SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Education, about 1.7 million students are homeschooled. If you're part of this 3.4% of the population and are planning to apply to a 4-year college, then you'll probably be taking the SAT (or ACT).

This guide will go over the best preparation strategies for succeeding on the SAT, while keeping in mind the unique strengths you bring to the table as a homeschooled student. Before delving into specifics of the SAT, let's consider the advantages that your homeschooled education has afforded you.

Reflect On Your Strengths

Homeschooled students don't always take as many timed or standardized tests as those in traditional schools. If you're concerned that homeschooling puts you at a disadvantage for doing well on the SAT, pause and reflect on some of homeschooling's positive aspects.

You likely have a more individualized curriculum and have been encouraged to pursue your individual interests. Perhaps you've had the freedom to really reflect on your strengths and weaknesses, where you excel and where you need to grow as a learner. This kind of self-awareness is hugely helpful for homeschool SAT prep, as you can target your weak areas, customize your study plan, and focus your energies where you can make the most progress. If you feel you've had less practice with standardized tests like the SAT, consider the kind of learning you have had and how it can inform your approach to test prep.

Self-Awareness and SAT Prep

Having a sense of your strengths and weaknesses can be a huge aid for designing your SAT study plan. Do you speed through geometry problems, but get tripped up by probability? Do you absorb vocabulary like a sponge, but feel like it's impossible to write a whole 5-paragraph essay in only 25 minutes?

Try to get a realistic sense of where you have cultivated skills and developed strong content knowledge. Rather than delving into everything at once, you can set small, manageable goals for yourself and make progress towards them with steadiness and purpose. 

To address the above examples, you could gather official SAT sample questions about probability and thoroughly study the problems and answer explanations. You could read strategies about how to time your essay writing and come into the SAT prepared with versatile examples that work for many different essay questions. The best way to achieve your target scores on the SAT is to identify the areas that most need improvement and focus your test prep there.

How (and where) do you learn best?

Customization and Self-Teaching

Does your homeschooled education allow you to be relatively self-directed in your learning? If your educators agree with Lee Binz, founder of The HomeScholar, then their "long-term plan is to make learners who can absorb material by themselves." If you have received this kind of "self-teaching curriculum," then you've had the opportunity to develop your independence, perhaps more so than have students in traditional school settings.

Students who are most successful on the SAT don't study every concept all at once or mimic someone else's study and test-taking schedule. Instead, they customize their test prep for their own unique learning styles and needs. They take control of their test prep by setting aside time each week to focus on the material and benefit from being a self-directed learner on their homeschool SAT scores.

Besides having the independence to shape your study plan and follow through with it, you may also have some input into shaping your curriculum and homework assignments and projects. If this is the case, it would be helpful to ask if you can integrate SAT prep into your classes and thereby connect your math, reading, and writing to SAT practice questions.

Tilt Your Curriculum 

If you're encouraged to explore and articulate your interests and goals, as Binz described above, then your educators may be open to your suggestions. Gaining admission to a 4-year college is a notable goal, and gaining strong SAT scores are an important part of achieving this goal. If this is your motivation, find out if you can integrate SAT prep into your curriculum.

Perhaps you could add SAT math questions to your math studies, or practice writing timed persuasive essays. In addition to whatever other books you're reading, perhaps you can incorporate Critical Reading passages and questions. Practice answering objective multiple choice questions, which may or may not be a skill you're accustomed to in English class. Review SAT grammar rules and edit writing samples to practice for "improving sentence," "improving paragraph," and "identifying sentence error" SAT Writing questions.

If you can integrate homeschool SAT prep into your studies, then you can link your classroom learning with the test and apply your understanding of math, reading, and writing to each section of the SAT. In order to do this successfully, you must have a thorough understanding of the content and skills that are tested on the SAT.

Throw some SAT prep in the mix.

Understand the Content of the SAT

Do you know how many questions are in each section of the SAT, and how much time you have to answer them? In order to effectively incorporate test prep into your curriculum or out-of-school studying, you should gain a deep understanding of what exactly is tested on the Math, Critical Reading, and Writing sections of the SAT. The following is a quick overview of the content in each section.

• Math tests number and operations, probability/statistics, algebra, and geometry. Most of the questions are multiple choice, but there are 10 grid-in questions that you will answer directly on the bubble sheet.
  
  
• Critical Reading asks you to read long, short, and paired passages and answer multiple choice comprehension questions. These often ask about the general purpose of the passage, along with tools of literary analysis like tone, style, inference, and interpretation of various details. These questions also often ask you about vocabulary in context, while the current SAT has stand-alone vocabulary fill-in questions as well. The new SAT in 2016 will continue to ask about vocabulary, but is eliminating these stand-alone questions in favor of providing more context.
  
  
• Writing starts out the SAT with the 25-minute essay, in which you are asked to provide your opinion and support it with examples from reading, observation, current events, or any other area. Additionally, you will answer multiple choice questions and use your understanding of grammar rules to identify sentence errors and improve sentences and paragraphs. 
  
  

Even if you are unused to timed standardized tests, all of these skills are basic math, reading, and writing skills that you practice in your general education. Again, if you have some input into shaping your curriculum and homework assignments, then you can try to incorporate SAT practice and essay questions and reinforce your learning on the context of the SAT's tricky questions and strict timing. Outside of your classroom learning, you will need to make time devoted specifically to prepping for the SAT.

Make Time for Test Prep

Before you take your test, I would recommend spending at least ten hours really getting to know the content, format, and instructions of the test so you know exactly what to expect on test day.

A study plan involving about 40 hours might get you ready to take the test for the first time, but a regimen of around 100 hours of targeted practice would be more effective for improving your scores. While the amount of time you need to put in to boost your scores varies for each students, these are rough estimates of how many hours you should prep to raise your overall scores. 

If you start early and spread your study plan out over months or even a year or more, then you can gradually improve and these hours won't seem like such a daunting task. You could spend about 2 to 3 hours a week starting 6 months before your test, and then increase your study time as the test date approaches. Of course you also don't want to put in more time than you need to, when you could be focusing on other areas of school, life, and preparing for college.

So how can you maximize the effectiveness of your study time? One important part of test prep is simulating testing conditions to train your time management.

Time flies when you're taking the SAT.

Practice Timing Yourself

The SAT is a strictly timed test, and once you've finished a section you can't revisit it or revise any answers. I would say these strict time limits are perhaps the biggest source of stress for students, especially those who like to process information at a more relaxed pace. Luckily, you can use strategies to improve your efficiency, as well as time yourself while you study and take practice tests to get better and better at working fast and well.

I would recommend starting with a diagnostic practice test and simulating testing conditions. Sit in a quiet room with few distractions and time each section. Your initial score will just be a baseline. After studying and targeting your weaknesses, take another timed practice test and note your progress.

Even if finishing in time is something you struggle with, practicing this skill at home will help you pace yourself on the SAT and manage your time effectively. You should also learn about and experiment with different strategies, like speed reading and using process of elimination to answer multiple choice questions.

Get Strategic On Each Section

While an understanding of certain math concepts and skills in reading and writing are important for doing well on the SAT, so is simply learning the tricks of the test and developing your ability to work quickly. For example, you don't have time to leisurely read the Critical Reading passages and take notes on what you find interesting. Instead, you should practice habits of skimming for important introductory points, transitions, and details related to the corresponding questions. While the essay might seem like a hard part of the SAT, you can basically use a tried-and-true 5 paragraph formula and show up prepared with dynamic examples that will work for most questions.

Strategies for how to tackle each section, answer questions, and even fill in the bubble sheet (answering in chunks in your booklet and then transfering all at once can help save time) are hugely helpful in combination with your content knowledge for conquering the SAT.

By trying out strategies, reviewing concepts and vocabulary, and sticking to your study schedule, you will see improvements in your SAT scores. Besides the strengths many homeschooled students bring as self-directed, independent learners, do they have any extra responsibilities when it comes to taking the SAT?

Homeschooled Students and the SAT 

As a homeschooled student, you might not have as large a community of college-bound peers and guidance counselors as those in traditional school settings. Depending on your situation, you may have to shoulder more responsibility for designing and sticking to your homeschool SAT prep schedule, keeping track of your academic progress and application materials, and meeting your college deadlines. If this sounds like, what can you do to stay on top of things?

Be Proactive About Your Schedule

This is easier said than done for a lot of students, but try to make the most of your time and establish routines for yourself, just as you would when learning how to play guitar or practicing soccer. Use a planner with hourly (or half-hourly) time increments or an online tool like Google Calendar. Set aside time to work towards your goals, like achieving your target SAT scores, and fulfill your college aspirations.

If you're someone who's motivated by an approaching deadline or test date, then design your schedule to reflect that (while still leaving enough time to learn). If you prefer to spread out studying or practice and reap the benefits slowly over time, then honor that approach. These skills of actively taking control of your time will help you stay organized and achieve your goals in high school, college, and beyond.

Do Your Research

Part of your SAT prep plan is knowing what your target scores are, and part of determining that (apart from your own personal goals) are knowing your colleges' expectations. What are the average SAT scores for last year's accepted students? How much are SAT scores emphasized in the admission process? Does the school have a test flexible policy? When are your deadlines?

Planning for college starts early. Check out websites, visit campuses, speak to admissions officers, and gain a clear sense of your colleges' expectations and requirements. Then figure out how to tell your story and stand out from the competition.

Since you probably don't have a guidance counselor keeping you up to date on the SAT and prep courses, you need to seek out helpful homeschool SAT test prep resources. PrepScholar's online test program is one way to prepare, along with official practice tests, books, and SAT Question of the Day. Khan Academy is another good online resource, especially because it has recently offered sample questions for the upcoming redesigned SAT. 

Besides online and book resources, you can also make an appointment with a counselor at your local high school and seek his/her advice on SAT prep and college planning. Through it all, work on staying organized to keep track of requirements, deadlines, and all the online passwords you're sure to collect.

Stay Organized

The best way to plan your schedule and keep track of your college planning is to create a system of organization that works for you.  Write everything down, whether on paper or virtually, and stay on top of deadlines and test dates. If you start early with SAT prep, you can take the test several times and prep between each real test to improve your scores.

If your homeschooled education helped you develop independence in your organization, learning, and time management, then use these skills to your advantage in the SAT and college planning process. Start early, study the test, and put in the time and effort to achieve your target SAT scores and gain admission into your college of choice.

What's Next?

Using official practice questions from the testmakers and taking timed practice tests are an essential part of your study regimen. Download official SAT practice tests and score them to diagnose your level and gauge your progress toward hitting your target scores.

When exactly should you register to take the SAT? Are some test dates preferable to others? How many times should you take it, anyway? Learn how to choose your test dates and shape your study plan accordingly.

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