Math Subject Matter

Test Preparation ACT Preparation
1

<p>I've taken about 9 math practice tests for the math section of the ACT (McGraw-Hill's 10 Practice ACT Tests and the Real Act Prep Guide) and I've done reasonably well on those, scoring mostly in the 34-36 range.</p>

<p>However, I did the first of the Barron's practice tests today.</p>

<p>15 wrong! What?!</p>

<p>Are the types of questions there similar to the material that will be on the ACT? Will questions about chords, tangents, secants, etc. and how to change bases appear? I hadn't even seen any of that mentioned in any test guide, but I'm now looking at some online materials having specifically searched for chords and tangents + ACT Math, and it seems that a number of resources include such content as part of their review programs.</p>

<p>It isn't disturbing so much that these particular types of questions are on the test (since they can quickly be learned or reviewed) as that many current prep guides don't mention them. Is this just something that Barron's invented on a whim as part of a geometry survey, or have past tests actually focused so much on such old/unused stuff?</p>

<p>I guess I sound unduly hysterical but yes, I do realize that the Barron's book is likely (hopefully) not test-specific or perhaps outdated, and I guess my more general question would be: has anyone who's taken the ACT encountered something that completely took you by surprise that wasn't mentioned in any review guide, or do they in general cover only those topics found in better prep books (the official one in particular)?</p>

<p>(I submitted this already but the submission page was taking a while to load, so I hope this isn't a repost >.<)</p>

2

<p>Barron's is the toughest of all prep books.</p>

3

<p>haha im accually using the 2 exact same books</p>

<p>i found the barrons was harder in all sections, including math</p>

4

<p>i don't like those prep books. it's like you do really good in all the sections and you get all confident, then you take the actual test and mess everything up. </p>

<p>i did this with my SATs; every single time i took a practice test i was getting 740s and above on math, and all my critical reading was atleast a 570 (i suck in this area). so i'm going in to take the SAT for my 3rd time because i keep messing up the real thing for some reason, thinking i'm going to get atleast a 1300. i end up getting 650 on math and 530 on critical reading. this left me really ****ed off at this practice book which was made by COLLEGEBOARD themselves!</p>

<p>anyway, to the point, a lot of these practice books are probably trying to prepare you for the worst questions that can be on the test. don't get too confident with the 34-36 scores because then you might end up like me, but on the other hand, you could actually get 34-36. so i mean, all you can do is practice.</p>

<p>i took the act and i got a 28 on it which is better than my SAT. if there's anything from the act that i can recommend, it's to know all the trig functions and what not, everything else is pretty straightforward.</p>