<p>Hello, I just finished my sophomore year and am taking the ACT in a week. I'm just curious, how much did others study for this? Because it's too late for me to take prep courses, and I wouldn't even know where to begin with studying on my own . I've taken the Explore and Plan tests (pre-ACT) and my predicted score was 32-34. Does anyone know how accurate this scale is? Do I need to study to achieve that high of a score?</p>
<p>i took the ACT in march (i’m a junior and it’s required in the state of michigan, so it was my first time because it was free and i didn’t want to pay beforehand haha) and i got a 35. i didn’t agonize over preparing for the test; i didn’t take any prep courses or buy any books. because it’s required in my state, the teachers would include short question sections at the beginning of class, so i always did those. there were 5 free, 2-hour workshops (based on the 5 sections) after school, and i went to 3 (math, science, reading). i took practice tests in packets my english teacher and guidance counselor gave us. i did all the free practice questions i could find online. i took the free practice test on the princeton review website. i reviewed math concepts (this was the biggest problem for me, as i hadn’t taken geometry since 8th grade or algebra II since freshman year) with the help of one of the freshman math teachers at my school. i timed myself every time as well. it helped a lot, because although i finished with only a few seconds to spare on reading and science when i took the ACT, i definitely would have gone over time without getting a sense of how to pace myself. good luck!!!</p>
<p>I think my D got a prediction of 31-33 from the PLAN. She did around 20 practice tests over the summer and scored 35 at her first take (also the free one at Michigan) in March. Why do you want to take it so early? Since you are expecting good score already, you just need some preparation to get a great score and be done with it. Taking it early but without preparation is not a good idea unless 32-34 is your target score anyway. By the way, the prediction is assuming your take it in junior or senior year, not in sophomore, as there it expects you to learn more math and language skills before the ACT.</p>
<p>Where did your daughter get 20 practice tests? What books?</p>
<p>yeah! same question here…</p>
<p>Our local public library has all the prep books including Barrons, PR, Kaplan, McGraw Hill, and a couple others. She also took a free practice test by PR or Kaplan in town as well as the 4 practice tests during a prep course at Kaplan. I lost counts of it as she was also preparing for SAT at the same time. I am sure she did 20+ (perhaps ~30) practice tests for ACT and the same for SAT. But not until the last 5 practice or so that she started getting 35+ consistently. She may be a little bit over-prepared though.</p>
<p>If you don’t have access to those prep books for free. Try to form a book exchange club with your friends so that you only need to buy one.</p>
<p>@billcsho Thanks. I plan to study all summer for both the SAT and the ACT, so I need all the practice tests I can get my hands on.</p>