<p>For the ACT, which ones are the most effective? concise? thorough?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I found the Princeton Review book to have the best review. Basically it teaches you all the math and english stuff that can be found on the ACT. The Real ACT Prep Book has the best practice tests. If you use both of these books together you should do just fine.</p>
<p>I found Kaplan to be really bad...good thing I borrowed it from my school library and didn't dish out the money for it. I'm going to return it and get the princeton review book. Pilebay what did you score on your ACT? Did you find the real thing to be similar in difficult to the "Real ACT Book"? Thanks</p>
<p>I did find the Real ACT practice tests to be similar to the actual thing. I only scored a 27 on the ACT both times that i took it. First time 28 english 23 math 32 reading and 23 science. The second time I took it I got a 28 english a 25 math a 34 reading and a 22 science. Don't judge either of these books on that bad score though since I really did not study for it either time. In fact the first time I just glanced through Princeton Review and found that it explained all of those crazy math and english rules that I had forgotten from like 5th-8th grade. The second time I took the ACT i took a practice test out of the Real prep guide the night before. In fact I scored a 27 composite on the practice test. I just blew off studying and now I really really regret it since I need a 30 on the ACT to even be average for most of my schools. I now know that my natural ability allows me to get a 27 and that I could really increase that score with a little studying. I think that you guys should just take a practice test before you even start studying and than work on your weak areas. For example I know that I do not have to ever study for reading. Yet if I reviewed basic language mechanics I could most likely get around a 32 on english. These tests are the easiest part of the application to control so you may as well study and get a top score.</p>
<p>Thanks pilebay! I did practice sections and so far got a 27 on English and 32 on Math - I'm pretty sure I can score at least a 34 on Math seeing that the ones I got wrong were for stupid mistakes. English, I noticed for some of the question I got wrong, I didn't fully read the question and for others it was a tense agreement..so I've realized whenever theres a prepositional phrase I'm going to put parentheses to isolate it, etc. I'm going to do the Reading and Science section soon which I've heard are the 2 hardest because of time as a factor. What was your strategy for reading? How did you beat the clock (did you read the whole passage, skim, or what?). Thanks!</p>
<p>BTW my goal is a 33-34 (I know its a tough goal, but I think I can do it! - I have ~2 weeks)</p>
<p>I think that english is considered to be the easiest one of the tests to study for since it covers the same basic stuff every time. I have been an avid reader since like 5th grade so I have always scored pretty high in reading without ever having to prepare for it. Some people have a hard time reading the passage and answering the questions in the time they give you. In that case I would just recommend taking a ton of practice reading tests under timed conditions. You should be able to increase the pace at which you read the passage if you do this. Sometime scanning is the best way to go. I did this on the science passage since they just ask a bunch of vocab questions. You can than just go to the passage find the part that discusses that particular word and than just go back and answer the question. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Oh and one more thing about the english section. Be sure to read the questions very carefully. I don't know if I am the only one that does this but on the questions that say Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would not be acceptable? I always end up missing the NOT part because I am going so fast and than I put the one down that is the best fit. I am probabely the only one that does that though.</p>
<p>Thanks pilebay, yeah I got a few wrong for that SAME reason...I read over the "NOT" and chose the best fit. I need to work on science and reading (mainly speed because the difficult is fairly easy)</p>