{"id":13417,"date":"2018-09-21T13:14:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T20:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/act\/?p=13417"},"modified":"2018-09-20T21:15:17","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T04:15:17","slug":"official-act-prep-pack-review-act-online-prep-from-the-test-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/act\/official-act-prep-pack-review-act-online-prep-from-the-test-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"Official ACT Prep Pack 2018-2019 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Search for “official ACT” over at Amazon, and you’ll find that your options\u2014and your questions\u2014start multiplying really quickly. Do you want the official prep guide<\/em>? The official prep pack<\/em>? Is 2018 okay, or is 2018-2019 better? Will there be a 2019 guide? If so, when? What about ACT online prep?<\/p>\n

Don’t worry, we have the answers! There’s no need to shell out hundreds of dollars buying every official publication in sight. Instead, consider your needs, how you study best, and what the products offer. There’s a lot of overlap among these products, so let’s take a look at what each one offers.<\/p>\n

What Is the Official ACT Prep Pack?<\/h2>\n

The Official ACT Prep Pack is a new product for 2018-2019\u2014but be careful, because its components aren’t all new! It consists of the 2018-2019 Official Guide to the ACT (although this is easy to miss because the book in the package is called The Official ACT Prep Pack 2018-2019<\/em>). <\/p>\n

\"official<\/p>\n

What makes this a “pack” instead of a book are the online tools. The book comes with a code that gives you access to online resources and two additional practice tests. Note that while the publisher’s description of the book states that it includes six practice tests, two of those are online; this has the same four tests as The Official ACT Prep Guide 2018-2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How Is the Official ACT Prep Pack Guide Different from the 2018 Official Guide?<\/h2>\n

This is where things get a little tricky! The book included with the ACT prep pack is different than the 2018 official guide <\/a>only<\/em> in that it includes one additional practice test (a good one\u2014it’s the June 2017 exam). In terms of online access, the 2018 guide gives you access to 400 practice questions online, while the prep pack gives you access to eight times that amount and two additional (online) practice tests.<\/p>\n

How Is the Official ACT Prep Pack Guide Different from the 2019 Official Guide?<\/h2>\n

There is (as of this writing) no 2019 official guide. Instead, what the publishers of ACT official materials have done is to add a fourth practice test to the 2018 Official Guide and called it the 2018-2019 Official Guide. This is the same practice test included in the prep pack, so you don’t need to buy both! However, the 2018-2019 Official Guide only gives access to the smaller question bank you get with the 2018 Official Guide, not<\/em> the expanded question bank from the prep pack. <\/p>\n

So\u2026What Are Those Options, Again? And What About the ACT Online Prep?<\/h2>\n

That’s pretty confusing, but don’t let it phase you! Here’s the breakdown:<\/p>\n