<p>@ACTTester</p>
<p>I somewhat agree. Princeton 1,296 is pretty accurate on english, reading, but math and science are noticeably different. The Barons ACT 36 has a few good tips (as you said), but isn’t at all similar to the ACT. I can’t really speak on behalf of other review books, but if your daughter is having more trouble with skills (time management, speed reading, etc.) than the content (as most people do), then the review book practice tests can still improve your score.</p>
<p>^ I also agree with much of what you said, but my one warning if that if you do use these third-party tests, do NOT take abnormal scores too seriously, that is do not be disheartened by lower than usual scores and do not be thrilled with higher than usual scores since once again these are the products of unofficial material.</p>
<p>@ACTTester</p>
<p>I have the book that made by the actual ACT folks. Is that official tests?</p>
<p>^yup 10char</p>
<p>I’ve only taken one practice test for ACT, and I scored 33, so I’m probably not the most accurate source but here are a few tips that I can provide. Let your daughter only take tests that have already been issued-in other words, make her take real tests-whether they’re from that 5 real sat book or previously administered tests that are online. To be honest, from what you’re telling me, I think the class is a waste of your daughter’s time. Not only that, but I assume it’s also making a dent in your wallet. 
The best way to score higher is the traditional way.</p>
<p>@nikkiib</p>
<p>Yes, those are official, previously administered tests but there are only five in there. The first three of those tests date back to 2003 and earlier while the last two tests are a little more recent (2008/2009). When you complete those tests, there are only about four to six more official tests that you can obtain online. After that if you still need more practice material, then you need to turn to released, previously administered tests, which are more difficult to find.</p>
<p>First, stop worrying because it’s your daughter that has to care. All you’re doing is putting pressure on your daughter and that just makes a person do much worse. </p>
<p>
Taking a practice test that frequently probably is a complete waste of time. You don’t learn that fast in a week. It takes often months to solidify a good understanding of material.</p>
<p>Blah ~ She takes a practice test every Saturday morning as part of her prep class. The class is already paid for so she is going to continue to go. They do the practice tests on Saturday, and on Wednesday they go over the sections that the class as a whole did poorly on. Today is actually her last practice test. It might seem excessive to some, but the amount of practicing she has been doing is helping her. Of course I am going to care about my daughter. She does not know that I am worrying about this to the extent that I am. That is why I am coming here to vent my frustrations. My daughter wants to get as high of score as she can, and I am trying to do what I can to help her. Thanks for your advice though.</p>
<p>Howmanyofme ~ If I had to do it over again, I would not do the prep class; I would have done one on one private tutoring. She is my first one and I guess you live and learn. With my other 2 children I will do differently; however, the class wasn’t a complete waste of time and money. I think the practice tests on Saturday mornings have really helped her because it is giving her a taste of what the real test is going to be like when she takes it. Even w/private one on one tutoring, she wouldn’t have gotten that same experience.</p>
<p>@ACT33- Those tips were VERY helpful. I will utilize them as much as I can before taking the real thing on the 14th.</p>
<p>@ACTTester- Is there anyplace online I can find real ACT tests made by the ACT company? I don’t have the time or drive to go out and purchase yet another review book (I already have Princeton Review and Barron’s). Thanks again. :)</p>
<p>Well, my daughter took her last test as part of her prep class this past Saturday morning. The good news is that she scored a composite of 30. Here’s the breakdown:</p>
<p>Composite - 30
English - 32
Math - 28
Reading - 31
Science - 27</p>
<p>The bad news is that she had already taken this practice test previously. She took this particular exam in October when her high school offered the test to anyone who wanted to take it, so she has seen it before. I don’t really know what to make of this score, because although she did take this test before, she never found out what questions she got wrong, and what the right answers were on those particular questions. She thinks that seeing this test before helped her on the reading portion of the test, but she is not sure how much it actually helped her on the other sections. We are trying to look at it as a positive that she scored a composite of 30, which is what her goal is for the actual test.</p>
<p>Anyway, she takes the real thing for the first time on Saturday April 14th. This Friday we are going to go over all her past tests and go over all the questions that she got wrong on previous tests. We are hoping that these questions will addresses a lot of problem areas she has on the test and that it will help her to answer similar problems on the test on Saturday. She was considering taking another practice test on Friday after school, but then we all decided it would just be too much to basically take 2 ACT tests 2 days in a row. Including the practice tests she took through her prep class, along w/ tests from Real Real ACT book, and a test that we found through the internet, she has around 7-8 previous practice tests she can review. We are hoping that this sets her up to get at least a 30 composite on the real test that she takes on Saturday. Please send some good vibes our way! Thank you!</p>
<p>@LadyHam- My best wishes are for your daughter!! I’m sure she’ll do great! If not, there’s always June! Just make sure her expectations aren’t too high as normally the first test is the hardest (haha makes sense right). Nevertheless, best of luck to her. Wish me luck! (I’m an April taker too!)</p>
<p>I agree with ACT tester the official is made by ACT so it has like real test and GUYS LOOK UP ON THE INTERNET THE PAST TEST BOOKLETS THAT YOU COUNSELORS GIVE YOU IF YOU ASK THEM… THEY ARE ONLINE AS PDF’S AND HELP A TON BUT THEY DONT GIVE EXPLANATIONS…SO PRINT THEM OUT AND DO THOSE</p>
<p>And Lady Ham could you please share with us what your daughter did to get in the 30’s for English and Reading?</p>
<p>@Hockeydude664</p>
<p>It’s very difficult to find the previously administered tests if you don’t have the right connections. The best advice I can offer in that regard is to find someone online who has the tests and try to obtain them from him or her.</p>
<p>ACT33or34 ~ For English, I just think doing the practice tests and then going over the questions that she got wrong really helped her improve her score for that particular section. We also really went over some grammar rules like when to use a semicolon vs. a comma and also when to use who vs. whom. On her last practice test, she only missed 4 questions and got a 32. I don’t think she can really improve much past a 32 on this section, but she will gladly take the 32. For reading, she only scored into the 30’s on her last practice ACT test. That was the one that she had taken previously through her high school in October, but she never found out what questions she got wrong and never found out what the right answers to those particular questions were. I think having seen the passages before, even though it was quite a while ago, is what helped her get the 31 on that section on her last practice test. With reading, I just don’t think she is ever going to improve enough to be able to read quickly through the passages and retain what she needs to retain in order to answer the questions correctly. I think the reading section is going to be the biggest question mark for her on the test and the one section she will probably score the lowest on. Her reading at this point it what it is, and I just don’t see any way to improve it. She has always done really well in her English classes, and is now taking an AP English class, but for her personally, I just think the way the reading section is timed so tight, she will just never be able to master it. So while she does practice and she does put some time into improving the reading section, it is not as much as the other sections. Science is sort of this way for her as well. Depending on the test, she can score a 34 or score a 26 - those are her highest and lowest scores on this section. I think she has had the most consistent improvement on the English and the math. I just hope the stars align for her on Saturday and she gets a reading section and a science section she can do well on.</p>
<p>ACTTester ~ I know I previously shared the links here to 3 retired official ACT tests. I will go through my past posts and look for those links and then post them here for anyone that may want to see them.</p>
<p>Here are the links to 3 previous ACT tests that I have posted on this forum before:</p>
<p>Link to ACT Booklet from 2005-2006 w/ACT Test:
<a href=“http://www.sdcoe.net/lret/avid/act/PreparingforACT.pdf[/url]”>http://www.sdcoe.net/lret/avid/act/PreparingforACT.pdf</a></p>
<p>Link to ACT Booklet from 2008-2009 w/ACT Test:
<a href=“http://www.unioto.k12.oh.us/ACTpreparing.pdf[/url]”>http://www.unioto.k12.oh.us/ACTpreparing.pdf</a></p>
<p>Link to ACT Booklet from 2011-2012 w/ACT test:
<a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/preparing.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/preparing.pdf</a></p>
<p>Don’t know if everyone has already seen these links or not, but I just thought I would post them in the hopes that it would help someone out there.</p>
<p>And yes, usually there are some tests that are the same</p>
<p>Also if anyone has any tips they used to get a 34+ please post them</p>