Battaglia 1

Dear Reader,
This essay was written to tell a story in my life. It was specific to an experience that had
to do with writing. I chose this experience because I felt it was a very important time in my life,
one that helped my writing skills get to where they are today. As I read over the assignment, I
decided that this is going to be my major revision paper. The main reason I chose this one was
because it was my first essay due this semester. While it was the least labor intensive and was
easier to write than the other ones, I felt like I wanted to take revise this one based on the fact
that I have improved in my writing skills since the beginning of the semester.
Since I had already gone through and polished up the final draft, there was not many, if
any, grammatical mistakes that had to be fixed. I went through my paper, reread each paragraph,
and decided which one was the least important and deleted it. However, I did not just stop there.
After I deleted that paragraph (the second to last paragraph), I completely rewrote it. I went a
completely different direction than the first one went. I ended up writing two paragraphs,
lengthening the paper. I then went through the paper again and found some sentences that were
either useless or just repeated what the sentence before had said, something that I have a
tendency of doing. I either combined sentences, or changed them completely. Overall, I believe
that the paper flows better from beginning to end.
Thank you,

Battaglia 2
Daniel Battaglia
Nancy Roche
Writing 1010-018
11 September 2014
The ACT Shocker
Waiting for the results of the ACT was a nerve-racking time during my first few months
of senior year. I checked the website every day to see if the results had been posted yet. Finally,
after waiting 3 long months, the results were posted onto the website. However, there was
something missing, the writing portion. All throughout high school, I enjoyed writing essays,
reports, and papers. Naturally, I assumed I was going to get a high score on the writing portion.
After waiting for three long months, the report arrived in the mail. When I opened the envelope, I
immediately looked at the writing score. I saw something that I would have never believed.
My jaw immediately dropped and I stood there speechless. I had received a very low
grade on my writing section. That grade was a 7 out of 12. I told my dad and he had the same
reaction. I had always considered myself to be a good writer. The editor-and-chief of my school
paper and the teacher who was the supervisor of the journalism program wanted me to write for
the school paper. After reading the comments on my writing score I realized that it wasnt my
writing which had brought down my score, it was my argument. The comment had told me I did
not clearly state my opinion on my essay. Clearly, supporting both sides of an argument is
unacceptable for the essay portion of the ACT. A normal person would shrug off that score,
however, I made it my personal goal to improve my writing.
For the rest of the school year I had taken into account what the comments on my writing
score said. Whenever I wrote an essay or paper, I made sure that my opinions and arguments

Battaglia 3
were clear. Some people may say that I just need to forget about it and need to get over my
saltiness, but I wasnt salty. I took it as constructive criticism. Of course, I was upset at first,
but after thinking it through, I realized I should act on the criticism. Before the ACT, I had
thought I was already a great writer and couldnt get any better. After the ACT, I saw even more
improvements.
I still had a semester in high school to show myself how I had improved. As the school
year continued on, I was always improving in my writing. Whenever I would write an essay, I
would remember the ACT score and that inspired me to do even better. I took another ACT test
in January, determined to get a better writing score, but, it happened again. I received another
poor score. This one shocked me more than the first one. It was the same score as last time, but I
thought I had done a lot better.
After the second writing results had come back, I became discouraged. I wanted to know
why I did not improve the second time around. Even though it was a different prompt asking for
a totally different response than the first one, I felt a lot more confident about what I had written.
After that score, I never wanted to write an essay again. However, I quickly remembered what
teachers said to me, about how good my writing was. My dad was quick to reassure me, telling
me not to be discouraged, move on from it, and take it as another learning experience. I quickly
went from discouraged to being even more determined. I improved my writing throughout the
rest of the school year, my thoughts always going back to those ACT scores. Even now, in
college, I continually find it as not only a personal win, but a way of proving the ACT grader
wrong whenever I receive a good grade on a paper.
Writing about anything is a fun task for me. I love writing so much that I write for my
friends sports website. I could have shrugged off my writing score like most people do, or I

Battaglia 4
could have been salty about it. However, I took it as constructive criticism, which really helped
improve my writing even more. Overall, writing is a task that requires someone to focus on what
they are writing about. Whether they are writing about their opinions or writing for a research
paper, it requires the writer to be involved with what they are writing. Before the ACT, I thought
I could not have gotten better at writing. After the ACT, I found that I still had much to learn and
much to improve on. To this day, I am still learning new writing techniques and styles to help
improve papers and articles.