ACT Prep Black Book: The Most Effective ACT Strategies Ever Published

I got several ACT books in preparation for having my daughter study for a test (she is a junior). Here are first impressions that will likely make this book a secondary, rather than a primary, source for the plan of attack for our family:1. This is not a stand-alone book--it is supplement/companion to another book, "The Real ACT Prep Guide, 3rd addition". Don't bother buying this book unless you place your order for both--otherwise, you will be stuck with a book that gives explanations to questions that are not in the book (probably due to copyright reasons).2. This book is FAR too wordy--the first 60 pages tell you about the test and good info on how to do well, but this info badly needs a "cliff notes version". Our kids today communicate with the conciseness of Twitter--this book reads more like War and Peace. I can think of very few teens who would have the patience to read through 60 pages without the feeling of any immediate payoff (and those who are that conscientious, detail oriented, and thorough, probably are already doing extremely well on the test anyway :)3. The book does have some general pearls--which include only practice using real questions; "ACT is not for geniuses--anybody can score very high even if they lack actual knowledge", "ACT is very literal--every answer is wrong or right. Don't over-interpret--go with things for which there is direct proof in the text", "start with Reading, as it will lay the ground for the rest of the sections as well", and "you must learn from every mistake".4. The real value of the book appears to be in the explanations to the actual ACT questions from the Real ACT Prep guide. The explanations are supposed to be better/more thorough/ultimately more useful than the ones contained in The Real ACT Prep guide, aka as "the red book" (not to be confused with another "red book" on amazon which appears to be capitalizing on this confusion").

This book is one of the most helpful books to take the ACT like a natural. The first book one should purchase is the “Red Book:” ACT’s own “The Official ACT Prep Guide” because it is the only resource with copyright privileges to print real ACT questions, and there is no substitute for the real thing. This is the 2nd book one should purchase. The author’s simple approach of reading for precise, specific, and objective details is the single-most helpful tip to the entire test.As an ACT tutor of 10+ years, this book has become indispensable. Recently, I came across one important error in the book. On page 141, we are told, “You can only multiply one matrix by another only when the number of rows in the first matrix is equal to the number of columns in the second other [sic].” This is reversed from the correct statement: the number of columns in the first matrix must equal the number of rows in the second.All in all this is still an incredible resource, well worth its value.

This looked like a great book, and was recommended by several ACT prep professionals. However, no one seems to realize that the red, The Real ACT Prep Guide is an old version. I bought the new version that Amazon paired with it, The Official ACT Prep Guide, however, the page numbers are all wrong!! I tried working with customer support at Wiley for the red book to see if there was a list of changes so it was still usable, but no joy. The ACT Prep Black Book, has prep videos, but no customer service. In all I wasted $50 ($25 each book) and my daughter has lost time. I could order the old version with no extras (because they are no longer supported) for any where from $17 used to $45 for a copy Prime, up to $60; Another $45? No thanks, I will go to Barnes and Noble this time. Very disappointing, and expensive!UPDATE- The author contacted me, and is providing a copy of the original version of the red, The Real ACT Prep Guide, that is the corollary book to the ACT Black Book. I have upgraded the star status, and look forward to reporting back after my daughter works with both books.Furthermore, I believe that an author willing to follow up so quickly, is someone who really cares about his product and the end users, children. However, for those of you looking at this product, please be aware that, at least for now, you MUST buy the original red book, NOT the updated version that Amazon pairs with the Black Book. While it is no longer supported by Wiley and there are no extra online features, ONLY the original will work, and I think there is far more value in working the books together than online content. I'll let you know.

When my freshman daughter’s school let out this spring for the pandemic, it seemed a good time to do some prep work for the ACT. As an 8th grader, she had taken the test, so she decided to concentrate on her weaker subjects before the April test. When that was canceled and she registered for the June date instead, she had enough time to work on all four sections. This is the first edition of the Black Book, and she is the fourth student (not all my children) that I have used Barrett's explanations and techniques with. I would not necessarily just hand this book to a student to study with, as his explanations are long and the text is visually dense, but tutoring students using this book has been quite effective. I would have purchased the second edition for her to work through at a later date, but she will not need to retake the test.

Note that there are some changes to the test like the essay and dual passages that are not covered in this book. Apart from that, follow every word in this book and you'll be fine

The book is very well equipped with tips and ways but I was searching for some practice questions...

Great Book....

Some of the Best Books for ACT Preparation.There are many Strategies for ACT exam and would definitely help you in Increasing the Score.Study resources you use to prepare for ACT exam play a very important role in helping you to crack the exam. ACT is considered to be one of the toughest entrance exams of the world. All ACT preparation tips tell you to focus on practice but until you know your theory and concepts well, it will not be possible for you to solve ACT questions. Give it a shot and you would definitely love the book.*"[...]"* *All the Best for your ACT preparation*