The Official ACT Prep Guide 2020 – 2021

Book Preface

You want to do your best on the ACT® test, and this book can help. It supplements our free booklet, Preparing for the ACT, and our ACT Online Prep™ (a web-based preparation program for the ACT). This book features four actual ACT tests—all of which include the optional writing test—which you can use for practice, and it gives detailed explanatory answers to every question to help you review. Using this book will help you become familiar with the following: The content of the ACT The procedures you’ll follow when you’re actually taking the ACT The types of questions you can expect to find on the ACT Suggestions on how to approach the questions General test-taking strategies

This book is intended to help you know what to expect when you take the ACT so you can relax and concentrate on doing your best. The more you know about what to expect on any test you take, the more likely it is that your performance on that test will accurately reflect your overall preparation and achievement in the areas it measures. Knowing what to expect can help reduce any nervousness you may feel as you approach the test.

The ACT measures your understanding of what you’ve been taught in core high school courses that you should have completed by the time you finish high school. Because it has taken you years to learn all this material, it might take you some time to review for the ACT. You can’t expect to cram for the ACT in a night or two. However, any review should be helpful to you, even if it just makes you more comfortable when you actually sit down to take the ACT. We hope this book helps you to gauge how much reviewing you feel you need to do and identify subject areas on which to focus your efforts.

How This Book Is Arranged

This book is divided into five parts: Part One: Getting Acquainted with the ACT. Chapters in this part introduce the ACT, explain how to prepare, and present general test-taking techniques and strategies for you to consider.

Part Two: Taking and Evaluating Your First Practice Test. This part includes a practice test along with guidance on how to use the test to identify areas where you may need to invest more time and effort.

Part Three: Improving Your Score. Chapters in this part present test-taking strategies tailored for each subject test—English, math, reading, and science—along with suggestions for taking the optional writing test. P

art Four: Taking Additional Practice Tests. In this part, you have the opportunity to take four additional practice tests, see the results, and interpret your scores to determine how well prepared you are to take the ACT.

Part Five: Moving Forward to Test Day. This part prepares you for test day by explaining how to register for the ACT and describing what to expect on the day of the test, so you show up on time with everything you need. The parts are identified by bars on the edge of their right-hand pages.

Before You Begin

There is no standardized way to prepare for the ACT. Everyone learns and prepares differently. Some people prepare best when they are by themselves. Others need to work with fellow students to do their best. Still others function best in a structured class with a teacher leading them through their work. Use whatever method works best for you. Keep in mind, though, that when you actually take the ACT, it will be just you and the test.

As you use this book to prepare for the ACT, consider working in 1hour segments (except when you’re taking the timed practice tests, of course). If you want to invest more than 1 hour a day, that’s fine, but take breaks to stretch and give your mind a chance to absorb the material. Toiling to the point of burnout is counterproductive.