I am switching to ACT after the old SAT because reasoning tests aren’t for me. I ordered the red and black book to study and they should be mailed to me by tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll be ready for April 9th. How much studying time will be needed to get at least a 30? I do plan to take it again in June and September but I want to start fresh well. Any study tips?
Thank you!
Take a full test - timed - and see how you do - the Real Act book has the scoring chart after each test. Read the answers to the problems you miss. There are also free tutorial videos on the math and some other sections online - you can google or I can send you some links.
It really depends on you…are you a natural test taker? Or do you need a lot of prep? Like CA said, the practice tests will give you a good idea. But my kid got a 33 when she took it cold…no practice at all. So she studied a bunch and retook and got 34…one point higher. She did take it again last week as her school requires (and pays for) the ACT, but we expect a similar result. She got a 1480 on PSAT (which means, I think, fairly similar percentile to ACT). She will take SAT in May because, well, who knows? So the answer to your question is maybe 
If you would like to study with recent administered ACT tests, I would recommend ■■■■■■■■.com
You should probably do at least one full test a week from now until April. If you have the time, you should complete two full tests a week. The answers are all at the end, so you should study why each answer is right or wrong.
Yes. As long as you put in the hours.
Hey are you able to send me some links for ACT prep? Much thanks!
@averagedreamer if you look up free act test pdf, you’ll probably find sites with multiple versions. That’s what I did. Sorry I don’t remember the website address
Keep in mind it is April 8th not the 9th - just making sure you don’t miss your test day!
I’d recommend just doing practice tests. Set aside time for yourself to go through the whole test every other day or so (if you do them every day, you’ll run out of good tests to take lmao). Go through the answers and really try to see if there are any trends in all the ones you miss across a couple of the tests (ex. Find out what you’re bad at. Are commas in grammar something you always miss? Is interpreting a certain kind of graph in the science section messing you up?) Understand what your weaknesses are and try your best to fix those. Doing practice tests gives you a feel for the timing during the tests (Never do the tests without sticking to the real ACT time. That’s a waste of a test and your time.) Practice tests that will be harder than the ones on the ACT so that you’re ready for anything (I rec Barrons and the Princeton Review, but you don’t have to buy them! If there’s a nearby Barnes & Nobel, or similar bookstores, just go there and take the practice tests by writing your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Also, don’t just crack open the prep books and read the sections. Only do that when you’ve found your weakest section(s) on the ACT. Like, if you’re good at math and get 34s to 36s, why would you bother reading the math section? Again, a waste of your time. Only read sections that will benefit you and your score!
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any other section-specific tips or have any clarifying questions!
I brought my math score from 24 to 29 in just a few hours. Just find old, out of use ACT tests and use those to practice. The RED book is garbage compared to the resources you can find online.