I’m in Australia and I’m currently a sophmore. I am taking the test next year in April and I haven’t started preparing. We have Summer holidays in December/Janurary so I will have about one month of being able to study everyday then. But also I would like to spend around 5 hours per week on it until the test in April. If I do this could I get a 33+? Is that a sufficient amount of time?
Also, can you please recommend me some books?
Thanks
Whether or not you get a 33+ is highly dependent upon your intelligence. Since you have given us no indication of your cognitive abilities, we must assume that you are roughly average. So with that said, you will likely score a 21; even with studying, there is little chance you will be able to increase that to anywhere near a 33.
Also, Kaplan’s is a great prep book.
@throckmorten you are NO ONE to tell someone that they cannot surpass or reach a certain score. Get rid of all this attitude.
As for @theivyleague don’t even worry about what the other guy said. Seems like another snobby nerd on here that has neither moral nor social skills. Some books I like are the real act guide (for practice), cracking the ACT, and online guides/videos like sparknotes. Just give it your all and start reading books (like narratives), believe me this helps a lot.
@theivyleague get prep books! for my first ACT i used the Barron’s book with 6 practice tests and answers; it was only a book compromised of tests and no help. I did half a test and scored a 30 w/ a 10 on writing. For my retake i bought the princeton review elite prep for a 36. it seems to be really useful and full of good content. definitely check out bn.com! goodluck with your testing!
Thank you! And @throckmorten I have excellent cognitive ability…
You guys are missing the point. The OP has not given us any indication of how well he could score without studying- it might be a 16, it might be a 36. It’s impossible to give an answer to the OP’s question as to whether or not he can score a 33+ as we know nothing about him. As such, it’s difficult to give any specific suggestions for studying.
@theivyleague here’s a sample test from the test makers, with an updated essay prompt to reflect the new test: http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf
Spend an afternoon to take the test start to finish and see how you do. Once you have a baseline, practice tests are the best way to improve. As others mentioned, get the red book. I like kaplan’s since it has a large number of practice tests. If you need to review the actual material on the test, Princeton review if fairly decent. And please do not use Barron’s the tests are noticeably more difficult than the real thing, and will have you prepping the wrong way. Compared to the sat, the act is relatively easy to improve on, as the greatest challenge is the time limit; the more practice tests, the faster you’ll get.
There are also apps out there that offer hundreds of practice questions that are helpful. Especially when you don’t have your books around and have a bit of free-time.