As the title states, what are the best ACT books to get that are the most effective on teaching students to score a 36.
The official red book was extremely beneficial for me, especially in the math department (7 point jump). You can’t really beat the book from the company that writes the test!
what is the name of the red book? and author?
@ShawnLooch what is the author’s name of the red book u mentioned for ACT? thanks.
@MS2015 The authors are the creators of the ACT :). The book is called “The Real ACT Prep Guide”.
@Deferno54 Will a newer version of the book come out soon? I plan on taking it in September and need some updated books.
We used the red book as well. With several practice tests and going over mistakes it helped increase scores. We also read through sections of the “ACT Black Prep Book” as it goes along with the red book. It may or may not help depending on the student and score range.
@bksoccer7 It seems that the new red book (with the ugly red cover now), which was supposed to be released at the end of January, will have the same five tests but revamped essay section.
http://www.amazon.com/Real-Guide-Bonus-Online-Content/dp/111923641X/ref=pd_sim_14_6?ie=UTF8&dpID=51bNN3DrN1L&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR125%2C160&refRID=131XW1G2TKGDXB2Q507N
I wish they were releasing new practice tests too. It will be nice to see exactly what ACT wants for the new essay though.
Bump.
Bump. I’ve been finding tests and ACT materials fine online but I just want to hear more thoughts in terms of books.
What type of student do you think the black book would help? higher scorers? lower scorers? other?
OP,
Barrons is supposed to be good for high scorers.
I would honestly recommend the Black Book for ALL ranges of scoring. The way it presents the test is eye-opening. I would say it is more strategy-baded and motivation than anything, but it is THE most important resource in my personal opinion.
Even though the Red Book is old, I found that it accurately predicted my scores. For English specifically, I strongly recommend Erika Meltzer’s ACT English book. It is expensive, but it offers great insight into the ACT english section and helped me score a 35 there.
@golfcashoahu Do you know anything about Erika Meltzer’s ACT REading book? I saw a lot of good reviews for the reading book on amazon but the reviews look and sound fake so I’m not sure whether I should trust them or not. I assume though since you say the English book is good that the reading book would be good too, but I don’t want to waste $30 on a Reading book and then realize that its horrible at teaching.
Personally, I find her ACT Reading book worse than her English one. The English book, plain and simply, details nearly all of the ACT-style english questions and how to attack them. I highly recommend this book. In contrast, the reading book, while good, feels overpriced at $30. I don’t know of any good ACT Reading books besides the Red Book practice tests (doing them over and over).
@golfcashoahu Yeah that sounds about right. Once you are scoring around 30-range and want a 36 there really aren’t many books at all to help improve your score besides your own critical-self review.
Definitely the red book and Barron’s ACT 36.
There’s a lot of released official practice tests online.
And also Princeton’s 1496 was pretty good as well.
@Nw2this,
The Black book is more of a strategy book. I would think several students would benefit, especially ones who are looking for a higher 20’s score (maybe not in the 31+ range) or stuck in a similar range after taking 2-3 tests. Good luck!