The phrase "actual preparation" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to the genuine or real process of getting ready for something, often in a formal or serious context.
Example: "The actual preparation for the event took several weeks, involving meticulous planning and coordination."
Alternatives: "genuine preparation" or "real preparation".
The aqueous extract was prepared to mimic actual preparation in the homesteads.
Other problems involve questionable legal notarization of documents, in which, for example, the notarizations predate the actual preparation of documents — suggesting that signatures were never actually reviewed by a notary.
The actual preparation for the press was at hand.
Once you have assembled the ingredients, the actual preparation is brief.
The money could better be used to help in the actual preparation of teachers.
Perfecting the recipes has, in fact, required endless experimentation, and the actual preparation is unusually exacting and exhausting.
Compare the actual formulation preparation instructions to the protocol formulation instructions, and verify that the instructions match the proposed formulation instructions.
What would have more significant effect, he said, is to show actual preparations for a military option by, for example, increasing deployment in the Persian Gulf.
In Britain, officials and academics cautioned against mistaking the drumbeat for actual preparations for a strike in the near or medium term.
Another — Julia Child — writes the narrative with empathy for a timid beginner; a third says very little about the actual preparations, describing instead how a French cook might approach the barnyard to choose a hen.
Officials say they are particularly concerned about the possibility of an attack before the November election, but they say there is still no evidence that indicates Al Qaeda moved from the planning to actual preparations to launch such an attack.
