Taking practice tests is one of the best ways to get ready for the ACT. The ACT has released 80+ official practice tests. These tests all feature real questions given to students at previous administrations of the ACT that have now been taking out of circulation.
In this post, we'll tell you where to find the practice tests and give you our recommendations on how to use them to get ready for test day.
Now before we go any farther, let me quickly explain how these tests are released. Each year, the April, June, and December ACTs are released via the Test Information Release. Students who take these test dates can pay an additional fee to get a copy of their test and exact answers. Copies of these tests are then used as practice tests by students and test prep organizations. All of these tests are readily available online for free (if you know where to look). Now, is this all legal? Well this is the gray area, and for those reasons we will not post direct links to all of these tests. However, I will provide instructions of where you can go to find the tests.
Click on this link, which will take you to a blog post with links to download all the released official ACTs. If the link that I posted is down or is no longer active, please let us know, so we can get it fixed.
Again, this is a legal gray area, so PrepPros is not advising that you download and use these tests. We are only sharing that this resource available is on the internet. What you do with this information is your decision.
These are the 5 free practice ACTs available that the ACT has released to the general public. These have been publicly released by the ACT, so we can provide the links below. The only problem with these tests? Well as you can see, many of them are quite old!
If you need additional practice ACTs, we recommend purchasing a copy of The Real ACT 2020-2021 Edition. The book has 5 full practice ACTs in the book and online. This is the ACT Prep book put out by the ACT, so these tests are as close to the real thing as possible. Do not buy the Kaplan or Princeton Review books, as the quality of the materials and the practice tests do not mirror the real ACTs nearly as well as the Real ACT book does.
Practice ACTs are a critical part of preparing to take the SAT, but it is important to know how to use them and when to take them. Using practice ACTs effectively will help you get ready to score well on test day. We recommend that students take 4-6 practice ACTs before taking the real test. Here are 4 strategies we recommend to use practice ACTs effectively;
The ACT is a very long and difficult test. it's over 3 hours! That is a very long time to sit and stay focused on a Saturday morning. After taking the test, many of our students have told us how difficult it was to stay focused during the ACT. The only way to build up your testing endurance and be ready for the ACT is to take a practice test as if it is the real ACT!
We recommend taking your practice ACT on a Saturday or Sunday morning in a quiet location at home or to sign up and take a proctored practice ACT. I know that finding time to complete the full test in one sitting may be difficult, but is it the best way to get ready. Even if you cannot take all of your practice ACTs like this, do make sure that you complete at least 1 practice ACT in one sitting before taking the real ACT.
When you do not have time to complete the ACT in one sitting, it is still effective practice to break the test up into two sittings or even individual sections. Whenever you complete any part of a practice ACT, make sure to do so under strict, timed conditions. Managing the time constraints and finding the right pacing that works for you is a huge part of getting prepared for the ACT. Do not give yourself a few extra minutes to finish as even these few minutes will allow you to complete a few more questions and can greatly inflate your score. The practice tests are great for finding your weaknesses, so be honest with yourself, keep strict time, and then work to improve your score.
Print out the practice ACTs! I cannot stress this enough. We have many students who just pull up the tests on their computers or tablets and work from there. Without the paper copy, students will lose time scrolling back and forth and usually cannot complete the test as quickly. In addition, it does not allow students to build good test-taking strategies, such as annotating in the Reading Test, crossing out incorrect answers in the English Test, and labeling figures in the Math Test. You'll be given a big paper ACT booklet on test day, so print out the practice tests and treat them like the real thing.
Taking practice tests is only useful if you learn from your mistakes on the practice tests! After taking a practice ACT, you should take time to review every question that you missed AND every question and you answer correctly but were not 100% confident on. If you don't know why you missed a question or exactly why you got it correct, you are not going to improve on subsequent practice ACTs. Once you find your areas of weakness, put in some study time focused on your areas of weakness before taking another practice ACT. If you want to see your scores improve, you need to spend 1-3 hours reviewing your practice ACT.
Some students can get ready for the ACT on their own using just the practice tests. However, most students will benefit from having some expert instruction on the ACT. The additional help, whether it be in the form of a private tutor or a ACT class, can help students identify their weaknesses and learn the right strategies to maximize their scores.
