Not Having Success With Barron's ACT... Switch To Red Book?

Test Preparation ACT Preparation
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<p>Hey guys. I'm a high school junior, and I've only taken the ACT once, back when I was a sophomore in April 2011. I made a 28--30 in Writing, 28 in Math, 29 in Reading, 26 in Science. Now that's it's been a year and I've collected more knowledge through the harrowing journey most often referred to as "junior year," I was expecting to see higher scores on practice tests. Sadly, no: on the diagnostic test in this ACT Barron's back, I made a 28 again. I studied and highlighted the entire Math session, and my math score is still locked at a 28. I'm starting to get very frustrated. Math is my strongest subject by far, and I was really hoping to max it at a 36. I'm noticing that the book is vague at times and, dare I say, even contains a few rare mathematical errors.</p>

<p>I really need to get a 32 on this ACT, and should be able to. It's been a whole year and I did no prep going into my last one. I also took the SAT about a month ago and made a 2120 (CR620, M700, W800 (E11)), a rough equivalent of a 32. The ACT is in a week, for crying out loud! I can go pick up the Red Book tomorrow, and could easily spend the whole day studying. I found great success in studying the Blue Book for SAT, and I'm beginning to think that I have evidence to prove that the Barron's ACT prep book does not work for me:</p>

<p>(1) Math scores are not improving--they in fact DECREASED by a few points from the diagnostic after doing the entire mathematics review section in full.</p>

<p>(2) The diagnostic test reports LOWER scores than I made on Reading and Science last year. IIRC, the passages and scientific data presented on the test are also not quite at the level that the Barron's book's material is at.</p>

<p>(3) Errors in mathematics section, though rare.</p>

<p>Can anyone else report success/failure with the ACT Barron's? I'm using the 16th Edition, for reference. Also, to those with the Red Book: what is the best way to use it for quick, week-before practice/study, and what are the best parts of it, especially to improve Reading/Science?</p>

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<p>you should have started with the red book tests - these are real ones; i have always used barron’s for ap - for practice tests as well and even though i get lower scores on the barron’s, i always get much higher on the actual tests (after reading the entire book and going through other school class related prep - you need to know content too of course) </p>

<p>about barron’s for sat and act:
sat, i gave up b/c i found spending time with princeton review and mc graw hill as well as real tests from college board provided by my test prep company gave me massive score increases</p>

<p>act: same thing - barron’s: excellent for content review, maybe some exercises but i have never to this date done full practice tests in them - right now i am standing at a 32-35 on full real practice tests</p>

<p>so i would suggest going b&n and picking up the 5 real practice test and doing every single on of those and if you run out, get the 1276 (i thing that’s the right number) princeton review act book</p>

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<p>Yes, practice tests is definitely what I’m looking for. I think the content material in the Barron’s may not be /absolutely/ terrible, but its practice tests are certainly appearing to be skewed or more difficult than the actual exam. I’m going to pick up the Red Book tomorrow, I think, and just do as many practice tests as I can!</p>

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<p>I would pick up the red book if you’re seriously worried, but I see no reason to be, as Barron’s is notorious for being harder than the actual test. I personally used Barron’s as my only test prep and got a 29 (with straight 29’s in the subsections) on the Diagnostic. When I took the test with my state in March I got a 35, (With 2 36’s, a 35, and a 34 in the various subsections). I wouldn’t be too worried if I were you, but getting the red book can’t hurt.</p>

<p>I will say that Barron’s killed my confidence for the ACT, as I wasn’t scoring near where I wanted to. However, in the week just before the test I completed an English section in a friend’s Princeton Review, got a 36, and it seemed ridiculously easy. That alone made me more confident, and i’m betting it helped a ton on the real thing.</p>

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<p>Okay… good luck i’m studying for ACT’s this summer . Now i’m contemplating on getting both books now. >_> Barron’s for content review and the red book for the tests. Meh. I’ll figure it out.</p>

<p>It’s smart how you did it sophomore year, the earlier the better ~.</p>

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<p>This was such a huge help. My father got me te Barron’s ACT 17th adition and I was beginning to feel it would be bad for use, but I think now it’s even better than I thought. I would rather have something harder than the ACT than just as easy as it.</p>

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<p>I heard Barron’s can be overkill… I studied from the red book and got a high score, I’d rely on that.</p>

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<p>My thoughts on Barron’s book are that the English section is super hard, with a lot of the inference questions having similar or unreasonable answers. I normally score from 32-35 on Princeton and others but on the Barron’s English I got a 29. This could all be an intentional move or it could be that Barron’s doesn’t know how to make a realistic ACT English section.</p>

<p>The other sections seemed more or less on the Princeton/Kaplan level of difficulty but if you look real closely, their little conversion chart at the end is what will kill you. Their curve is really harsh on an already difficult test. Again, this may be so that there are no disappointments on test day.</p>