--- title: 3 Dangers of ACT Practice Tests · PrepScholar description: Everyone should use practice tests in their ACT prep, but that doesn't mean there's no wrong way to do so. Learn the 3 main dangers of ACT practice tests. image: https://360031.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/360031/feature_dangersofpracticetests.jpg --- **[![PrepScholar](https://www.prepscholar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PrepScholar-Logo-Colored.png)](https://www.prepscholar.com/)** CALL NOW: [+1 (866) 811-5546](tel:18668115546) [![Start Free Trial](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/360031/interactive-171805697634.png)](https://cta-service-cms2.hubspot.com/web-interactives/public/v1/track/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLKJluK2NyG3jpAJh%2F2lClc1fhnVHyMZoQonqRxtJngB8FMX6lc78F84JqOaVAL0d36TA5%2FYuH%2FLCJw8AG3ewREi%2F7a3XDouZgjxWfYCBUge6z76KnSykOxONl3avMK0gUjJGpJdyJE2BDTx8g3bsgHwMtx4Kr9Jfh6Jr7WA2XEIgtLw1OoVvAMo4Kw%3D&webInteractiveContentId=171805697634&portalId=360031) ## Choose Your Test SAT Prep ACT Prep [PrepScholar Advice Blog](https://blog.prepscholar.com/) ☰ - Search Blogs By Category - [SAT](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/sat) - [ACT](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/act) - [College Admissions](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/college-admissions) - [AP and IB Exams](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/advanced-placement-ap) - [PSAT](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/psat-info-and-strategies) - [TOEFL](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/toefl) - [GPA and Coursework](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/coursework-gpa) # [3 Dangers of ACT Practice Tests](https://blog.prepscholar.com/dangers-of-practice-tests) ![author image](http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/360031/author_lauras.png) Posted by [Laura Staffaroni](https://blog.prepscholar.com/author/laura-staffaroni) | Updated on August 29, 2024 [ACT](https://blog.prepscholar.com/topic/act)   ![feature_dangersofpracticetests.jpg](https://360031.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/360031/hubfs/feature_dangersofpracticetests.jpg?width=600&height=215&name=feature_dangersofpracticetests.jpg)Practice tests are key to good ACT prep, but just taking full-length practice tests isn’t enough to guarantee a good score. In this article, we'll go over the three major pitfalls that many students stumble into when attempting to use ACT practice tests. feature image credit: [Danger Danger Danger Danger](https://www.flickr.com/photos/withassociates/3773796263/)/used under [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)/Cropped and resized from original.   ## Danger 1: Inaccurate Practice Tests Many non-official practice tests are **lower quality** than the real test. The quality problems can range from materials that don't test the right things or ask about them in the right way to tests that are rife with errors. Some might argue that doing any sort of practice test is better than nothing, no matter if it's not as good as the real ACT. But using low-quality ACT practice tests is like practicing to become a ping pong champ by playing squash: it will not only **waste your time** but will also make your score worse because it's **teaching you the wrong skills**.   ## Danger 2: Overdosing on Practice Tests Practice tests don’t help you if you mindlessly do one after another without taking the time to [study in-between](https://blog.prepscholar.com/act-practice-tests-how-to-reflect-and-get-the-most-out-of-them). It's okay to take the first few practice tests without too much reflection, just to get used to the format and the experience of taking the test. Once you get to the 4th or more practice test, though, you need to **thoroughly review your mistakes** if you want to see any improvement in your score.   ## Danger 3: Underdoing Practice Tests You cannot have a good ACT study program without at least **four real practice tests**. If you're spending less than 10% of your ACT prep time on practice tests, things are going wrong. Preferably, you'll spend up to 30% of your total ACT prep time taking practice tests. Making room in your busy schedule for the chunk of time a realistic practice takes can be tricky, however. A good rule of thumb to follow is that **out of every 40 hours you spend doing ACT prep, you should spend (at a minimum) at least 3-4 of those hours taking a [realistic, full-length practice test](https://blog.prepscholar.com/realistic-act-practice-testing-with-parent-proctoring) (with breaks).**   ![body_practicetesttaking.jpg](https://360031.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/360031/hubfs/body_practicetesttaking.jpg?width=600&height=425&name=body_practicetesttaking.jpg)[Thousands compete for military university admission](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ntm-a_cstc-a/5147946851/)/used under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)/Cropped from original.   ## What’s Next? **Running short on prep time?** Follow our [20-hour prep guide to using ACT practice tests](https://blog.prepscholar.com/guide-to-using-act-practice-tests-20-hour-prep) to get the most out of the time you have left. **Now you know what to avoid on a high-level with planning out your ACT prep, but what about while you're taking practice tests?** We've collected the top eleven [mistakes students make during ACT practice tests in this article](https://blog.prepscholar.com/11-things-you-must-avoid-during-act-practice-tests). **Ready to take some practice tests, but not sure where to get them?** Not to worry—we've got [a collection of free official and unofficial ACT practice tests](https://blog.prepscholar.com/free-act-practice-tests-massive-collection-of-online-sources) for you to use.   [![Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points?   We have the industry's leading ACT prep program. 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She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school. ## Ask a Question Below Have any questions about this article or other topics? 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The Graduate Management Admissions Council® does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with, the owner or any content of this website. ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Laura Staffaroni", "url" : "https://blog.prepscholar.com/author/laura-staffaroni" }, "dateModified" : "2024-08-29T19:39:24+00:00", "datePublished" : "2016-11-10T20:00:00+00:00", "description" : "Everyone should use practice tests in their ACT prep, but that doesn't mean there's no wrong way to do so. Learn the 3 main dangers of ACT practice tests.", "headline" : "3 Dangers of ACT Practice Tests", "image" : "http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/360031/feature_dangersofpracticetests.jpg", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.prepscholar.com/dangers-of-practice-tests", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.prepscholar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PrepScholar-Logo-Colored.png" }, "name" : "PrepScholar" } } ```