<p>Hi, I'm a sophomore, and I wanted to know if 2.5 months is enough study time to get an at least fairly good (31-33) score on the ACT. I'm trying to decide on what date to take the test because I would also like to take the SAT this year (I'm thinking that I'll do that this summer, far after the PSAT scores arrive) </p>
<p>I would also like to know if using old editions of Princeton's Cracking the ACT is okay, or if getting the new edition and or some supplements is a good thing to do, especially for the Math section.</p>
<p>2.5 months is definitely enough study time.
I would highly recommend getting getting Barron’s ACT 36.
I think this is truly the most undervalued prep book for the ACT. It took me from a 28 to a 31 with just a few days reading through it, and then recently from a 31 to a 34. I confident that if I kept working with it, I would probably improve even further on my next test (I didn’t even read the science section of the book).</p>
<p>If you’re aiming for a high score, this really is the best solution for you. Princeton review is great too, but keep in mind that the PR book does not specifically focus in on helping you get up into that high 30s range.</p>
<p>Barron’s 36 only really helped me in Reading, bringing it from a 21 to a 27. But I already knew all the grammar rules on the English portion of it and it brought my English score down a point to a 27. The Real ACT Prep Book really helped my score overall; my English went from a 27 to a 36 and Math from a 28 to a 33.</p>
<p>^^ Ya unfortunately I’m going to guess that everyone will have a different prep book that helped them the most, so you’ll probably get a variety of responses.
Try using the old PR (you can get a new one if you want, but really I don’t think it’s worth the extremely minute differences), and see how you like it. If it isn’t working for you, try a different book.</p>