<p>Hello, I just took the ACT for the first time last Saturday and guessing I got a 30 (+/- 2) but I really I want to get a 34. I had about two weeks of prep out of 2014 PR book and I'll post my actual scores when they come out. I'm the type of person that is willing to put in many hours of study to achieve what I want but I need a structured study schedule/regimen I can follow to do so. The problem is there's so much to cover and review so I don't know where to start, that's why I came here to ask for your guidance. I currently have the Red Book with 5 ACT Tests and I'm going to buy the Barron's 36 and Gruber book for math today (are there any other books I should consider?). There are 8 weeks until June 12 test and I'm not sure how I should divide my time. So far I've planned that every Saturday I'm going to do an official practice test for a total of 7 then maybe I'll spend one are two days reviewing the ones I missed leaving me a total of 4-5 days a week to study on a particular subject. Should I spend 2 weeks reviewing each subject? Or maybe a week and half on the easier subjects like Math and English then two and half weeks on Science and Reading? And how did you guys use the books to study? Sorry I'm sort of lost, maybe I should enroll in an online class.</p>
<p>Sorry if I’m being confusing but basically I’m wondering if there’s anything out there that’s like
Week 1: Take first ACT practice test, review and justify wrong answers, start math section in Gruber, Barron’s 36, and Red book.
Week 2: Take second ACT practice test, review and justify wrong answers, finish math section in Gruber, Barron’s, and Red book and take two practice tests just in math section of Barron’s book.</p>
<p>I won’t supply a timeline, but instead I will provide you with my own in depth approach.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take real tests. There are 9 which are widely available to students. 5 in the Real ACT Prep book and 4 online which can be found by searching “act booklet (insert year)”
Map out your own schedule. If you have two weeks to prepare, obviously only use the real tests. If you have a month or more, don’t use up the tests but vary between the real ones and fake one from other books. I would suggest taking up to, but no more than, 3 tests a week.</p></li>
<li><p>Know your basic high school math. If you’ve paid attention in school, you’ll do okay. Review concepts you are unsure about using your textbook, your ACT math guide, or Khan Academy online.</p></li>
<li><p>Know your grammar rules. Barron’s ACT 36 book has an excellent guide on the English section. Every punctuation rule you need to know is in there.</p></li>
<li><p>Be able to read a reading passage in at least 3.5 minutes. Practice will increase your speed and remembrance. Google tips on reading quickly if needed.</p></li>
<li><p>Be able to read and comprehend graphs quickly. Maybe practice without a time limit.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Okay. Now that those prerequisites are out of the way, I can be begin some detailed info on how to jump from a 30 to a 36.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Analyze practice test results. Make a chart and keep track of the number of questions missed and type of questions missed. An exams would be this for English, “Dumb mistakes, punctuation, passage review, etc.” do this for every test. </p></li>
<li><p>Every 3-5 tests (I did it every 5) mass together all results from those 3-5 tests. Calculate percentage of total missed and what percent of missed questions were in what category. For instance, I found that I missed roughly 4% of all 300 math questions across the 5 tests; I also found that 50% of the questions I missed were dumb mistakes, and that 25% were questions that I did not know how to solve.</p></li>
<li><p>On your next test, focus specifically on your greatest weakness for each test. As you do this, you will see certain weaknesses disappear and others become higher in the their percentage. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Okay, that was the self examination stage. Now your weaknesses and have fixed some. What about the ones that just won’t go away? I found that in Science, for the first 5 tests, I missed 12.5% of all questions. On the next 5, I missed 12%. Hardly a worthy improvement. I knew this needed to be fixed and on my next set of five, I missed only 4.5% of all science questions. For me, this was as simple as doing the passages out of order. The 5 questions passages first, then the 6ers, and then the 7ers. What ever you find as your weakness, search online until you find a method that improves your results. I would suggest googling such as “science 36 score methods college confidential.” Or something of that likeness. </p>
<p>I will not be including per section methods in this guide. You can find those yourself. What I have provided, WILL increase you score IF you are committed. I increased my score this way from a 31 to a 35. I took three tests a week and spent hours each day studying and reviewing my mistakes and brainstorming new methods and mastering my timing. I took roughly 20 tests in all in preparation.</p>
<p>Tip: If you want, retake some tests which you have already taken. Try to wait at least 2-3 weeks. Look at these results and see if you Missed any of the same questions. This can be extremely helpful. </p>
<p>So, use this guide as the backbone of your prep and incorporate all tips and methods from other users and attach them to this. </p>
<p>Please ask me any and all questions.</p>
<p>@made4him1027 do you think it is still effective if I don’t take the entire tests in one sitting? I probably have time to take an entire test in one sitting once a week but the other days I could just do a section or two under the time restraints.</p>
<p>Oh definitely. In fact, for me. Out of those twenty tests, not one was taken all together. I took two sections a day.</p>
<p>@made4him1027 ok so you think in like the first 4 weeks I should use the tests from like Princeton Review 1296 and Barron’s then start using the real tests? How do PRs and Barron’s compare against real?</p>
<p>Also you guys think two months is enough to try to get to the 34/35 range?</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter whether fake tests are easier or harder. Just don’t count on your scores for those tests as absolutely accurate. I would figure out exactly how long you have to prepare, how many tests you have, and how many you plan to do total. I would not recommend doing fake tests for a month, and then switching to real tests. This would not be bad, but I believe that it would be more beneficial to alternate. For me, I would take two fake tests and one real test per week. It’s good to consistently taking the real tests so you can review mistakes from those. The fake tests will act is practice for the real practice tests.</p>
<p>Also, two months is absolutely enough time providing you put in a full effort. I raised my score from 31 to 35 in 5 weeks.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>