<p>Hi -</p>
<p>This past spring, my son wrote the ACT (I'm pretty certain that he did so 'cold')
and scored 27 composite, with this breakdown:</p>
<p>Math 23 / English 25 / Reading 30 / Science 29 / Writing 10</p>
<p>The day he wrote it, he told me that he wanted to write it again. My feeling
is that there's clearly some low-hanging fruit here, but also that the high scores
are good enough (his GPA will be the gating admissions factor).</p>
<p>I'm recommending that he work through a math-specific guide
(e.g. - Corn's Ultimate Math), and then work the Red Book.</p>
<p>Is there an English-specific book which folks recommend that he also review,
or is the Red Book adequate?</p>
<p>Any & all insight welcome.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<ul>
<li>Richard</li>
</ul>
<p>Yeah a math practice book would help if he’s that low.</p>
<p>However, I think that your son should, if he already hasn’t, look up “Khan Academy” Math videos. ACT math isn’t really tricky at all, it really is if you just know it or not. Also mind telling what math class your son has last taken? ACT math includes material up to pre-calc (and not even all pre-calc classes cover everything such as matrices). </p>
<p>I’m not really good at the english section so I can’t give much help. I will say that the Princeton Review Book has a fantastic English section. If you already don’t have the PR book, get it. </p>
<p>Regards,</p>
<p>Eango</p>
<p>
My son wrote the ACT in April, finishing his junior year (with Algebra 2) some weeks later. His math teacher told me that the SAT & ACT would have included some material not yet covered in class.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip on PR English.</p>
<p>For English, just acquire different ACT prompts and you’ll get the hang of patterns since they don’t really change it up much.
Math, he needs to review basic algebra and geometry. I would recommend workbooks then practicing with an ACT test. Just make sure he practices! It’s really all you need to bump your score up. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>
You lost me. Does this mean to write (or at least review) different practice tests?</p>
<p>khanacademy.org</p>
<p>I wouldn’t advice studying from a prep book. Math isn’t about learning specific type of questions for a test (although for some people it works, but I guess they won’t study anything math related), it’s about understanding the topics.</p>
<p>Your son has to make sure he understands what he is doing by factoring a quadratic or finding the solutions to a trig equation. I mean, the ACT / SAT math is really simple, there are no traps, no derivatives (although some problems can be solved with them), no advanced math, they are truly just testing whether you can think mathematically or not. (and that can be learned)</p>
<p>Always remember that practice makes perfection. Can’t your son expand equation of form (a + b)^3 correctly? Well let him solve 20 of them and he will learn. Can’t he find the solutions to a simple quadratic using factoring? Again, do 10 - 20 problems and he will be able to. </p>
<p>I’ve never held a prep book in my hand and I can score 35+, but then again, I have a wide math background. Though, I always miss 1 or 2 questions, due of basic logic fail or numerical error :)</p>
<p>I agree with killparis! In fact I think I also recommended khan academy.</p>
<p>That said ACT math is sooooo predictable that I do think a prep book wouldn’t be useless. However, khan academy is way better for learning, prep book should used as practice and getting confident about knowing what will be thrown at you (spoiler: not much once you study ;))</p>
<p>Sorry for any unclearness! I mean, get a lot of practice ACT Writing using things, like from prep books (Red Book is good) or just googling some questions though the Internet.</p>
<p>That was really helpful thank you to all those who commented.
I am trying to raise my score which was a 24 on the math.
Also do u guys have anything for science that was my lowest with an 18</p>
<p>Khanacademy doesn’t have ACT specific math right? It covers various math topics which is no different than any preparation book, So I’m wondering how KA would be any different?</p>