ACT Test Prep: What Practice Materials Should I Use?
There are a lot of ACT prep books, courses, and videos out there, so it can be difficult to choose which one will be the most helpful for your student. Here, we’re going to walk you through why we think utilizing real ACT tests is going to help your student see the most success come test day.
Knowing what’s at stake with the the ACT due to the current structure of some colleges’ tuition packages, we encourage all students to do some kind of ACT test prep leading up to test day. On one side of the spectrum, this may include independent studying and research; on the opposite end of the spectrum, this may be more focused around individualized, one-on-one tutoring.
There are many test prep plans, and the best option for one student may not be the right solution for another student. Every student is unique, so every test prep plan is going to be unique as well. Some students will prefer independent test prep using books and videos, while others will need one-on-one tutoring support. The key is to determine an ACT prep plan that will help a student to reach their ACT score goal. There are so many different ways to increase a student’s knowledge of the ACT:
ACT Textbooks
Online videos & blogs
Online courses
Practice tests
Classes through school
Private group classes
Individualized, one-on-one tutoring
Regardless of the studying method used, any type of preparation will require completing practice questions and drilling the concepts that show up on the ACT. Actually practicing questions similar to those you will see on test day is crucial to understanding the test well enough to obtain your full potential score. Think about how your classes are structured. In a geometry class, you’ll complete worksheet after worksheet of areas of shapes until it makes complete sense to you. You have to take that same kind of attitude into your ACT test prep. This isn’t something you just do last-minute and reach your full potential. It takes time and lots of practice to reach your best possible score.
The main reason for this is that the ACT is a very particular test. It’s not like other tests that students have experience taking at school. In fact, there are several ways that the ACT is different from a standard high school exam. There is a time constraint added, which most students are not used to having to work within, and students are examined on multiple topic areas all at once. These are just a couple key differences that can make the ACT harder to prepare for.
It’s very important to make sure you study the correct things when preparing to take the ACT. Imagine you show up to school for an exam and it turns out you spent time studying the wrong things, like the wrong chapter in your textbook or the wrong worksheets from class. Talk about a stressful situation. Not to mention you will probably not hit your full potential or goal score if you’ve been studying the wrong information.
That being said, we always recommend that students use real ACT exams when preparing for the ACT. The main reason for this is obvious: the makers of the ACT are the ones that are going to give you the best practice that most closely reflects what you’ll be tested on on test day.
The ACT always publishes a new version of their own test prep book each year. This is a great resource, and the practice tests within this book tend to be actual ACT exams that have been previously administered and released.
The ACT has remained largely unchanged for decades. The concepts tested have remained the same, as have the types of questions, the time constraints, and the language used in the questions. That being said, you can use these resources from ACT to help you prepare with materials that reflect very closely to what you’ll be examined on come test day.
You might be thinking, well can’t other companies create practice materials that closely replicate the ACT questions? The answer is yes…sort of. When we say that the ACT is a particular exam, we mean SUPER particular. Every question on the ACT has to be approved by multiple different people before it becomes an actual ACT test question. They make sure that every single word in every single question is just right, and the same is true for every single answer option. So, while I may be able to come up with a practice geometry question for you, I will probably not succeed completely in wording it the way that the ACT will.
As you practice with real ACT tests, you’ll become more and more familiar with the language that the test uses and the ways they try to confuse you in questions and answers.
Another reason that it can be beneficial to practice with real tests is that questions can sometimes be revised and recycled.
Quantum ACT Prep released the image below, which is a great supporter of just why students should practice with actual ACT test when possible. In the image, there are 3 different questions from the ACT math section. Each of these was included on a real ACT exam that was previously administered. You’ll notice that, apart from the numbers used, the questions are exactly the same.
So, while we can’t tell you precisely what each of your questions will look like on every section of the ACT on test day, we can tell you that they will look similar to and test you on the same things as previous ACT exams.
Good luck, and happy studying!
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