ACT Prep Red Book - 320 Math Problems With Solutions: The Most Effective Strategies Ever Discovered

As an ACT test prep professional, I am always looking for new materials to supplement the primary book I use in my work, which is The Real ACT Guide. (People in the test prep industry commonly refer to it as "the red book" which may be why this math prep book is titled "ACT Prep Red Book" and has a red cover.) The Real ACT Guide is the best source of actual, retired ACT tests to practice, and is a must-have for anyone prepping for the ACT, but it does not provide a systematic review of math, which is why you will like using Dr. Warner's book to supplement the Guide.The cover says "320 Math Problems with Solutions." The book really is much more than that. It isn't just a set of problems with worked-out answers, it is a teaching and strategy guide. A problem is given, and different ways of approaching the problem are presented. There is more text, more explaining, provided than I expected. And the explanations are very good. The claim, "The Most Effective Strategies Ever Discovered" is a bit hyperbolic, but the explanations ARE very good, and any student who buys this book and works through it sequentially will do better on the math portion of the ACT.The first version of my review included some suggestions on how this book could be made even better. Dr. Warner has responded by developing a topic/strategy index and topic/strategy map and to offer a larger format. If you have already purchased the book, please see his comment below for information on how to get those resources.Test prep professionals will find the improvements invaluable when using this book with students. I look forward to implementing this with some of my current ACT prep kids.Dr. Steve Warner knows his mathematics and he knows how to teach. This book is a real star in the galaxy of test prep materials available.

My high hopes were for naught. The book is poorly organized: the Level 1 questions are so basic that, if you need help with them, you need a basic math education, not a narrowly focused prep guide. The Level 5 questions are more advanced than are likely to appear on an ACT, and are a waste of time to study and learn. Plus, some of the questions are misleading, and some of the answers are wrong.For example: Problem 115 asks what the is the sum of the *three* distinct regions of the plane that can be divided up using three lines. The explanation shows three drawings which result in 4, 6, and 7 regions (so the "correct" sum is 17), but the question is misstated. But there are, in fact, 4 different ways of dividing up the plane with three lines (not shown: all lines passing through one point), so the answer explanation is screwy.Another example: Question 118 expects you to know that an angle inscribed in a circle is half the degree measure of the arc it intercepts; but that's far more difficult than anything on the ACT.The author suggests you memorize the quadratic formula. Good advice, but when it is required on the ACT it is given in the question.Another bad example: A question asks for the solution when x=5 of (x^2 - 5)/(x -3) times the number of horizontal and/or vertical intercepts of that function. In the answer, the author says that the function has a vertical intercept on x=3 and no horizontal intercept. Who would know that? The correct solution is to know that hyperbolas are the only conics with asymptotes and they always have two asymptotes and 0, 1, or 2 can be vertical or horizontal. The answer choices are 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, so the only answer possible is 10.The only good information is on using a calculator to plug and test answers, but the author suggests a TI-85, which is way overkill for the ACT and a distraction for most students. A more basic Casio fx-260, well understood, would be a far better choice.The best ACT math book is Ultimate Guide to ACT Math by Corn, but if you are going to get only one general guide, the math section of the essential ACT Prep Black Book by Barrett is far better than this "Red Book." You also will need the real "red book," Peterson's The Real ACT Prep Guide. This "red book" will waste time and confuse most students.

The Red Book helped my son raise his ACT score in math from a 21 to a 26. He is a good math student but fails to Deliver on a lot of standardized tests . The concepts were well explained . Like a lot of reviewers said the concepts are categorize in different areas from easy to hard. We have tried other ACT books and this one seems like one of the better ones out there. What people don't realize is that there are a lot of pre-algebra concepts that their son/daughter may have learned before high school that are on the ACT . This book does a good job of going those concepts and some of the test question replicate what you see on the actual ACT test.

I purchased this book for my daughter and she loves it! She worked 10 problems a night for about a month before the test and it raised her score 3 points! It is awesome that it goes through several math concepts / topics. Because the book was organized easiest to hardest questions she was able to work her way up to the more difficult problems! Definitely would reccomend for anyone struggling with the math section.

My son absolutely loved this book! He was so happy to finally find a book that helped him with his math struggles. I also suggested that he could do some tutoring from a personal friend who is a math professor at a college, but he said that the Red Book was helping him enough, and he felt good about math now. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Warner!!!!

I would say with confidence this book benefited my son a lot. He mentioned to me many times that ACT real tests questions are of type 3 & 4 of this book. The way the book presents the questions and solutions is suitable for High schoolers. My son likes the book and his practice scored got better so far. I will update my comments when my son retake the ACT test on 12/13/2014.

This was one of the best books I found to help my kids on the Math portion of the ACT.

The genius of this book is the simplicity of its structure. Arrange the problems by topic and difficulty level so that it's easy to work on the problems you need. Sounds like such a simple concept, I just don't understand why every test prep book isn't arranged this way. Great choice of questions and really well written explanations.