My DD is studying for the ACT in Feb. (State administration). She has gone through all the walk-throughs in the Black Book that coincide with the 3rd Edition Red book, and is now just starting to do timed individual tests. We’ve been alternating a test every other day, with reviewing mistakes in between.With a little over a month to prepare, do you advise taking a whole administration on the weekend and then review all sections during the week? Trying to balance full IB workload, so not much time for more than an hour a day during the week. Hoping to get in as many timed practices as possible.
How many practice tests did you take before you saw improvement? How did you structure your ACTprep?
@ready2launch My daughter took full practice tests during the summer to prepare for the ACT. After school resumed, her extracurricular and studying schedules made taking a 3 hour test on the weekend too difficult. So she began to take the test a segment at a time over multiple nights. She paid strict attention to the timing so as to replicate that section in a real test.
Be sure and use real ACT tests for practice rather than those contained in test review books (other than the real ACT red book). ■■■■■■■■.com is a great source for released retired ACT tests.
Good luck!
I’d also suggest to go ahead and plan to take the ACT 2-3 times. Look at the calendar now and set that expectation with your daughter. Treat that first exam as a “dress rehearsal” which helps minimize the pressure she may be putting on herself. Of course, if she exceeds all her goals on that first take, there’s no need to take it again.
@magtf1, thanks! Definitely planning to have her take it 2-3 times. I did wrestle with whether or not to tell her about the other chances, to avoid her getting too complacent about the first one.
For those who have taken the ACT 2 or more times to get to your target scores, did you prepare equally for all 5 sections every time, or did you concentrate on 1 or 2 sections per test each time (assuming that the schools you applied to superscore the ACT)?
I understand not wanting her to feel complacent about the first test. My D found her real motivation to prep after take #1 when she saw her real scores on a real test, not a practice test.
She took it three times. We ordered the detailed score report to see what areas in each section were most troublesome and focused our study time there for #2 and 3. Worked well for us. Good luck!
Thanks @123field. We have the Real ACT prep 3rd Edition book. I was thinking about saving those for some full practice tests for stamina runs, and then using ****.com for mini timed tests, but with the way weekends are going so far, I don’t think there will be time for those before the Feb test. Might have to save a few of those for summer.
I would definitely suggest taking the full test at least 2-3 times before the February date. The science portion can get harder if she is tired from the previous 140 minutes of testing. Also, I would suggest printing out the bubbling sheet from the released practice test so that she can practice filling that out as she goes along.
One great tip for the ACT is to use the ACT Online Prep. They have two types of lesson plans: structured and adaptive. The adaptive plan requires students to take a practice exam and the results calculate the strengths and weaknesses on each specific topic. On the other hand, the structured plan goes through all the topics and questions of the ACT rather than focusing on a single group of weaknesses. Given that time is a priority, I would suggest that your daughter use the adaptive plan.
I bought the online course for 40 dollars (I can’t remember how much exactly) and studied it non-stop using the adaptive plan for about a month before the December test date. My composite went up 3 points from a 29 to a 32. More specifically, my math score went up from a 31 to a 34, 30 to 32 on English, 30 to 33 on Reading, and 25 to 29 on Science. Although I didn’t use the essay feature on the online prep course (I don’t even think that there were practice essay prompts), my essay score went from a 8 to a 10.
The online prep course also has full ACT tests too.
Thanks everyone! Is there a difference between the test items in ****.com and ACT’s online test bank?