<p>Hi there! I'm a rising junior and have been self-prepping for the ACT all summer now and I'm taking the official ACT in October. (wish me luck :P )</p>
<p>Here's how my prep started off so far:</p>
<p>I bought the 2010 McGraw Hill's (5 ACT practice tests+tips) book back in July and started my studying off of that, and the practice tests gave me a 31ish composite</p>
<p>But, I read on this website that often times McGraw Hills is not an accurate representation of the ACT difficulty, so I bought the 2010 Princeton Review Cracking the ACT. After reading the book, which was REALLY helpful, esp. in English since it's my weakest area, I took the three practice tests at the end and my scores were hovering around a 33-34ish range</p>
<p>On top of that, I've also bought the notorious red book (the 2008 version, most recent) for the practice tests. -Now before I get into my scores for the redbook, I want to mention I also signed up for Kaplan's ACT on Demand. What really shocked me, however, is when I took their diagnostic test and another practice test, I got a 30 and 29. This REALLY scared me because I had been getting solid 33-34's on PR, and I heard it was accurate. Is it just me or is Kaplan obscenely different from the real ACT?</p>
<p>After my heart attack, I decided I'd take a practice test in the Red Book since it was a real ACT. I ended up getting a 36. </p>
<p>Can someone please explain to me the great difference between the Kaplan's 29 and the Red Book's 36? And I was pretty much in the same mental condition both days, so it's not like external factors were really pushing me.</p>
<p>Oh, and all of my tests are timed and under ACT-like conditions.</p>
<p>Which prep do I trust the most? Please respond c:
Thank you!</p>
<p>My reading scores were generally in the 32ish range when I first started, but after reading through Cracking the ACT my score went up to the 34+ range and after much more practice im consistently hitting 35’s or 36’s in the Red Book.</p>
<p>The strategy I use now is to briefly read/skim the passage (find the midpoint between the two) and write quick notes on the sides of each of the paragraphs. I then answer the questions, and refer back to my notes if I need to go back into detail. While it seems to take a lot of time, in reality it only takes me about 2-3 minutes to read the passage and in the end saves me a lot of time when it comes to answering the questions.</p>
<p>This is a toughie because science is one of my stronger subjects… To get through it, I often time just go straight to the questions and use what’s provided to answer. When it comes to the fighting scientists, I read Scientist 1 (or whatever perspective first), then answer the questions that have to do with Scientist 1, then move onto #2, answer the questions on #2, then answer the questions that are relative to both. For everything else, the answer’s always is there… and when all else fails, use Process of Elimination because most of the time the answers are pretty outlandish and using common sense can narrow it down to 2-3 answer choices</p>
<p>As for the McGraw Hill, honestly I don’t remember how it was because I did those tests way back in early July. However, I know for a fact the Princeton Review’s Cracking the ACT (2010 for me) is REALLY good when it comes to science.</p>