High school juniors can opt to take a writing test on the ACT college entrance exam, a choice the University of Iowa recommends they take.

Details • ACT will add a 30-minute writing test as an optional component to the ACT Assessment beginning in February for students testing within the United States who are applying to college for the fall of 2006 or later. • The writing test will complement the English test. The combined information from both tests will tell postsecondary institutions about students' understanding of the conventions of standard written English and their ability to produce a direct sample of writing.

ACT will begin offering the optional test in February, ACT spokesman Ken Gullette said Friday. SAT will make writing tests mandatory next spring, he said.

This would affect students who would attend colleges and universities, including UI, in fall 2006.

Officials say some colleges plan to require the writing test, but many are not convinced the test will help predict if students can be successful in school.

Gullette said that's the purpose of the ACT: to measure if students are ready for college-level course work.

UI officials said writing skills are essential for anyone to succeed, which is why the school recommends high school students take the optional test.

"It sends a message that we think writing is important," said UI Director of Admissions Mike Barron.

Officials say they did not know if the results of the optional writing test would change what courses students are placed in or if it would change a university's decision to admit students.

In fall 2003, UI participated in a study with ACT about whether a writing test would help determine if students were ready for college. The ACT now has writing portions in its English section, one of four sections of the test. UI already requires that all students take rhetoric courses, Barron said.

About 2,700 UI students in 2003 enrolled in one of several courses for first-year students who submitted writing samples to ACT. Results of the study were not available Friday.

"It's really in the hands of the students," Barron said.

Other sections in the ACT include reading, math and science.