<p>I'm going to be a junior next year and I want a 36 ACT. I took a practice freshman year (one at my library) and got a 28. I was wondering what books are the best in prepping me to get a 36 junior year. Thanks for the insight ahead of time.</p>
<p>All of them.
Except for McGraw Hill’s. That stuff was too easy.</p>
<p>There’s really no way to study for the ACT other than by taking a bazillion practice tests.
Unless you’re a natural test taker, then you could just take a couple of practice tests and you’ll rock that ACT when the time comes.
But not many of us are blessed like that :)</p>
<p>Sooooooo.
Get to doing as many practice problems as you can!
Personally, I liked the PR books a lot, and of course the fabled Red Book. </p>
<p>Here’s my thoughts on the books:</p>
<p>Barron’s ACT - The math on this thing is wack. It’s not very representative of what you would see on the ACT math section.
I’m not sure about the other Barron’s book, the “Barron’s 36” or whatever.
Same thing for English. I don’t think Barron’s English is very good either. It didn’t seem to be modeling the actual test’s problems or whatever.
BUT, if you do get this book, the Reading and Science are pretty good. The reading is pretty tough (for me anyways), but the only way to practice reading is by, well, reading! So why not?</p>
<p>Princeton Review books (both of them: Cracking the ACT and 1296 questions):
Probably my favorite.
I feel like the problems in these books are pretty close to actual questions. They aren’t overly difficult (like problems from Barron’s books) or pathetically easy (like some of the questions from McGraw Hill’s books).
These two are definitely worth getting.</p>
<p>McGraw Hill (one book has 10 tests, the other has like… 5?):
I have both the books from these because I borrowed them from my friends. I knew they’d be easier than what I’d actually see, but I really just wanted to get my hands on some problems. Hah.
If you get this book, it should be because you’ve run out of practice tests. As I said earlier, reading more and more will get you better prepared for the reading test. However, some of the passages in this book are really short. Some are like 70-80 lines? And most of the passages on the actual ACT are around 100 or so. It’s not a bad book if you want to practice more!</p>
<p>Kaplan’s:
I’m not too familiar with this book.
I borrowed one from a friend and only did the Reading and Science sections. I prefer this book over the books by McGraw Hill, but I’d go to Princeton Review and the Red Book first.
The reading is more difficult than that of McGraw Hill tests, so that’s a plus. Practice makes perfect. </p>
<p>There’s a new book out there called Gruber’s ACT:
No.
Don’t waste your money on this book.
It’s not worth it. </p>
<p>Finally, we have the Red Book.
I would say you should start off by taking a test from the Red Book.
Then take some tests from the other books before you take another Red Book.
And finally, when you have taken all the other practice tests, take the last test from the Red Book.</p>
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<p>This is all under the assumption that you aren’t even going to bother with reading the material in the prep books. I never did because I thought they were worthless.
If you want to do well on English, just read a lot and take a lot of practice sections. I think English is the easiest to improve on, but, with 75 questions, it’s also the easiest to slip up on. </p>
<p>I’ve always been pretty good at math, so I didn’t take too many practice tests for this. But it’s always nice to tests from various books so you can be better prepared for whatever random crap the ACT might throw at you!</p>
<p>Reading… my weakest section. I’m just not a very fast reader sometimes! Just read, read, read. Then read some more. And then read some more. If you’re an efficient reader, I’m jealous of you. Haha. </p>
<p>Science WAS my weakest section. Not because it was difficult, but because it was overwhelming… AT FIRST.
After taking enough practice tests, and after becoming familiar with the format, the ACT science became ridiculously easy. Of course, it helps that I’ve gone through many science classes at school. But really. Rarely will you NEED outside science knowledge to do well on the ACT science, but it always helps to have taken classes like physics, chemistry, and biology…</p>
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<p>I’m sure I left out a lot of stuff, leaving some (or maybe many) unanswered questions.
So feel free to ask away :)</p>
<p>Wow, thank you for that great post. I highly enjoyed it.</p>
<p>No problem :)</p>
<p>other comments.</p>