<p>Has anyone here personally used Barron’s ACT 36? Was it helpful? What were its strengths/weaknesses? Did it improve your score? What were your starting/ending scores?</p>
<p>I have used Barron’s ACT 36, and I can tell you that it was the most helpful prep book I have used so far.</p>
<p>Strengths:</p>
<p>English: REALLY helpful. It gives you all the grammar rules and the most commonly missed questions on the ACT. My favorite section was the “Each is One Body” section (If you have the book you’ll know what I’m talking about). Overall, this book helps much more than PR or the others.</p>
<p>Math: I didn’t spend too much time on the algebra and geometry section (mainly because I knew most of it), but the trig section REALLY helped me out. The questions in this section were harder than the actual questions.</p>
<p>Reading: There is not a good way to really prep for reading so this section was pretty much useless to me.</p>
<p>Science: In my opinion, this section helped me the most of the 4. It provides a depth and new perspective in taking the science test. This section was purposely made harder than the test, which is good. It’s better to over prepare than under prepare. Truly helpful.</p>
<p>Writing: I’m not taking writing so I didn’t use this section</p>
<p>Weaknesses:
The biggest weakness is that it doesn’t have a full on practice test at the end or anything. Yes, it does have like 7 or 8 questions at the end of each section; however, this prepares you poorly for the real test</p>
<p>Overall:
Buy this book. It may be harder than the actual test but trust me, it works.</p>
<p>I took the ACT in April 2012 and am planning to take it again in September 2012. I got a 28 on the April test, and after that I bought Barron’s ACT 36. I feel like I know a lot more about the test and the questions, but we will see how it plays out in September. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>