<p>In my opinion that is in spite of, not because of, using that book. All of the ACT books I have found have been useless aside from the practice tests. If you’re aiming for a 34+, you can’t really use the “gimmicks” in these books. The story might be different for other scores, however. Here is my advice in a nutshell:</p>
<p>English section:
Read the entire English section in the red book (it’s quite short). Then take practice tests, and look at the ones you got wrong / guessed correctly until you understand why you got them wrong. The English section really comes down to two things:</p>
<p>1) (For mechanics questions): Be cheap with your words. If you are presented with the choice between a long sentence and a short sentence that do not differ in meaning, the short sentence is ALWAYS correct.
2) (For usage questions): Each time you read an English passage, keep the answer to the following question in mind: “In one sentence, what is this about?” If they ask you anything else, the answer is usually given in the question - or heavily hinted at. Just use your instincts, this section usually is not about being tricky, but rather just following rules.</p>
<p>Mathematics:</p>
<p>There are no tricks for mathematics. The trick is to learn math well. I didn’t prepare for this section because I am have studied some advanced mathematics. </p>
<p>Tips: (1) Take the hardest math classes your school offers (or that you have access to period).
(2) Take the AMC/AIME/USAMO. They will make this look easier. And from my experience, that’s always a good thing. :)</p>
<p>Reading: I find a “disorganized” approach to be best here. Go through the passages one-by-one. (I do it in the order presented. Do it in another if you like.)</p>
<p>You have about eight minutes per passage (and then three left over to bubble, erase, use for hard questions, etc.) I recommend using about 4 minutes to fully read the passage. After each paragraph, ask yourself “In one sentence, WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?” (Just like my advice for the English section, but in each paragraph, not just once for the whole essay). Then go to the questions. If you can’t answer a question in about 20 seconds, skip to the next one, then come back to it later (but before you move on to the next passage). Any time you have not used up your 20 second allotment per question but think you have answered it, go into the text to find evidence for your answer.</p>
<p>Science: Don’t read anything you don’t have to. Skip directly to the questions. If you don’t understand what a question is asking, read anything that looks relevant until you understand the question. This section is just about reading graphs and using common sense in science. </p>
<p>Essay: Write as much as you can, as long as you are using good lexicon. Also, note the one difference from the SAT: address both sides of the issue (by rebutting arguments the other side might make, and don’t stress over vocabulary… too much.)</p>
<p>I hope this helped. Let me know if you have questions.</p>