New to the ACT

<p>I"m quite familiar with the SAT and have a strong enough grasp of and am well on my way with preparing for it.</p>

<p>But the ACT is entirely foreign to me and have never looked at it before let alone studied for it, but I definitely qant to give it a shot. I've heard people tend to do better on one or the other (SAT or ACT) so to find my niche and excel I want to do well but I definitley want to prepare as well.</p>

<p>What should I know about it, what should I do to prep for it, etc, before rushing into it?</p>

<p>I've read up online and grabbed some basic generic resources laying out the difference in the sections like the writing being semi-optional and a science section, and the timing, as well as the scoring being up to 36 rather than 2400.</p>

<p>So, I was hoping for some general help/prep tips like what I should hope to score to be competitive and what books I should look into purchasing/borrowing from the library. Or if xiggi's madness helps on this field as well.</p>

<p>ANY advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>Er, bu-bump?</p>

<p>The best tip I can give would be to buy or get the Princeton Review: Cracking the ACT book from the library. It gives explanations of each sections as well as how to work on them. That's what I have used for years now.</p>

<p>So Princeton review's is the most helpful? I've heard a lot of different things about he study guides (especially on the SAT) so i wasn't sure which or if any I should look into.</p>

<p>Besides study guides is there anything I should know/do/get before I jump into ACT?</p>

<p>make sure to go to Sparknotes on reading section... PR's technique will, at max, get you a 28-30. Do a lot of prac tests..... personally, i thinjk that's the best way to get better on the ACT.</p>

<p>You need the official ACT study guide, it includes REAL ACT tests. I think its the blue book? Or maybe the red book? Which ever one the SAT is, the ACT is the opposite color.</p>

<p>^it's the red book. it's great for practice, but the princeton review is best for strategy and overview</p>

<p>Took the practice ACT, wasn't good to me... for I had to guess on each section ( by large numbers). Got my score back, and ofcourse seen room for improvement plus what I got wrong/ right. I notice where I didn't guess I did well, with many plus.</p>

<p>So the ACT doesn't give that much time at all, so next time I take the actual test... I can't take my time like I did on the practice, or I'll be guessing answers by large numbers.</p>

<p>This is what I think:
The SAT is hard questions with lots of time
The ACT is easy(er) questions with little time</p>

<p>I haven't taken the ACT yet, but, from the practice tests, I am getting the feeling that the easier questions are more confusing! My brain fumbled through the jumbled writing on the English portion. I hope that I do not get the same impression when I actually sit down to take the test...</p>

<p>Oh, and I recommend the ACT for Dummies book. I have not studied from any others, but the Dummies book does provide an easy-to-read, straightforward guide full of insight and tips.</p>

<p>ACT gives less time??</p>

<p>I found the SAT questions pretty easy but felt time as the constraint. I've ran a few drills with the ACT but haven't taken a full practice test yet. I've actually been having a hard time finding a good selection of full practice tests.</p>

<p>I have 1 from the "preparing for the ACT" booklet
I have 3 from the "RED BOOK"</p>

<p>And that's it. I'm considering going for the online prep thing as well simply for the extra 2 practice tests but first I want to run through these 4 and see how I'm doing. I've picked up Barron's at the library because I've heard it supposed to be good/hard or something, but I'll look into getting the Princeton review one from the library as well.</p>

<p>Thanks so much! I'll definitely look into all of that including the Princeton Review's and Dummies' books. Anything else would also be appreciated.</p>

<p>Try number2.com for free online prep. I reviewed a good deal of basic skills from the site.</p>