Try for tidy essay, then don't worry

Worried sloppy penmanship will cost you on the new SAT with essay, or the similar, optional section of the ACT? Don't be, test administrators say.

Administrators point out they have years of experience scoring other tests with essays, like the SAT IIs and Advanced Placement exams. They've also drilled scorers not to penalize bad penmanship (a few spelling and grammar errors also won't count). They'll even be throwing in good but hard-to-read dummy essays to make sure scorers are giving them proper credit.

Still, experts say it doesn't hurt to try to keep your penmanship neat for a reader who may have 100 essays or more per day to plow through.

Some studies have indeed shown that, of two identical essays, the more neatly written tends to get a higher grade. But college counselors differ over whether bad penmanship really matters on standardized tests.

Perhaps it's no surprise that test prep companies think it will — and that they can help.

Princeton Review, Kaplan and Peterson's will all likely be discussing handwriting with students. But their general advice is pretty uniform: practice, and take your time, emphasizing quality over quantity. Scorers will be reading the essays, not weighing them.