Real ACT vs Princeton Review? So bummed.

<p>I'm SOOO ticked off.</p>

<p>I usually get a 33 on the ACT practice tests from the red book ( I've only taken 5, but they seem pretty consistent between a 32-33 ). </p>

<p>I wanted more practice because I want ATLEAST 34 on the ACT. But, after taking a break for a couple weeks of cramming for AP tests, I decided to buy Princeton's 1296 questions thing.</p>

<p>However, my score lowered SIGNIFICANTLY. As in I got a 29!!!!!! Ugh. After all that work of taking 5 practice tests, my score DECREASES? By FOUR WHOLE points??? All of that wasted time.....</p>

<p>Is it because I haven't been taking tests for 2 weeks? But that doesn't make any sense because I did way better on my very first practice act I took last month in which I got a 31... </p>

<p>What if the real act I take two years from now is like that and I only get a 29? Or worse? There's no point in scoring high if I'm not consistent... Ugh. I only have two years to prepare for the test that will decide whether I go to community college or Stanford....</p>

<p>Is the PR review a little bit harder? I have been told it's been very accurate by others which just means I got dumber over the past couple of weeks or something. It's frustrating to see this and I'm scared to take another test because I'll fear I'll get demoralized even more...</p>

<p>Chill out. You have 2 years. Don’t stress until maybe a year from now. Sure, you can study if you want, but don’t freak out. You have time and you will do great! </p>

<p>Another thing, you may or may not have covered all the material on the test in school yet, so definitely don’t get yourself worked up over it. A 29 is great for a freshman, or anyone else for that matter. The difference in books may have also caused the score decrease. On practice tests from the 1296 book, I kept getting a terrible score in English, but on the actual test I scored a 35.</p>

<p>By the way, there are other colleges out there. If you don’t get into Stanford, there will be plenty of other colleges happy to accept you into their freshman class. You can get into a great school with a 29, but Stanford is a reach for everyone. As long as you make a balanced list of colleges to apply to, you will not be stuck going to community college if you don’t want to do so.</p>

<p>It’s gon’ be okay… The Princeton Review practice tests are harder! </p>

<p>This feels like a ■■■■■ post… Stanford or community college? Those are literally on opposite sides of the spectrum. You most likely won’t even get into Stanford even if you have a 36 on the ACT</p>

<p>If it helps, I used the PR 1296 questions to prep for the ACT, I was getting 29/34/27/30 on the practices but I got 36/36/29/32 on the actual ACT, I have now bought the red book and my scores for the latter two sections are both around 33s. PR doesn’t seem to accurately predict your score</p>