Recommended Prep Books

The Official ACT Prep Guide 2019-2020

Pros: This official prep book from ACT, Inc. themselves contains 5 official past-administered practice tests and their respective answer explanations.

Cons: Contains little to no test taking strategy or content review. Answer explanations are vague and often difficult to understand.

Barron’s ACT Prep

Pros: Offers a comprehensive review of all the major content tested on the ACT and offers many beneficial test taking strategies.

Cons: The analysis of concepts within the book is based around unofficial test questions and as such must only be used for its methodology. Apply Barron’s strategies to official ACT questions.

Barron’s ACT 36

—> Most useful to students already scoring a 30 or above.

Pros: Provides a great overview and analysis of advanced content covered on the ACT and offers many advanced test taking tactics.

Cons: Does not cover many of the core content areas tested on the ACT as it assumes that the reader has already mastered them.