Customer Reviews

The Real ACT Prep Guide: The Only Guide to Include 3Real ACT Tests

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

First off, if you could only buy one test prep book for the ACT, I would whole heartedly recommend The Real ACT prep guide. This is saying a lot coming from none other than an author of another ACT prep/analysis guide! The main advantage of this book is that it has tests which contain REAL questions made by the ACT organization. While other books may tout having "(Insert High Number Here) ACT practice Tests", the one serious shortcoming of all these books is that the questions in these tests are not real ACT questions made scientifically and validated statistically by the ACT corporation, which has adequate funds to employ such methods. Another huge advantage of this book is that it gives detailed explanations for every question in the three tests that it offers. While many other unofficial test prep books give explanations for their answers, the questions themselves are not scientifically validated like the questions from the test makers. The explanations to the questions explain the concepts behind each question, as well as why the wrong answers are wrong. This book certainly provides an enormous amount of useful material for your hard earned money!

The book's main downside, however, lies in the introductory content sections before the practice tests are introduced. In the math section, for example, the guide tells you that you need to have a clear understanding of basic trigonometric relationships to be successful on the test. On page 55, the book gives you an example problem and simply tells you that you must use the sin relationship to answer the question. However, it does not state the definition of the different trigonometric relationships needed for the test, such as sin, cos, and tan(and in some cases: cot, sec, and csc). While looking at real ACT tests, I have seen many questions in the math section where the test asks one to evaluate a specific trigonometric expression, such as "What is the tan of (specific angle in triangle) in triangle ABC". A clear understanding of these identities is indeed needed to solve these problems, but the ACT prep guide fails to define these, assuming that the reader already has a firm understanding of them. A prep guide does not have to go into the detail of a text book, but it should at least define the core concepts that will be tested. The prep guide also tells you to think about the question extensively before writing anything down- not a very good idea. When approaching a problem, you should always write expressions or representations of the problems, as it is much easier to see relationships on paper than in your head. Using your pencil frees up storage in your short term memory, so you can focus on the approach to the problem. Strategies that are not often beneficial with regards to the time constraints of the test are also present in the science reasoning introductory content section. For example, on page 115, the guide states that it is important to read the text thoroughly and make notes in the margins before you approach the questions. Because of the extreme time constraints of the science section, it is very hard if not impossible to completely understand the introduction to the experiments in each passage and still have time to answer all of the questions. The English section fails to mention a few concepts such as parallel structure and other smaller concepts that I have seen on multiple real ACTs in the past.

Despite these shortcomings in the introductory concept sections of the Real ACT Prep Guide, it is still an invaluable resource for ACT test prep. No other company can make ACT questions like the ACT. Even my book, DISSECTING THE ACT 2.0: ACT TEST PREPARATION ADVICE OF A PERFECT SCORER or ACT TEST PREP WITH REAL ACT QUESTIONS], is dependent on real test materials that the ACT provides free of charge. Using and analyzing real test materials is the single best way to prep for the ACT, and this book has three of them.

If you have an older version of this book, you do not need to get the newer edition, since nothing substantial has changed since the book has some out several years ago. You can also save money by getting used versions of this book.

Bottom Line: A must have book, but use only the practice tests and explanations. Ignore the rest of the book since it contains quite a bit of bad advice. This is based on my experience of taking the real ACT and getting a perfect score of 36. For ACT content and strategy there are other better books, but no other book gives you three real ACT tests.

We run a very successful test prep company and highly recommend The Real ACT Prep Guide to students. It is important to note that the ACT is one of the most predictable tests ever created. This test always tests the same skills--in the same amounts!--on each section of the test. For example, the English test will ALWAYS have 10 questions testing punctuation, 12 questions testing grammar, 18 questions testing sentence structure, etc. And within those categories, the same skills are always tested. This predictability can be found in all sections of the test. The math section will ALWAYS have 14 plane geometry questions, 4 trig questions, etc.

Why am I blabbering on about this? Since the ACT is so predictable, the best way to prep for the test is to take official ACTs. The same question types just repeat and repeat. With enough practice, you'll know exactly what to expect on test day. And no, the fake Princeton Review and Kaplan ACT practice tests just don't cut it. (Just check out all those Amazon reviews for those books. Sadly, they are filled with comments like, "The tests in this book were nothing like the real thing. Not a good thing to find out on test day." Oy.)

This book is the only one out there offering real ACT tests. You need this book!

There are several problems with this book, however:

1) The Real Guide doesn't give you a "big picture" view of the skills you need to improve. Let's say you answer a test question incorrectly and review the answers and explanations. Hopefully, you won't get a similar question wrong next time. But you don't necessarily have a "macro" sense of the topics you need to review.

2) Even if you realize what skills you need to improve, the Real ACT Prep Guide doesn't really review any skills tested on the ACT. Don't remember how to calculate the distance formula? Forgot what subject-verb agreement is? You're stuck.

3) The Real ACT Prep Guide doesn't offer practice problems (besides for the 3 included tests). We often find that students who are most successful practice with hundreds of practice problems before test day (particularly those practice problems that focus on their weak areas).

4) The Real ACT Prep Guide doesn't offer "sneaky" strategies. After all, this would be a conflict of interest for the ACT folks.

As a result, you need more for good ACT prep. In our program, we use Boost Your Score! The Unofficial Software Guide to the Real ACT along with this book, since it analyzes student performance on the real ACT tests in the book and then provides practice problems and strategies to boost weak areas. We have actually turned out two perfect scorers using the software in combination with The Real ACT Guide.

Other good products we have used include Princeton Review's 1,296 ACT Practice Questions (College Test Preparation) or the Kaplan or Princeton books when they are used just for strategy, but not for the practice tests.

Not the best review or test taking tips; ACT is not going to give too much away. The value of this book is in the three practice tests it contains. There is no substitute for practicing on the real thing. Answers and detailed explanations are included.

This is the only ACT prep book that contains 3 actual, retired ACT tests, and hence it is the best book available. All other ACT prep books contain tests created by the test prep company, and they are NOT THE SAME as an actual test! They may look the same, but don't be fooled! The amount of work and expertise that goes into developing an actual ACT test is staggering, and it cannot be duplicated by Kaplan, Barron's, Princeton Review, etc. I make my living providing ACT prep, and this is the only book I use. I give it 5 stars, but with a warning: if you own the 2005 edition, don't buy the new one. The practice tests and study materials are exactly the same. The new edition does provide some updated information about test norms, but this is a single page of data, and is essentially meaningless to about 99% of the users of this book. I thought it was misleading, even dishonest, to advertise this as an updated product, but nonetheless, this is still the only book I recommend.

I'm a college student and I coordinate an ACT tutoring program for the inner-city high schools and we purchased 5 copies of this book. So far, it's been a very good resource. I felt that the best way to prepare for the ACT exam is to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE -- so we just work through problems from the exams and go over the answers. And this book comes with 3 REAL ACT EXAMS! PERFECT for what we're doing. :D

My daughter just took the ACT after working through this book. She found the English and science portions helpful, but the math presented in this book was not anywhere near the level of the problems on the actual test. She consistently aced the practice test problems easily, but not so on the actual test. The English and science portions were an accurate reflection of actual test level. This guide also did not cover the writing section at all (which is optional on the actual test, but was my daughter's worst area by a long shot - it would help to have more guidance in that area in the prep book).

The Real ACT book is one of the best books of its kind. I teach SAT and ACT prep, and this book not only is well formatted with REAL ACT problems (by the test-makers), but the book gives the fullest explanations of the correct and incorrect answers that I have ever seen. I'm using it exclusively in my classes. Parents looking to help their kids get prepared should buy NO OTHER BOOK.

Robert Sposato

I am an Associate Professor of Mathematics, SAT and ACT Math tutor, and author of the book "The 32 Most Effective SAT Math Strategies." I also tutor the Science section of the ACT. If you are preparing for the ACT, then you must have this book since it is the only one with 3 actual exams. I only wish that this book had more actual tests, or at least more actual ACT questions. To prepare effectively for the ACT you unfortunately need more than this book simply because it doesn't have enough questions. When I tutor for the ACT I generally have my students do 5 practice tests (including these 3 and the free one you should be able to pick up at your guidance counselor's office). In addition I use another 3 tests for additional practice (these are done in class and for homework, but not under timed conditions). This amount of preparation is more than sufficient for a substantial improvement to your score. It is important however to be implementing the correct strategies as you prepare. The Science section in particular can be a bit tricky since your time must be used wisely. Let me finish this review by telling you exactly how I teach my students to take the Science section of the test.

First of all I teach my students to only use the passages to look up answers to questions - NEVER read the passages before the questions. This wastes too much time. In fact, in many questions you will not have to read the passages at all. Often you will just have to look up the answers in the appropriate charts, graphs, tables, figures, etc.

Second, always save the "arguments" passage for last. This is the wordiest passage which has two or more people giving two opposing viewpoints. This passage can suck your time away quickly if you're not careful. Again, do not read the passage first here - use the passage to look up the answers, but always start with the questions.

Third, pacing is important. Do not get hung up on one question. If you're spending more than a minute on a question it may be time to move on and come back to this question later.

Note that there is no guessing penalty on the ACT, so make sure that you answer every question even if you have to guess.

Best of luck to everyone taking the ACT!

I used this book along with the Real ACT book, the McGraw Hill 10 Practice Tests, and Sparknotes Guide to the ACT. I found that this books was one of the more helpful ones. The strategies given are insignificant, as it is a conflict of interest. This book's value is attributed only by the 3 practice tests. The three practice tests are exactly the same as you would see them during test day. The answer sheet is exactly the same, and there are also blanks for you to add your personal information as you would during test day. That example shows that the book prepares you so that you will not be unpleasantly surprised during test day. The tests are exactly the same in content as you would find during test day. The answer explanations are one of the best aspects of this book; you will find out exactly what you did wrong as the explanations are completely thorough. By practicing on a real ACT, finding out what you did wrong, and using the corrections through the extensive explanations to deter future mistakes, the Real ACT book is the way to go.

This book helped me get a 33!

Even though I can't get my daughter to open the book, it appears to fit the description.