Hello,
I took the July ACT just a couple of weeks ago and I think I did pretty well. I am expecting a 30+. On practice tests, I have scored a 34 on English, Science, and Math, but on the Reading, I got anywhere from a 26-30. I want to improve my score a little bit for the September ACT. What can I use to practice more? I have heard a couple of things, but I can’t seem to find one solid suggestion. Barron’s Book? Manhattan Prep 5 lb Series? Prepscholar’s Online Prep? As of right now, I have completed 4 tests from the 18-19 ACT RedBook and I have read the ACT BlackBook.
Thanks for all the help,
alamm3012
I’m also taking the September ACT, which is going to be my first ACT. I’ve taken the SAT four times though, so hopefully I can help you out with test prep.
Honestly, the one thing that can only help you increase your score is practice, practice, practice every day. Unfortunately, Khan Academy doesn’t have ACT prep, but you can do the reading prep on it’s SAT prep page. The only difference in my opinion between the ACT and SAT reading is that ACT is more straightforward and the answers are more concrete, whereas SAT asks more about implied answers, main ideas, etc. So maybe trying out the reading on Khan Academy might help you become more efficient in figuring out answers.
I advise against using the Barron’s book as I’ve heard that it’s better utilized if you’re scoring above a 30 in all parts of the test. But if you want to check out the 5-lb book, you can do that. I myself haven’t looked through it yet, but I might eventually. If you’re unsure if you should get it or not, just search up the pdf version of it online (you usually can find pdf versions of almost any book nowadays) and glance at some of the problems in it to see if it’s worth using.
Another recommendation is to use practice tests online. There’s some official ACT tests out there, but I suggest that you use those sparingly, mainly to test your progress and improvement.
What you can do is get some non-official ACT tests (McGraw-Hill has 10 tests online) and take those. Up to you, but you can do only the sections that you’re focusing on at the moment.
Just be aware that any non-official tests aren’t as accurate as the official ones, but they still do help you to improve, as long as you go through every test after you take it and thoroughly analyze what you did wrong, why you chose that answer, how to improve, etc.
Best of luck on your studying!
Thanks for giving me an answer. I haven’t heard of preparing with Barron’s for ACT, so maybe I could try that. I’m still struggling with reading a lot meaning I’m consistently getting 30’s on reading compared to 34-35s elsewhere.