The 12 Best Online ACT Prep Resources of 2019

2Editors note: Kristin Fracchia contributed significantly to this post. If youre looking for the best online ACT prep, youre in the right place! As with many things in life, the Internet can be a black hole of test prep resources and ACT study sites are no exception. There are some good resources, some not so good, some free and some exorbitantly priced. Lucky for you, we did the hard work of researching for you! Lets take a look at the 12 best FREE ACT prep websites and apps. (Well, MOST are free 😉 ) 1. Official ACT Website One of the best websites for ACT prep issurprise! The ACT website. You should always start your ACT prep journey with a visit to the official ACT website: actstudent.org. Of course, you have to make a pit stop here to take care of the logistics of signing up for the test and getting your scores, but there is also a lot of insanely valuable test prep material on this site. How insanely valuable, you ask? How about A full-length ACT practice test from the test-makers themselves!!! Every year, the ACT test-makers release a full-length practice test of retired ACT questionsmeaning that these questions were once on a REAL ACT exam. Dont get carried away thoughthere are only 6 of these tests they recycle year after year and you cant find archives of previously released test on the website. But lucky for you, we have collected them all for you (please note that the tests released between 2005 and 2015 have outdated essays, as the ACT revamped their essay in 2016): ACT 2005-2006 Practice Test ACT 2008-2009 Practice Test ACT 2011-2012 Practice Test ACT 2014-2015 Practice Test ACT 2016-2017 Practice Test Six tests give you plenty to work with, so this is hands-down the best ACT online prep availableespecially since the question types and overall ACT format have not changed much over the years. That being said, I recommend you use the tests judicially. The ACT website actually has a lot of other great study material here as well, including sample questions, sample student essays, and college admissions planning advice. You might find it useful to study with this material in between practice exams to really understand your strengths and weaknesses and make sure you are maximizing your ACT prep. Navigating the official ACT website is a bit confusing since there are so many resources, so check out our detailed post on which parts of the official ACT website are the most helpful for test-takers. 2. PrepFactory PrepFactorys approach differs quite a bit from that of your traditional test prep company. It doesnt have full-length practice exams (although supposedly theyre in development) and its practice questions dont fully reflect the questions that youd see on the official ACT. You may be thinking, It doesnt have practice questions modeled after the ACT? Then why on earth would I use this? And you would be right to wonder! But that is whats innovative about PrepFactorys approachit is all about helping you master ACT concepts and strategy first in order to work you up to real practice. PrepFactory can be a great place to start your ACT prep if you are intimidated by the whole test prep process or if traditional standardized test prep is not suited to your learning style. PrepFactory uses an engaging, gamified platform that has several modules corresponding to each concept tested on each section of the ACT. I like to think of PrepFactory questions as bite-sized ACT questions that are designed to make sure you fully understand the concept of a given module. For example, if you struggle with identifying the main idea in a typical ACT reading passage, the relevant module on PrepFactory will give you a sequence of questions meant to help you build the skills for finding the main idea and then will end the module with questions on identifying the main idea in short paragraphs. Here is an example of such a practice question: (Source) PrepFactory is accessible, interactive, fun, and FREE, making it one of the best ACT test prep options offered (by the way, be sure to also follow their Twitter account to get ACT tips sent directly to your feed). You may even find it useful to take full advantage of this resource before taking a stab at more realistic ACT practice questions or full-length practice tests. You could focus on the concepts you struggle most with or you can finish all the PrepFactory modules to gain a sense of accomplishment and motivation while also getting some really solid ACT practice in 🙂 What People Say About PrepFactory: (Source) 3. Magoosh ACT Blog Disclaimer: We actually happen to think you are already using one of the best online ACT prep options available! But, yeah, we’re biased. Our mission with the Magoosh ACT Blog is to bring you high-quality advice on what to study, how to study, and what is going on with the ACT in general. Helping students is something we are truly passionate about and we work hard to make sure we are giving you the best advice. To make the most of our resources, you would definitely want to check out our ACT study plans, our FREE ACT ebook, and our our FREE full-length practice test. And then you can use the search box to find what you are looking for in terms of strategy, advice, reviews of ACT prep books, tips for test day, video lessons, and so much more. (If we don’t have what you are looking for, just let us know in the comments and we will get right on it 🙂 ). What People Say About the Magoosh ACT Blog: (Source) days worth of Question of the Days, and chat support, but lacks the test-builder feature. There is nothing like taking paper-based practice tests to make sure youre the most prepared for test day. But apps are some of the best online ACT prep because they make it so easy to fit practice into the nooks and crannies of your schedule. Sometimes it feels like youre not even prepping! What People Say About The Pocket Prep App: (Source) 6. The Magoosh ACT YouTube Channel If online courses arent your thing, the Magoosh YouTube channel has nearly 100 videos (and counting!) on all the ACT tips and strategies you could think of. In the spirit of this post, you might want to check out the following video, which discusses some additional online resources you may want to consider for your ACT prep that arent covered in this post: What People Say About the Magoosh ACT YouTube Channel: (Source) But enough about us. There are other great ACT prep YouTube channels as well! Read on for two others that we recommend. 7. The SupertutorTV YouTube Channel Like Magoosh, SupertutorTV has a growing and excellent collection of videos detailing various ACT tips and strategies. What differs SupertutorTV from other ACT prep channels is the quality of their video production, which might be useful for highly visual learners. An added bonus of this channel is that it has additional videos about student life, such as stress management, college admissions, and more. What People Say About The SupertutorTV YouTube Channel: (Source) 8. The Best ACT Prep YouTube Channel Although Best ACT Prep is no longer releasing new videos, its collection of 56 videos is considered the best online ACT prep by many students (at least judging by the comments). Their videos are much shorter than those of the other channels featured here and are packed with information. If you like your videos to be without frills and to be short and to the point, Best ACT Prep might be the channel for you! What People Say About The Best ACT Prep YouTube Channel: (Source) 9. Khan Academy You might be thinking, isn’t Khan Academy for the SAT? Well, true, theyve partnered with the College Board for SAT prep, so using Khan Academy for ACT prep might not seem intuitive. BUT its math review lessons can be really helpful if it has been a while since you have studied a particular topic in school or if you never really understood it when it was taught in your math class. You can use this list of ACT math topics to figure out what topics are tested on the ACT, and then search Khan Academy for lessons on the ones you need to brush up on. A lot of our students also report that Khan is a good place to start out and then take a deeper dive with Magoosh ACT prep. What People Say About Khan Academy: (Source) 10. Online Timed Reading Practice Arguably the most important skill you can develop for the ACT reading section is skimming passages, since its recommended that you dont spend more than 3 minutes reading and marking passages. For that reason, we dug up the following online resources to bring your skimming skills up to speed (pun absolutely intended): University of Victoria University of Southern Maine Pearson 11. GrammarBytes Just as Khan Academy is a great resource for math review, GrammarBytes is a great resource for grammar review for the ACT English test. It offers several resources, like videos, practice questions, and daily Twitter tips, to help you review the topics you might be rusty on and does so in a pretty fun and interactive way. For a list of topics covered on the ACT English test, check out our ACT English Study Guide. What People Say About GrammarBytes: (Source) 12. English Grammar This site may be less entertaining than GrammarBytes, but if you are just looking for the cut and dry facts, English Grammar has you covered. English Grammar also offers an extensive collection of online exercises and tools, which will surely help your grammar skills be in top shape for the ACT! What People Say About English Grammar: (Source) Final Words Well, there you have itsome of the best online act test prep money can buy (and in most cases, theres not even money involved)! Why spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on in-person test prep courses or private tutoring when some of the best act prep courses offered are online? Of course, depending on your learning style and timeline, you might be better off with an in-person ACT course or tutoring. But if you have a fairly long timeline to prep, you might as well go through this list and see what works for you. And if youre planning on taking both the ACT and SAT, many of these sites and apps provide similar SAT support as well. Just make sure you actually put in the time to take advantage of these best ACT prep online resources and youll see an increase in your ACT scores in no time!