Alright so I’m a senior in high school looking to go to Texas A&M University. I’ve taken the ACT four times already, but sadly I’m still right outside of academic admit. I’m wondering if it’s worth it to take a fifth time and what online prep courses you may recommend. My parents are willing to pay for everything, but I still would rather stay on the cheap side if at all possible. I’ve tried self-prep using the 5-lb book and the Best ACT Math Books Ever, but still receive pretty much the same scores.
Here are my scores:
Composite 29, Math 26, Science 27, Reading 31, English 33, (February 2019)
Composite 28, Math 25, Science 27, Reading 26, English 31, (April 2019)
Composite 29, Math 24, Science 24, Reading 35, English 32, (July 2019)
Composite 29, Math 27, Science 26, Reading 27, English 35, (September 2019)
Superscore: Composite 31, Math 27, Science 27, Reading 35, English 35
And before you ask: yes, I’ve already taken the SAT. It was a year ago and I got an 1160. Definitely not an option. Let me know if you have any questions! There’s probably some details I’ve left out.
My son just did a few 4 Skype sessions with a fantastic test coach that was recommended to us. I will PM you her name. His current testing shows a 4 point increase in composite. He went up 11 points to an almost perfect score in Reading. She’s incredible!
I didn’t use any prep books for the ACT. I did buy some, but I found they were fairly useless. What really helped was taking 1-2 practice tests at a test prep center, every week, for six weeks. This was successful in getting me a high score on the actual exam.
The ACT isn’t a test of your knowledge. It’s a test of your performance under time pressure. You just need to get used to the pressure (through practice tests) and you’ll do fine.