THe Princeton Review does it again! I've read several books by them, and never have I been disappointed! They continue to give the student enough information for them to do well (on whatever test the book is written for), without giving too much information to scare the student!
This book is a must for anyone planning on taking the ACT, or for anyone helping someone that's studying for the ACT. The only thing missing from this book is actual ACT tests for the student to practice-but there is another book with those!
The practice "ACT LIKE" tests in the back are decent, and are good for someone that does not have access to the other book out there with actual tests that were used in the past!
THE PRINCETON REVIEW CONTINUES TO PROVIDE ACCURATE BOOKS! NOBODY DOES IT QUITE LIKE THEM!

I had to take the ACT to get into nursing school, so after being out of school for 20 years I picked up this book to help prepare myself.

It does a very good job with English and Math, but as one of the other reviewers stated it's Reading section could have been better. I too find it much better to read the story completely through before answering the questions, something book advises you not to do.

The two tests that are in the book are very good and have explanations for all the answers. The 4 tests on the CD are not up to that same quality. The CD testing system leaves something to be desired since it is designed for you to take all 4 parts of the test in one sitting, which although might be realistic, it doesn't really help you if you just want to practice one section since you won't get any scores unless you go through the entire test. It would be nice just to be able to do the Math section on the CD and get your score, but you really can't do that with this software. Also there are several questions on the CD tests that have the wrong answers and some times the questions will repeat themselves.

It does have a nice section on overall test strategy and some generally helpful tips. I am glad I picked up this book instead of just going into the test blind as it did help me quite a bit, and one of the experiments in the science section was the exact same on the actual ACT as it was in this book so that was nice. This book ended up helping me get a composite score of 30 and had I prepared a little better, I might have gotten a few points higher than that.

I recently took the ACT test, and I studied Princeton Review's Cracking the ACT. The question is whether or not this book raises the score.

This book shouldn't be the only book one should depend on. I recommend getting the Real ACT Prep Guide, along with other books. The introduction to the book even recommends you get this book solely because thhe book has real tests.

Cracking the ACT is very great in the English and Math section. The book reviews many materials that should be covered in high school. The book has some drills in the end of some sections. That's a lot of practice. It is also a great guide to learn the Process of Elimination which is to eliminate the choces.

What this book's weakness is is the Reading section. The book suggests that you don't read the passage at all. However, when I used their strategy, I didn't do as well as if I just read the passage. The book could also be better on giving tips on time management.

The only personal tip I have is: while doing the practice ACT, time yourself.

The ACT is another one of those standard tests that schools like to have you take. Some schools use it heavily, some treat it more as a formality. At any case, if you are planning on college, it's probably something you have to do.

This book, just out with a 2005 edition is based on many years of monitoring the test. While the actual questions are copyrighted and not released, questions that are very similar to the actual tests can be made up and used for practice. In addition, comments on strategy and test taking techniques can be of great help. The ACT is a standardized test. That means it is predictable. There will be 14 questions on plane geometry. There will be ten questions on punctuation. The questions will be of a predictable format, and that format is discussed in this book.

There are five parts to the test: English, Math, Reading, Science Reasoning, and an optional essay. This book has major parts, one each for of the test parts. Each part of the book has a description of the test, some hints and tips that have been frequently helpful in the actual testing, some study guide information, some sample questions to illustrate what they are talking about. Finally there's a CD-ROM included with the book. This has two practice tests designed to be as much like a real ACT as possible, except that the practice tests have the answers and an explanation of how to get that answer.

It is often said that you can't practice for the ACT, that you should just go into it and do your best. This would be true if this were an intelligence test, but it isn't. It's just another standardized test. And you can certainly learn more about how to take a standardized test.