books.

Production of Writing

Around 30% of the test is devoted to the production of writing. Here, students are given passages from the various texts to check how good they are at seeing the big picture. You must choose the correct answer based on the tone or purpose of the passage. Questions in this section also concern the literary style and strategies used by the author. 

You may need to also know what is diversity essay while preparing for the exams.

Knowledge of Language

This is the smallest part of the English test, as its share ranges between 10% and 20%. This segment focuses on style, tone, and precision. 

The Math test may seem to be a bit too easy at the beginning. But that's because it's arranged in order of difficulty. Basically, you can say that out of sixty questions; the first twenty are quite easy. The next twenty questions are of medium difficulty, while the last twenty questions are the most difficult ones. Check an ACT practice exam to see at what point you really start to struggle with the questions so that you have an idea of what to review. Now, let's see the percentages that each math topic has in the test:

• Pre-algebra - accounts for 20%-25% of questions;
• Elementary algebra - ranges between 15% to 20% of questions;
• Intermediate algebra - up to 20% of questions;
• Coordinate geometry - takes 15%-20% of questions;
• Plane geometry - around 25% of questions;
• Trigonometry - ranges between 5% to 10% of questions;

The good thing is that the ACT exam allows using a calculator, so you don't have to waste a lot of time if you are not the brightest in terms of calculation. 

Reading Test

The reading test has a lot in common with the production of writing questions in the English test. In this section, students are given passages from texts and questions about the passages. You may be asked to identify the author's attitude toward the main subject of the passage. The meaning of this or that word in the context of the passage. The main idea of the body paragraphs. The meaning of the phrase or the function this or that sentence serves within the text. The important part is that you don't have to develop your unique perspective of the text - this is the part of the test that measures your ability to analyze given information without adding your own perspective on the issue.

Science Test

The Science section includes topics like biology, chemistry, space and earth sciences, and physics. You may be asked to pick the right conclusion from the options you have for graphs and diagrams. The section includes questions on conflicting viewpoints. Here, students are provided with a description of a certain phenomenon with several hypotheses on its explanation. Then you need to choose which assumption reflects the notion provided in the questions. 

How to Improve Your Writing Skills?

Considering the ACT exam dates 2022, you still have time to practice the ability to discuss ideas and convey arguments with clarity - improve your writing skills for the essay. You don't know the topic you’ll get, so deciding to buy an essay paper won't be that helpful. But there are a few things that you can do to improve your writing for the ACT exam. 

• Read and write - if you do it frequently, you won't have problems with the test;
• Get familiar with current social issues and various opinions on them;
• Taking debate classes will prepare you for the essay;
• Try writing extracurricular activities, like creative writing clubs;
• Share your writing with others;

Basically, improving your writing can be shaped into a simple formula: read-write-repeat. Read how other people write and try writing yourself. That will master the style and improve your ACT exam scoring. You can try blogging to master your skills. As for the organization of your writing, you can always seek advice from your English teachers and generate productive ideas. Asking your classmates and friends what they think of your writing can also help greatly. Just remember that no one is born with perfect writing skills. You can achieve it only through practice. 

Use our free Plagiarism Checker!

How to Write an ACT Essay?

After all, despite the complexity of the ACT exam 2022 multiple-choice tests, the essay task remains the most difficult part of it. You might have checked ACT essay examples, but writing one yourself in a short time of 40 minutes can be quite stressful. You need to have a strategy for writing. So, here are the steps that can help you. 

• Devote around ten minutes to planning your essay. 
• Think of the way you're going to organize it. 
• Read the one writing prompt and the multiple perspectives, and choose the one you're going to work on. If you check an example ACT essay, you know what to do. 
• Brainstorm the ideas and analysis, as well as supporting pieces of evidence you can provide. 
• Picture the structure of your essay, and then devote 30 minutes to writing it so that you will have just enough time on the test day. 

You want to know how to write Common App Essay Prompts 2022-2023? We encourage you to check out the fresh topics in our article.

ACT Essay Sample

Finally, we are getting to something you can build your essay on. So, you are to get a prompt with three different perspectives on it, and you need to choose which one of them you're going to write your essay, just like the example ACT essay. Let's imagine that the writing prompt you get will be on cancel culture, as shown in many of last year's ACT essay examples.

"Cancel or callout culture is a tradition of removing the support for certain individuals or their work based on their actions or opinions that can be considered objectionable. Traditionally, individuals are called out on social media, which leads to the general awareness of their perceived offense. In most cases, canceling takes the form of pressuring organizations to prevent the subject of the canceling from public appearances. When it comes to business, it can include boycotting their products" — that's what the writing prompt may look like. 

So Much Homework That You Don't Have Time to Prepare for the ACT?

Delegate the part of your homework to our paper writers for hire , and spend your time preparing for the ACT exam. Let the professionals do the paperwork while focusing on important things!

Now, let's check the three perspectives that you can be provided to defeat the ACT exam scoring system:

Perspective 1:

Cancel culture allows marginalized people to hold their tormentors accountable via public opinion when the justice system fails them. Movements like #metoo allowed numerous women and men to call out their abusers. The cancel culture leads to a safer world, free from abuse of various forms. 

Perspective 2:

While the cancel culture allows people to call out their abusers, we cannot disregard the fact that certain people can use it for their own benefit. The culture leads to people being canceled based on proofless claims, which turns the anti-abuse campaign into witch-hunting. 

Perspective 3:

Cancel culture may lead to a change in power but is ultimately unproductive when it comes to social change. As soon as it became big, it turned into simply casting stones at each other. While we may think that it leads to social justice, it's just engaging in the social media frenzy that doesn't affect real life. 

So, here you have the complex issue and three perspectives on it. First, you need to analyze and organize ideas of everything you know about the cancel culture. Think about the examples that you are acquainted with well. Then, examine each of the perspectives presented to you. Think which one is closest to your own thoughts about the issue. Alternatively, you can choose the perspective that you can support with more pieces of evidence. 

You start your essay with an analysis of the cancel culture as a whole. Then you should move to one of the perspectives given. There, you can expand and convey arguments on the topic by providing your own viewpoint. Your viewpoint must be supported by pieces of evidence. Regardless of the perspective you've chosen, in the case of cancel culture, the Harvey Weinstein and Depp vs. Heard cases will surely have something to do with it. Then you finish your essay with a logical conclusion. 

Don't forget that there must be a logical transition between the passages of your essay. The next passage must expand on the information provided in the preceding one. Your viewpoint must be followed by the supporting evidence. Here’s a sample of an essay that uses perspective two as the foundation: Here you go the ACT exam sample:

Is the ACT Essay Optional?

If you checked the ACT exam dates 2022, you have several months to prepare yourself. The first exam will occur on September 10, 2022, while the last one in the calendar year will be held on December 10, 2022. The biggest question that bugs students is whether the essay is optional. Yes, it is.  Moreover, not every college requires applicants to write an optional ACT essay.

Another important thing is that the total ACT exam scoring is not affected by your essay score. Some colleges think writing the ACT test gives candidates a more rounded score. So, all in all, the essay score matters only together with your multiple-choice results. So, why bother writing the essay at all? 

If you are highly competitive, you should try your hand in the ACT writing section. To prepare for it, you can follow the instructions given in this article and read through the ACT essay examples. If you are a mid-range student, you can opt for the writing test, but you should stress out about it, considering that many colleges do not require completing this section. Less competitive students should avoid the ACT writing test and stick to the multiple-choice test. The only reason they should take it is if the college board requires the essay for admission. 

How to Pass ACT with Flying Colors?

Now that we have discussed the ACT exam meaning, you can realize that it is not an easy task, but it's not that difficult either. Given all the information provided here, you know what to expect from the multiple-choice test and the writing portion, and you already know the ACT exam scoring system. ACT exam dates 2022 are approaching, but there is nothing to be scared of. Check the ACT essay examples , read through test tips once again, solve a few training tests, think about the logical structure of your essay, and keep the scoring rubric in mind- now you are ready to go and take the test without fearing the final score!

Let the experts do the work while preparing for the ACT!

You just can't get it all, so don't compromise and get the best of your last few months of school! Graduate with a great GPA by delegating some of the tasks to our experts while you'll be spending time getting ready for the big test! If you need essay help , just give us your requirements and we'll give you a hand asap.

Perhaps you need some nursing or psychology essay writing service ? Do not hesitate to contact us! Our team is always ready to help.

Pass Your Exams with Flying Colors!

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Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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TikTok challenges U.S. ban in court, calling it unconstitutional

Bobby Allyn

TikTok's suit is in response to a law passed by Congress giving ByteDance up to a year to divest from TikTok and find a new buyer, or face a nationwide ban. Kiichiro Sato/AP hide caption

TikTok's suit is in response to a law passed by Congress giving ByteDance up to a year to divest from TikTok and find a new buyer, or face a nationwide ban.

TikTok and its parent company on Tuesday filed a legal challenge against the United States over a law that President Biden signed last month outlawing the app nationwide unless it finds a buyer within a year.

In the petition filed in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the company said the legislation exceeds the bounds of the constitution and suppresses the speech of millions of Americans.

"Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the Act's sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok's ownership," according to the filing.

The law, passed through Congress at lightning speed, which caught many inside TikTok off guard, is intended to force TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company in nine months, with the possibility of a three month extension if a possible sale is in play.

Yet lawyers for TikTok say the law offers the company a false choice, since fully divesting from its parent company, ByteDance, is "simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally," the challenge states. "And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act."

Anupam Chander, a law professor at Georgetown University who specializes in technology regulations, said if TikTok loses this legal fight, it will likely shut down in the U.S.

"The problem for TikTok is that they have a parent company that has these obligation in China, but they're trying to live by free speech rules by the United States," Chander said in an interview. "The question is whether American courts will believe that that's even possible."

TikTok says law based on "speculative and analytically flawed concerns"

Lawmakers in Washington have long been suspicious of TikTok, fearing its Chinese owner could use the popular app to spy on Americans or spread dangerous disinformation.

But in the company's legal petition, lawyers for TikTok say invoking "national security" does not give the government a free pass to violate the First Amendment, especially, TikTok, argues, when no public evidence has been presented of the Chinese government using the app as a weapon against Americans.

Possible TikTok ban could be 'an extinction-level event' for the creator economy

According to the filing, the law is based on "speculative and analytically flawed concerns about data security and content manipulation — concerns that, even if grounded in fact, could be addressed through far less restrictive and more narrowly tailored means."

New DOJ Filing: TikTok's Owner Is 'A Mouthpiece' Of Chinese Communist Party

Constitutional scholars say there are few ways for the government to restrict speech in a way that would survive a legal challenge. One of those ways is if the government can demonstrate a national security risk. Also key, legal experts say, is the government showing the speech suppression was the least restrictive option on the table.

TikTok said Congress ignored less restrictive ways of addressing the government's national security concerns.

"If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down," the filing states. "And for TikTok, any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community."

Since more than 90% of TikTok's users are outside of America, Georgetown's Chander said selling the U.S.-based app to a different owner would cannibalize its own business.

"You can't really create a TikTok U.S., while having a different company manage TikTok Canada," Chander said in an interview. "What you're doing essentially is creating a rival between two TikToks," he said. " It may be better to take your marbles out of the United States and hope to make money outside of the U.S., rather than sell it at a fire-sale price."

TikTok critics call app a 'spy balloon on your phone'

The filing sets off what could be the most important battle for TikTok. It has been fending off legal challenges to its existence since former President Trump first sought to ban the app through an executive order in the summer of 2020. That effort was blocked by federal courts.

Since then, Democrats and Republicans have shown a rare moment of unity around calls to pressure TikTok to sever its ties with ByteDance, the Beijing-based tech giant that owns the video-streaming app.

Trump's Ban On TikTok Suffers Another Legal Setback

Congress has never before passed legislation that could outright ban a wildly popular social media app, a gesture the U.S. government has criticized authoritarian nations for doing.

In the case of TikTok, however, lawmakers have called the app a "spy balloon on your phone," emphasizing how the Chinese government could gain access to the personal data of U.S. citizens.

Worries also persist in Washington that Beijing could influence the views of Americans by dictating what videos are boosted on the platform. That concern has only become heightened seven months before a presidential election.

Yet the fears so far indeed remain hypothetical.

There is no publicly available example of the Chinese government attempting to use TikTok as an espionage or data collection tool. And no proof that the Chinese government has ever had a hand over what TikTok's 170 million American users see every day on the app.

TikTok says it offers U.S. a plan that would shut app down if it violated agreement

TikTok, for its part, says it has invested $2 billion on a plan, dubbed Project Texas, to separate its U.S. operation from its Chinese parent company. It deleted all of Americans' data from foreign servers and relocated all of the data to servers on U.S. soil overseen by the Austin-based tech company Oracle.

While the plan was intended to build trust with U.S. lawmakers and users, reports surfaced showing that data was still moving between staff in California and Beijing.

In the filing on Tuesday, TikTok said it submitted an agreement to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which has been probing the app for five years, that would allow the U.S. to suspend TikTok if it violated terms set forth in a national security plan.

But, lawyers for TikTok say, the deal was swept aside, "in favor of the politically expedient and punitive approach," the petition states.

Mnuchin claims he will place a bid to buy TikTok, even though app is not for sale

Despite the new law giving TikTok the ultimatum of selling or being shut down, there are many questions around how the app could even be bought by another company or group of investors.

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told NPR on Monday, he is planning to assemble a group of investors to try to purchase TikTok without the app's algorithm.

Mnuchin, who declined to answer additional questions, said in between sessions at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles that the proposal to buy the app is still in the works, but he would not say when it would be formally submitted.

One major obstacle in any possible sale of TikTok is a glaring problem: The app is not for sale.

TikTok Ban Averted: Trump Gives Oracle-Walmart Deal His 'Blessing'

Despite the new law in the U.S., ByteDance says it does not intend to let go of the service. Furthermore, winning the support of China would be necessary, and officials in Beijing are adamantly against any forced sale.

In 2020, amid the Trump administration's clamp down on the app, China added "content-recommendation algorithms" to its export-control list, effectively adding new regulations over how TikTok's all-powerful algorithm could ever be sold.

ByteDance, not TikTok, developed and controls the algorithm that determines what millions see on the app every day. The technology has become the envy of Silicon Valley, and no U.S. tech company has been able dislodge TikTok's firm hold on the short-form video market. Experts say key to its success is its highly engaging and hyper-personalized video-ranking algorithm.

The algorithm, which involves millions of lines of software code developed by thousands of engineers over many years, cannot be easily transferred to the U.S., even if China did allow it, TikTok's challenge states.

Lawyers for TikTok argue that "any severance [of the algorithm] would leave TikTok without access to the recommendation engine that has created a unique style and community that cannot be replicated on any other platform today."

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IRS: Home improvements could help taxpayers qualify for home energy credits

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IR-2024-137, May 9, 2024

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers that making certain energy efficient updates to their homes could qualify them for home energy credits.

The credit amounts and types of qualifying expenses were expanded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Taxpayers who make energy improvements to a residence may be eligible for home energy tax credits.

What taxpayers need to know

Taxpayers can claim the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the Residential Clean Energy Credit for the year the qualifying expenditures are made.

Homeowners who improve their primary residence will find the most opportunities to claim a credit for qualifying expenses. Renters may also be able to claim credits, as well as owners of second homes used as residences. Landlords cannot claim this credit.

IRS encourages taxpayers to review all requirements and qualifications at IRS.gov/homeenergy for energy efficient equipment prior to purchasing. Additional information is available on energy.gov , which compares the credit amounts for tax year 2022 and tax years 2023-2032.

Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit

Taxpayers that make qualified energy-efficient improvements to their home after Jan. 1, 2023, may qualify for a tax credit up to $3,200.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, beginning Jan. 1, 2023, the credit equals 30% of certain qualified expenses:

• Exterior doors, windows and skylights.
• Insulation and air sealing materials or systems.
• Natural gas, propane or oil water heaters.
• Natural gas, propane or oil furnaces and hot water boilers.
• Heat pumps, water heaters, biomass stoves and boilers.
• Home energy audits of a main home.

The maximum credit that can be claimed each year is:

• $1,200 for energy property costs and certain energy efficient home improvements, with limits on doors ($250 per door and $500 total), windows ($600) and home energy audits ($150).
• $2,000 per year for qualified heat pumps, biomass stoves or biomass boilers.

The credit is nonrefundable which means taxpayers cannot get back more from the credit than what is owed in taxes and any excess credit cannot be carried to future tax years.

Residential Clean Energy Credit

Taxpayers who invest in energy improvements for their main home, including solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cells or battery storage, may qualify for an annual residential clean energy tax credit.

The Residential Clean Energy Credit equals 30% of the costs of new, qualified clean energy property for a home in the United States installed anytime from 2022 through 2032.

Qualified expenses include the costs of new, clean energy equipment including:

• Solar electric panels.
• Solar water heaters.
• Wind turbines.
• Geothermal heat pumps.
• Fuel cells.
• Battery storage technology (beginning in 2023).

Clean energy equipment must meet the following standards to qualify for the Residential Clean Energy Credit:

• Solar water heaters must be certified by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation, or a comparable entity endorsed by the applicable state.
• Geothermal heat pumps must meet Energy Star requirements in effect at the time of purchase.
• Battery storage technology must have a capacity of at least 3 kilowatt hours.

This credit has no annual or lifetime dollar limit except for fuel cell property. Taxpayers can claim this credit every year they install eligible property on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and before Jan. 1, 2033.

This is a nonrefundable credit, which means the credit amount received cannot exceed the amount owed in tax. Taxpayers can carry forward excess unused credit and apply it to any tax owed in future years.

Additional information is available at IRS.gov on qualifying residences and information for taxpayers who also use their home for a business.

When it is time to file a tax return, taxpayers can use Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits , to claim the credit. This credit must be claimed for the tax year when the property is installed, not just purchased.

Good recordkeeping

Taxpayers are encouraged to keep good records of purchases and expenses. This will assist in claiming the applicable credit during tax filing season.

Other resources

• Publication 5967, Energy Efficient Home Improvements Credit (25C) PDF
• Publication 5968, Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) PDF
• energy.gov: Credit Comparison Chart
• Fact sheet: Frequently asked questions about energy efficient home improvements and residential clean energy property credits PDF
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Should You Take the ACT With or Without Writing

Wondering if the ACT writing test is for you? You're not alone. Taking the ACT with writing can give you an edge in college admissions by showcasing your writing skills and adding depth to your college applications with a special ELA score (English language arts). Let's explore the ins and outs of the ACT Writing Test to help you make an informed decision. 

What is the ACT Writing Test?

The ACT writing test is an optional 40-minute essay that comes after the main ACT exam. It's designed to measure your writing skills — skills you've been honing in high school and will need in college. 

You'll get a prompt with a complex issue and three perspectives. Your job? Craft your own viewpoint and analyze how it relates to the given perspectives. 

Your writing sample will be evaluated on these four components:  

Ideas and Analysis

Show you understand the issue and can generate relevant ideas.

Development and Support

Back up your argument with solid reasoning.

Organization

Structure your essay clearly to guide the reader through your argument.  

Language Use and Conventions

Use clear, effective language that resonates with your audience.  

The writing test complements the English and reading tests, offering colleges a fuller picture of your skills. 

Is the Writing Portion of the ACT Required?

The ACT writing test is optional, but some colleges and school districts do require it, so do your homework. Check the requirements for your target schools and your district's graduation policy. 

What is the Difference Between Taking the ACT with Writing vs. Without Writing?

Taking the ACT with writing won't affect your Composite score, but it does add an English Language Arts (ELA) score to your report. Opting out means you'll miss out on this additional score. Learn more about ACT writing scores . 

Why You Should Take the ACT With Writing

The ACT with writing offers a unique platform to articulate your thoughts and viewpoints, and it's a chance to go beyond grades and scores, allowing you to connect with admissions officers on an intellectual level. Whether you're set on a dream school or still charting your course, the ACT writing test is a valuable tool in your college application toolkit. Here are a few more factors to consider:  

1. Your School or State Requires It

Some colleges, highs schools, and states require the ACT writing test. Check this early on to avoid surprises. 

2. You Want Your Application to Stand Out

A strong writing score can make your application more competitive. It's a chance to showcase your logical reasoning skills. 

3. Your Grades in English or Language Arts Aren’t the Best

If your grades in English or language arts courses are not stellar, a high score on the ACT writing test can help balance your academic profile. 

4. You Aren’t Sure Where You Want to Apply Yet

If you're still exploring your options, taking the ACT with writing keeps all doors open, as some colleges may require it. 

Why Take the ACT Without Writing

If none of the above reasons apply to you, and if none of your target schools require the ACT writing test, you might opt to take the ACT without writing. This can also save you time and reduce test-day stress.

How To Prepare for the ACT Writing Test

Crafting a standout ACT essay is all about strategy and focus. Allocate time for planning, writing, and reviewing. Understand the prompt and use optional planning questions to guide your thoughts. Keep your argument focused and support it with sound reasoning. Before submitting, review your essay for clarity and accuracy.  

By following these guidelines, you'll be well on your way to writing an essay that not only showcases your writing skills but also makes your college application stand out.  

Resources to Help You Prepare for the ACT Writing Test

Additional act writing test resources.

Explore these resources for more information on producing your best work on test day.

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Student Opinion

Should Schools Serve Healthier Meals if It Changes Students’ Favorite Foods?

New federal rules will require school cafeterias to reduce the amount of salt and sugar in the foods they serve. Do you think students will embrace the changes?

By Shannon Doyne

Do you eat breakfast, lunch or snacks from your school’s cafeteria? If so, what do you eat? What are your favorite foods? How nutritious do you think your choices are?

New federal regulations on salt (or sodium) and sugar are coming to school cafeterias. Do you think they will change your favorite foods? Will they affect what and how much students eat at school?

In “ With New Salt and Sugar Limits, School Cafeterias Are ‘Cringing ,’” Julie Creswell writes about a debate over the new rules:

Around 11:40 on a cool spring day in early April, students began to stream into the lunchroom at Haleyville High School in Alabama. Cheerleaders, soccer and baseball players, and other members of the student body filed through the lunch line and sat at their tables. They chatted and laughed about upcoming games (go, Roaring Lions!) and prom as they dug into plates of chicken Alfredo, green beans and salad. Emma Anne Hallman, standing in a corner, watched the teenagers carefully. As the child nutrition director for the Haleyville City School District, she has the job of feeding 1,600 students, in prekindergarten through 12th grade. For months, Ms. Hallman and other heads of school lunch programs have worried about new federal regulations that would reduce allowable sodium levels and introduce new sugar restrictions for foods served in school cafeterias. A debate has raged, with many parents and nutritionists applauding efforts to make lunches more nutritious while some school lunch administrators fretted that the results will be less tasty to students, reducing consumption and increasing waste. “We are cringing, as it could result in changes across our menus,” Ms. Hallman said. “We would have to look at the sodium amounts in the recipes of some of our students’ favorite foods, like chicken wings, hot wings or even some of the Asian foods.”

The article continues:

While far from perfect (cafeterias serve plenty of processed foods), school lunches are arguably much healthier than they were a few years ago, thanks to a signature program geared toward combating childhood obesity and championed by Michelle Obama when she was first lady. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed in 2010, required schools to reduce the calories, fat and sodium in foods served in cafeterias and to increase offerings of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nonfat milk. The new regulations drew sharp criticism, however, and the Trump administration rolled back some of them, such as a prohibition on 1 percent chocolate milk. But last year, the Biden administration proposed updates that would gradually limit salt and sugar in school lunch foods in an attempt to meet federal dietary standards . On Wednesday, the Agriculture Department made the new rules final after scaling back several provisions in the earlier proposal and shifting the start dates. Instead of gradually cutting sodium in lunch foods by a third from current levels by the fall of 2029, school cafeterias will have to cut sodium levels 15 percent by the 2027-28 academic year. And for the first time, schools will need to limit the amount of added sugars in cereals and yogurts, starting in the 2025-26 academic year. Standing in a Haleyville School District pantry a few weeks ago, Ms. Hallman nodded to boxes containing cups of Cocoa Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. They contain less sugar than the cereals that are bought from grocery stores and poured into bowls at home. Still, she said many of these foods would most likely be affected by the new rules and have to be reworked by the manufacturer. The label of a Cocoa Puffs cereal bar, for instance, showed it had eight grams of added sugar, while a frosted strawberry Pop-Tart had 14 grams. “Breakfast, particularly grab-and-go options, is going to be tricky,” Ms. Hallman said. “The changes could affect how many times a week we can offer certain items with sugar to the students.” Many nutritionists and health-policy watchdog groups say the new rules on sodium and sugar are important, with so many children struggling to have or make nutritious choices outside school.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

Before reading the article, were you aware that public schools must meet nutritional standards set by the federal government? Do you think these rules are reflected in what meals get served, how often certain items appear on the menu, or what foods can be served together at your school?

What, if anything, surprised you about the challenges schools face when it comes to serving food? Does it make you see school lunch differently?

Do you think the people who prepare school meals are right to fear that the new rules will require them to change or discontinue some of the students’ favorite items? Or will students embrace healthier meals at school?

What do you notice about the foods served at your school? Do students tend to eat healthy most days? Are the most popular items high in sugar or sodium?

Now think about what gets thrown out in cafeteria trash cans. Is food waste a serious issue at your school? If so, what can be done to help?

If students are less likely to eat foods that are low in salt and sugar — and perhaps less tasty — is it still worth it to make school lunches healthier? Why or why not?

Do students at your school have a say in what the cafeteria serves? If menus were created by students, what do you think would change and why?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

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In the campus protests over the war in Gaza, language and rhetoric are—as they have always been when it comes to Israel and Palestine—weapons of mass destruction.

By Zadie Smith

A philosophy without a politics is common enough. Aesthetes, ethicists, novelists—all may be easily critiqued and found wanting on this basis. But there is also the danger of a politics without a philosophy. A politics unmoored, unprincipled, which holds as its most fundamental commitment its own perpetuation. A Realpolitik that believes itself too subtle—or too pragmatic—to deal with such ethical platitudes as thou shalt not kill. Or: rape is a crime, everywhere and always. But sometimes ethical philosophy reënters the arena, as is happening right now on college campuses all over America. I understand the ethics underpinning the protests to be based on two widely recognized principles:

There is an ethical duty to express solidarity with the weak in any situation that involves oppressive power.

If the machinery of oppressive power is to be trained on the weak, then there is a duty to stop the gears by any means necessary.

The first principle sometimes takes the “weak” to mean “whoever has the least power,” and sometimes “whoever suffers most,” but most often a combination of both. The second principle, meanwhile, may be used to defend revolutionary violence, although this interpretation has just as often been repudiated by pacifistic radicals, among whom two of the most famous are, of course, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr . In the pacifist’s interpretation, the body that we must place between the gears is not that of our enemy but our own. In doing this, we may pay the ultimate price with our actual bodies, in the non-metaphorical sense. More usually, the risk is to our livelihoods, our reputations, our futures. Before these most recent campus protests began, we had an example of this kind of action in the climate movement. For several years now, many people have been protesting the economic and political machinery that perpetuates climate change, by blocking roads, throwing paint, interrupting plays, and committing many other arrestable offenses that can appear ridiculous to skeptics (or, at the very least, performative), but which in truth represent a level of personal sacrifice unimaginable to many of us.

I experienced this not long ago while participating in an XR climate rally in London. When it came to the point in the proceedings where I was asked by my fellow-protesters whether I’d be willing to commit an arrestable offense—one that would likely lead to a conviction and thus make travelling to the United States difficult or even impossible—I’m ashamed to say that I declined that offer. Turns out, I could not give up my relationship with New York City for the future of the planet. I’d just about managed to stop buying plastic bottles (except when very thirsty) and was trying to fly less. But never to see New York again? What pitiful ethical creatures we are (I am)! Falling at the first hurdle! Anyone who finds themselves rolling their eyes at any young person willing to put their own future into jeopardy for an ethical principle should ask themselves where the limits of their own commitments lie—also whether they’ve bought a plastic bottle or booked a flight recently. A humbling inquiry.

It is difficult to look at the recent Columbia University protests in particular without being reminded of the campus protests of the nineteen-sixties and seventies, some of which happened on the very same lawns. At that time, a cynical political class was forced to observe the spectacle of its own privileged youth standing in solidarity with the weakest historical actors of the moment, a group that included, but was not restricted to, African Americans and the Vietnamese. By placing such people within their ethical zone of interest, young Americans risked both their own academic and personal futures and—in the infamous case of Kent State—their lives. I imagine that the students at Columbia—and protesters on other campuses—fully intend this echo, and, in their unequivocal demand for both a ceasefire and financial divestment from this terrible war, to a certain extent they have achieved it.

But, when I open newspapers and see students dismissing the idea that some of their fellow-students feel, at this particular moment, unsafe on campus, or arguing that such a feeling is simply not worth attending to, given the magnitude of what is occurring in Gaza, I find such sentiments cynical and unworthy of this movement. For it may well be—within the ethical zone of interest that is a campus, which was not so long ago defined as a safe space, delineated by the boundary of a generation’s ethical ideas— it may well be that a Jewish student walking past the tents, who finds herself referred to as a Zionist, and then is warned to keep her distance, is, in that moment, the weakest participant in the zone. If the concept of safety is foundational to these students’ ethical philosophy (as I take it to be), and, if the protests are committed to reinserting ethical principles into a cynical and corrupt politics, it is not right to divest from these same ethics at the very moment they come into conflict with other imperatives. The point of a foundational ethics is that it is not contingent but foundational. That is precisely its challenge to a corrupt politics.

Practicing our ethics in the real world involves a constant testing of them, a recognition that our zones of ethical interest have no fixed boundaries and may need to widen and shrink moment by moment as the situation demands. (Those brave students who—in supporting the ethical necessity of a ceasefire—find themselves at painful odds with family, friends, faith, or community have already made this calculation.) This flexibility can also have the positive long-term political effect of allowing us to comprehend that, although our duty to the weakest is permanent, the role of “the weakest” is not an existential matter independent of time and space but, rather, a contingent situation, continually subject to change. By contrast, there is a dangerous rigidity to be found in the idea that concern for the dreadful situation of the hostages is somehow in opposition to, or incompatible with, the demand for a ceasefire. Surely a ceasefire—as well as being an ethical necessity—is also in the immediate absolute interest of the hostages, a fact that cannot be erased by tearing their posters off walls.

Part of the significance of a student protest is the ways in which it gives young people the opportunity to insist upon an ethical principle while still being, comparatively speaking, a more rational force than the supposed adults in the room, against whose crazed magical thinking they have been forced to define themselves. The equality of all human life was never a self-evident truth in racially segregated America. There was no way to “win” in Vietnam. Hamas will not be “eliminated.” The more than seven million Jewish human beings who live in the gap between the river and the sea will not simply vanish because you think that they should. All of that is just rhetoric. Words. Cathartic to chant, perhaps, but essentially meaningless. A ceasefire, meanwhile, is both a potential reality and an ethical necessity. The monstrous and brutal mass murder of more than eleven hundred people, the majority of them civilians, dozens of them children, on October 7th, has been followed by the monstrous and brutal mass murder (at the time of writing) of a reported fourteen thousand five hundred children. And many more human beings besides, but it’s impossible not to notice that the sort of people who take at face value phrases like “surgical strikes” and “controlled military operation” sometimes need to look at and/or think about dead children specifically in order to refocus their minds on reality.

To send the police in to arrest young people peacefully insisting upon a ceasefire represents a moral injury to us all. To do it with violence is a scandal. How could they do less than protest, in this moment? They are putting their own bodies into the machine. They deserve our support and praise. As to which postwar political arrangement any of these students may favor, and on what basis they favor it—that is all an argument for the day after a ceasefire. One state, two states, river to the sea—in my view, their views have no real weight in this particular moment, or very little weight next to the significance of their collective action, which (if I understand it correctly) is focussed on stopping the flow of money that is funding bloody murder, and calling for a ceasefire, the political euphemism that we use to mark the end of bloody murder. After a ceasefire, the criminal events of the past seven months should be tried and judged, and the infinitely difficult business of creating just, humane, and habitable political structures in the region must begin anew. Right now: ceasefire. And, as we make this demand, we might remind ourselves that a ceasefire is not, primarily, a political demand. Primarily, it is an ethical one.

But it is in the nature of the political that we cannot even attend to such ethical imperatives unless we first know the political position of whoever is speaking. (“Where do you stand on Israel/Palestine?”) In these constructed narratives, there are always a series of shibboleths, that is, phrases that can’t be said, or, conversely, phrases that must be said. Once these words or phrases have been spoken ( river to the sea, existential threat, right to defend, one state, two states, Zionist, colonialist, imperialist, terrorist ) and one’s positionality established, then and only then will the ethics of the question be attended to (or absolutely ignored). The objection may be raised at this point that I am behaving like a novelist, expressing a philosophy without a politics, or making some rarefied point about language and rhetoric while people commit bloody murder. This would normally be my own view, but, in the case of Israel/Palestine, language and rhetoric are and always have been weapons of mass destruction.

It is in fact perhaps the most acute example in the world of the use of words to justify bloody murder, to flatten and erase unbelievably labyrinthine histories, and to deliver the atavistic pleasure of violent simplicity to the many people who seem to believe that merely by saying something they make it so. It is no doubt a great relief to say the word “Hamas” as if it purely and solely described a terrorist entity. A great relief to say “There is no such thing as the Palestinian people” as they stand in front of you. A great relief to say “Zionist colonialist state” and accept those three words as a full and unimpeachable definition of the state of Israel, not only under the disastrous leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu but at every stage of its long and complex history, and also to hear them as a perfectly sufficient description of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived in Israel or happened to find themselves born within it. It is perhaps because we know these simplifications to be impossible that we insist upon them so passionately. They are shibboleths; they describe a people, by defining them against other people—but the people being described are ourselves. The person who says “We must eliminate Hamas” says this not necessarily because she thinks this is a possible outcome on this earth but because this sentence is the shibboleth that marks her membership in the community that says that. The person who uses the word “Zionist” as if that word were an unchanged and unchangeable monolith, meaning exactly the same thing in 2024 and 1948 as it meant in 1890 or 1901 or 1920—that person does not so much bring definitive clarity to the entangled history of Jews and Palestinians as they successfully and soothingly draw a line to mark their own zone of interest and where it ends. And while we all talk, carefully curating our shibboleths, presenting them to others and waiting for them to reveal themselves as with us or against us—while we do all that, bloody murder.

And now here we are, almost at the end of this little stream of words. We’ve arrived at the point at which I must state clearly “where I stand on the issue,” that is, which particular political settlement should, in my own, personal view, occur on the other side of a ceasefire. This is the point wherein—by my stating of a position—you are at once liberated into the simple pleasure of placing me firmly on one side or the other, putting me over there with those who lisp or those who don’t, with the Ephraimites, or with the people of Gilead. Yes, this is the point at which I stake my rhetorical flag in that fantastical, linguistical, conceptual, unreal place—built with words—where rapes are minimized as needs be, and the definition of genocide quibbled over, where the killing of babies is denied, and the precision of drones glorified, where histories are reconsidered or rewritten or analogized or simply ignored, and “Jew” and “colonialist” are synonymous, and “Palestinian” and “terrorist” are synonymous, and language is your accomplice and alibi in all of it. Language euphemized, instrumentalized, and abused, put to work for your cause and only for your cause, so that it does exactly and only what you want it to do. Let me make it easy for you. Put me wherever you want: misguided socialist, toothless humanist, naïve novelist, useful idiot, apologist, denier, ally, contrarian, collaborator, traitor, inexcusable coward. It is my view that my personal views have no more weight than an ear of corn in this particular essay. The only thing that has any weight in this particular essay is the dead. ♦

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to get a perfect 12 on the act writing essay.

ACT Strategies , ACT Writing

There is no part of the ACT more mysterious to students than the essay, and very few people seem to know what exactly the ACT is looking for in a "perfect" essay (particularly since September 2015 was the new ACT Writing test's debut). Luckily, we've got the expertise to give you some insight into how the essay works and what you can do to push your score those extra few points up the scale.

Whether you're trying to impress your dream school or just want to boost your ACT score, the essay is a great thing to work on. Some of the tips below stand alone, while others are part of larger categories that have been assembled based our ACT expertise.

Important: If you haven't read these two other ACT Writing guides before , take a minute and read them now:

The ACT Writing Rubric: Analysis, Explanation, and Strategies

How to Write an ACT Essay, Step by Step

This will make the rest of the article make more sense.

Part I: What a 12 on the ACT Essay Means

If you're already scoring an 8 or above in every domain on practice (or real) ACT essays, you have a shot at completely nailing what the graders want, represented by a score of 12, with a little practice.

But there's something important to remember in your quest for perfection: on the ACT essay, a 12 is not always achievable. We've got good news and bad news for those of you who are determined to know how to get a 12 on the ACT essay.

The Big Secret

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 Bad News

Because the whole essay must be written in 40 minutes, getting a 12 requires some luck. You have to pick a thesis and think of relevant and convincing evidence to support it before you can even start writing, so a lot depends on how quickly you can decided on a point of view and relevant support for whatever the prompt happens to be. And because perfect-scoring essays are almost always at least two pages long , you won't have any time to spare.

The Good News

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.

Part II: The Difference Between a 10 and a 12

If we asked the ACT what the difference is between a 10 and a 12 ACT essay, they would direct us to their scoring criteria (replicated in the table below) that describes the difference between the 5 and 6 essay scores in each domain. As you may already know, a total domain score of 12 comes from two readers separately giving your essay a 6; the four domain scores are then averaged to calculate your total essay score of 12.

We've marked the differences between the 5 and 6 criteria in bold . Later, we'll look at these differences in the context of a sample essay.

Part III: Applying the Criteria in a Real ACT Essay Example

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:

Intelligent Machines

Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.

Perspective One: What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require from us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people.

Perspective Two: Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone.

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.

Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines.

Now, read the ACT essay example below , and try to notice how it meets the criteria in the table above.

     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; we learned about mechanics through examples that were more relevant to our lives (answering questions like "how many pulleys are needed to lift a piano?"), which in turn made our classes both more enjoyable and also more effective. When before I had struggled with physics and simply assumed it was a subject I "wasn't good at," the intelligent, automated sorting system allowed me to discover that I could in fact understand mechanics if taught in the right way. This discovery pushed me toward previously unimagined academic possibilities.     In conclusion, intelligent machines help us to move forward as a species to greater heights. While machines can cause problems and may in some cases need human input to function optimally, it is how we react and adapt to the machines that is the real takeaway.

This was a real essay written by me within the time limit. What do you think?

Now let's look at an annotated version of this ACT essay example that points out the essay's features.

What Makes This ACT Essay a 12, Rather Than an 8 or 10?

Considerations that aren't included in the act's published guidelines.

The essay is long enough to analyze and compare the author's perspective to other perspectives in a nuanced way (one positive example for each perspective with an addition negative example comparing two perspectives the author disagreed with to her own perspective) and include an introductory paragraph and a conclusion.

While ACT, Inc. doesn't acknowledge that length is a factor in scoring ACT essays , most experts agree that it is. But length means nothing if there isn't valuable information filling the space, so long ACT essays also need to be detailed—this author uses the space to give lots of analysis of and context for her examples.

Paragraph Breaks

You may have noticed that the essay is broken up into multiple paragraphs (into the standard five-paragraph format, in fact). This makes the essay easier to read, especially for the ACT readers who have about two to three minutes to read (and score!) each essay. If your points can easily be split up into small parts, then it makes sense to split it up into even more paragraphs, as long as your essay's organization and logical progression remains clear.

Content and Examples

This essay uses a personal example, which may or may not be made up (spoiler alert: it is). But the point is that it could be made up, as can anything you use in your essay. Being able to think of examples (that are not too obviously made up) can give you a huge advantage on the ACT essay.

Do's and Don'ts for a 12 ACT Essay

The key to a perfect score on the ACT essay is to use every second of your time wisely. To this end, here are a few tips to avoid common time-wasters and put your energy where it will get you the most points.

Do spend time:

#1: Writing as much as you can without including repetitive or irrelevant information.

#2: Revising the first and last paragraphs (they stand out in readers' minds).

#3: Making sure you have transitions.

Don't spend time:

#1: Thinking of 'smart' sounding evidence— examples from your own life (or made up about your own life) are just as viable as current events, as long as you keep your example focused and concise.

#2: Trying to correct every error—the grammar and spelling do not have to be perfect to score a 12 in the Language Use domain.

#3: Adding as many vocabulary words as you can—you only need enough to avoid repeating the same basic words or phrases multiple times; you'll max out fancy vocab's potential at two words per paragraph.

How To Practice Your Writing To Get A Perfect 12 In Each Domain

• Start with our list of ACT essay prompts.
• Create a list of evidence examples—from literature, history, or personal experience—that you can use for many or most prompt arguments.
• Practice first with extended time—50 minutes—so you can get an idea of what it takes to get a top-scoring essay.
• Find a way to grade your essay, using the ACT Writing Rubric . If you can be objective about your writing, you can notice weak spots, especially if you ran out of time but know what to do. Otherwise, try to get help from an English teacher or a friend who's a better writer than you are.
• Start narrowing the time down to 40 minutes to mirror the actual test.
• Stay confident! The ACT essay is just like a puzzle—every time you do one, you get better at doing it.

What's Next?

Find out more about how to write an ACT essay with this step-by-step example .

Use our analysis of the ACT Writing Rubric to learn about how your essay will be scored—and discover strategies you can use to get the score you want.

Want to aim for perfection on the ACT with a 36? Read our guide on how to score a perfect ACT score, written by our resident 36 scorer.

Make sure your ACT score is high enough for the schools you want to apply to. Find out how to find your ACT target score .

Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points?

Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes . We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more.

Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts . If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next.

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Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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What is ChatGPT? Here's everything you need to know about ChatGPT, the chatbot everyone's still talking about

• ChatGPT is getting a futuristic human update. 
• ChatGPT has drawn users at a feverish pace and spurred Big Tech to release other AI chatbots.
• Here's how ChatGPT works — and what's coming next.

OpenAI's blockbuster chatbot ChatGPT is getting a new update. 

On Monday, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4o for ChatGPT, a new version of the bot that can hold conversations with users in a very human tone. The new version of the chatbot will also have vision abilities.

The futuristic reveal quickly prompted jokes about parallels to the movie "Her," with some calling the chatbot's new voice " cringe ."

The move is a big step for the future of AI-powered virtual assistants, which tech companies have been racing to develop.

Since its release in 2022, hundreds of millions of people have experimented with the tool, which is already changing how the internet looks and feels to users.

Users have flocked to ChatGPT to improve their personal lives and boost productivity . Some workers have used the AI chatbot to develop code , write real estate listings , and create lesson plans, while others have made teaching the best ways to use ChatGPT a career all to itself.

ChatGPT offers dozens of plug-ins to those who subscribe to ChatGPT Plus subscription. An Expedia one can help you book a trip, while an OpenTable one will get nab you a dinner reservation. And last month, OpenAI launched Code Interpreter, a version of ChatGPT that can code and analyze data .

While the personal tone of conversations with an AI bot like ChatGPT can evoke the experience of chatting with a human, the technology, which runs on " large language model tools, " doesn't speak with sentience and doesn't "think" the way people do. 

That means that even though ChatGPT can explain quantum physics or write a poem on command, a full AI takeover isn't exactly imminent , according to experts.

"There's a saying that an infinite number of monkeys will eventually give you Shakespeare," said Matthew Sag, a law professor at Emory University who studies copyright implications for training and using large language models like ChatGPT.

"There's a large number of monkeys here, giving you things that are impressive — but there is intrinsically a difference between the way that humans produce language, and the way that large language models do it," he said. 

Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by large amounts of data and computing techniques to make predictions to string words together in a meaningful way. They not only tap into a vast amount of vocabulary and information, but also understand words in context. This helps them mimic speech patterns while dispatching an encyclopedic knowledge. 

Other tech companies like Google and Meta have developed their own large language model tools, which use programs that take in human prompts and devise sophisticated responses.

Despite the AI's impressive capabilities, some have called out OpenAI's chatbot for spewing misinformation , stealing personal data for training purposes , and even encouraging students to cheat and plagiarize on their assignments. 

Some recent efforts to use chatbots for real-world services have proved troubling. In 2023, the mental health company Koko came under fire after its founder wrote about how the company used GPT-3 in an experiment to reply to users. 

Koko cofounder Rob Morris hastened to clarify on Twitter that users weren't speaking directly to a chatbot, but that AI was used to "help craft" responses. 

Read Insider's coverage on ChatGPT and some of the strange new ways that both people and companies are using chat bots: 

The tech world's reception to ChatGPT:

Microsoft is chill with employees using ChatGPT — just don't share 'sensitive data' with it.

Microsoft's investment into ChatGPT's creator may be the smartest $1 billion ever spent

ChatGPT and generative AI look like tech's next boom. They could be the next bubble.

The ChatGPT and generative-AI 'gold rush' has founders flocking to San Francisco's 'Cerebral Valley'

Insider's experiments: 

I asked ChatGPT to do my work and write an Insider article for me. It quickly generated an alarmingly convincing article filled with misinformation.

I asked ChatGPT and a human matchmaker to redo my Hinge and Bumble profiles. They helped show me what works.

I asked ChatGPT to reply to my Hinge matches. No one responded.

I used ChatGPT to write a resignation letter. A lawyer said it made one crucial error that could have invalidated the whole thing .

Read ChatGPT's 'insulting' and 'garbage' 'Succession' finale script

An Iowa school district asked ChatGPT if a list of books contains sex scenes, and banned them if it said yes. We put the system to the test and found a bunch of problems.

Developments in detecting ChatGPT: 

Teachers rejoice! ChatGPT creators have released a tool to help detect AI-generated writing

A Princeton student built an app which can detect if ChatGPT wrote an essay to combat AI-based plagiarism

Professors want to 'ChatGPT-proof' assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating

ChatGPT in society: 

BuzzFeed writers react with a mix of disappointment and excitement at news that AI-generated content is coming to the website

ChatGPT is testing a paid version — here's what that means for free users

A top UK private school is changing its approach to homework amid the rise of ChatGPT, as educators around the world adapt to AI

Princeton computer science professor says don't panic over 'bullshit generator' ChatGPT

DoNotPay's CEO says threat of 'jail for 6 months' means plan to debut AI 'robot lawyer' in courtroom is on ice

It might be possible to fight a traffic ticket with an AI 'robot lawyer' secretly feeding you lines to your AirPods, but it could go off the rails

Online mental health company uses ChatGPT to help respond to users in experiment — raising ethical concerns around healthcare and AI technology

What public figures think about ChatGPT and other AI tools:

What Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and 12 other business leaders think about AI tools like ChatGPT

Elon Musk was reportedly 'furious' at ChatGPT's popularity after he left the company behind it, OpenAI, years ago

CEO of ChatGPT maker responds to schools' plagiarism concerns: 'We adapted to calculators and changed what we tested in math class'

A theoretical physicist says AI is just a 'glorified tape recorder' and people's fears about it are overblown

'The most stunning demo I've ever seen in my life': ChatGPT impressed Bill Gates

Ashton Kutcher says your company will probably be 'out of business' if you're 'sleeping' on AI

ChatGPT's impact on jobs: 

AI systems like ChatGPT could impact 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, with administrative and legal roles some of the most at risk, Goldman Sachs report says

Jobs are now requiring experience with ChatGPT — and they'll pay as much as $800,000 a year for the skill

Related stories

ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace.

AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes

It's not AI that is going to take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI might, economist says

4 careers where workers will have to change jobs by 2030 due to AI and shifts in how we shop, a McKinsey study says

Companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Meta are paying salaries as high as $900,000 to attract generative AI talent

How AI tools like ChatGPT are changing the workforce:

10 ways artificial intelligence is changing the workplace, from writing performance reviews to making the 4-day workweek possible

Managers who use AI will replace managers who don't, says an IBM exec

How ChatGPT is shaping industries: 

ChatGPT is coming for classrooms, hospitals, marketing departments, and everything else as the next great startup boom emerges

Marketing teams are using AI to generate content, boost SEO, and develop branding to help save time and money, study finds

AI is coming for Hollywood. 'It's amazing to see the sophistication of the images,' one of Christopher Nolan's VFX guy says.

AI is going to offer every student a personalized tutor, founder of Khan Academy says

A law firm was fined $5,000 after one of its lawyers used ChatGPT to write a court brief riddled with fake case references

How workers are using ChatGPT to boost productivity:  

CheatGPT: The hidden wave of employees using AI on the sly

I used ChatGPT to talk to my boss for a week and she didn't notice. Here are the other ways I use it daily to get work done.

I'm a high school math and science teacher who uses ChatGPT, and it's made my job much easier

Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding. They also found the AI chatbot can answer tricky AWS customer questions and write cloud training materials.

How 6 workers are using ChatGPT to make their jobs easier

I'm a freelance editor who's embraced working with AI content. Here's how I do it and what I charge.

How people are using ChatGPT to make money:

How ChatGPT and other AI tools are helping workers make more money

Here are 5 ways ChatGPT helps me make money and complete time-consuming tasks for my business

ChatGPT course instruction is the newest side hustle on the market. Meet the teachers making thousands from the lucrative gig.

People are using ChatGPT and other AI bots to work side hustles and earn thousands of dollars — check out these 8 freelancing gigs

A guy tried using ChatGPT to turn $100 into a business making 'as much money as possible.' Here are the first 4 steps the AI chatbot gave him

We used ChatGPT to build a 7-figure newsletter. Here's how it makes our jobs easier.

I use ChatGPT and it's like having a 24/7 personal assistant for $20 a month. Here are 5 ways it's helping me make more money.

A worker who uses AI for a $670 monthly side hustle says ChatGPT has 'cut her research time in half'

How companies are navigating ChatGPT: 

From Salesforce to Air India, here are the companies that are using ChatGPT

Amazon, Apple, and 12 other major companies that have restricted employees from using ChatGPT

A consultant used ChatGPT to free up time so she could focus on pitching clients. She landed $128,000 worth of new contracts in just 3 months.

Luminary, an AI-generated pop-up restaurant, just opened in Australia. Here's what's on the menu, from bioluminescent calamari to chocolate mousse.

A CEO is spending more than $2,000 a month on ChatGPT Plus accounts for all of his employees, and he says it's saving 'hours' of time

How people are using ChatGPT in their personal lives:

ChatGPT planned a family vacation to Costa Rica. A travel adviser found 3 glaring reasons why AI won't replace experts anytime soon.

A man who hated cardio asked ChatGPT to get him into running. Now, he's hooked — and he's lost 26 pounds.

A computer engineering student is using ChatGPT to overcome learning challenges linked to her dyslexia

How a coder used ChatGPT to find an apartment in Berlin in 2 weeks after struggling for months

Food blogger Nisha Vora tried ChatGPT to create a curry recipe. She says it's clear the instructions lacked a human touch — here's how.

Men are using AI to land more dates with better profiles and personalized messages, study finds

Lawsuits against OpenAI:

OpenAI could face a plagiarism lawsuit from The New York Times as tense negotiations threaten to boil over, report says

This is why comedian Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT

2 authors say OpenAI 'ingested' their books to train ChatGPT. Now they're suing, and a 'wave' of similar court cases may follow.

A lawsuit claims OpenAI stole 'massive amounts of personal data,' including medical records and information about children, to train ChatGPT

A radio host is suing OpenAI for defamation, alleging that ChatGPT created a false legal document that accused him of 'defrauding and embezzling funds'

Tips on how to write better ChatGPT prompts:

7 ways to use ChatGPT at work to boost your productivity, make your job easier, and save a ton of time

I'm an AI prompt engineer. Here are 3 ways I use ChatGPT to get the best results.

12 ways to get better at using ChatGPT: Comprehensive prompt guide

Here's 9 ways to turn ChatGPT Plus into your personal data analyst with the new Code Interpreter plug-in

OpenAI's ChatGPT can write impressive code. Here are the prompts you should use for the best results, experts say.

Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal to allow OpenAI to train its models on its media brands' reporting.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?

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