Hey! I just finished my junior year of high school and took my very first ACT in June. Here are my scores:
Composite: 26
English: 28 (I usually score a 30-32 on practice exams, I don’t know what happened)
Math: 25
Reading: 26 (I usually score a 29-30, don’t know what happened)
Science: 23 (lol)
I know my score is bad. My goal is to break into the 30s. I will be taking the ACT again in September so I have all summer to prepare. Here is my goal:
English: 33 (maybe even 35?)
Math: 27
Reading: 31
Science: 27
Is this possible to do? My parents were gonna send me to Princeton Review prep classes but they were about $900 so I’m just gonna self study. I usually do really good on the English and reading section, but I think my nerves got to me. If you guys have any tips for any section, please tell me (especially the science section!)
Thanks guys. 
My situation is very similar to yours. What prep books did you get? I used the Princeton Review for straight tips and used the Red book for all my practice tests
You can do this without expensive prep. My D improved her C score 4 points and some of her subscores up to 6 points. Here is what she did:
At least every other day do a practice SECTION from the Real ACT Red Book. Take the time to score it and specifically review what you missed, why you missed it, etc. Go back and study those concepts. For math specifically, keep a large math sticky note full of formulas you need to learn.
On the days with no practice section, she studied from the Erica Metzer ACT English book. She would usually read a whole chapter.
She said the ACT Online Prep is fantastic and the test bank is very very deep with thousands of math questions and they are broken down into the sub-categories you need. She did spend a lot of time on that app (she said the iPad app is better than the interface for a PC).
At one point she had worked entirely through the ACT Red book and I just kept printing off practice tests from that very famous Crack website. We did get her a private tutor twice when she encountered a math concept we just could not help her with…but otherwise it was entirely self-driven. The important thing is she had a goal, was self-driven and motivated to reach that goal. She sat down and did this on her own, before all of her other work and prioritized this over free time and chill time.
Yes, my 3 kids did it. Those $49 study guides served us well. Passed them down through the family. 28 to 32. 29 to 33. 27 to 31. Study hard!!!