SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

What is pre-med? When people say that they’re pre-med, what does that actually mean? If you’re planning to attend med school and become a doctor, it’s important that you understand the definition of pre-med and what you should be doing as a pre-med student.

Read on to learn what it really means to be a pre-med, what you should be focusing on to get into med school, and what the best majors for pre-meds are and why.

You know you need to take the SAT. Maybe you’ve even registered. But what now? How do you prepare?

If you’re not sure where to begin or how to prepare for the SAT, this is the guide for you. First we’ll go over what you’ll need to do to prepare for the test. Then, we’ll discuss some methods you might use for preparing for the SAT. We’ll wrap up with some resources that you might find helpful. 

At many high schools, AP courses are the toughest classes you can take. Extremely competitive colleges are looking for students who are willing to challenge themselves, so they're more likely to admit students who have taken at least a few APs.

In this article, I'll go over how many AP classes Ivy League schools expect you to take and how these expectations can change based on the conditions at your high school. 

Are you taking an SAT Subject Test soon and want to know how to be well prepared on exam day? You've come to the right place! In this guide, I explain everything you need to know about how to study for SAT Subject Tests, including which exam(s) you should take, the five most important steps for preparing for a Subject Test, and additional tips to help you maximize your score.

Running out of time on any test is extremely frustrating. For me, it’s always a fight between my anxiety arising from racing the clock and the feeling of "if only I had more time, I could do better!" (spoiler: no matter which feeling wins, I lose). It’s even worse on tests like the SAT and ACT because they’re so lengthy: if you run out of time on a section, you don't get the relief of "Well, at least I'm done with the test" because you have to move right on to the next section.

Since you can’t actually stretch out time (probably?) and, except under special circumstances, can’t get extra time, you'll need another solution to help you avoid running out of time on the ACT. So what strategies can you use? I’ll discuss the top misconception students have about running out of time on the ACT Reading section and give you strategies to avoid running out of time.

Are you taking the AP Statistics exam soon and want to make sure you’re prepared? One of the best ways to measure your progress and figure out which areas you need to focus on is to take practice exams. There are a lot of AP Statistics practice exams available; however, some are higher-quality than others. Taking a poorly written practice exam can cause you to study the wrong things and give you an inaccurate picture of what the real AP exam will be like.

In this guide, I’ll go over every AP Statistics practice test available, explain if and how you should use each one, and end with a schedule you can follow to help you incorporate practice tests into your study plans.

If you’ve been sitting in front of a blank screen, unsure of exactly how to start a personal statement for college, then believe me—I feel your pain. A great college essay introduction is key to making your essay stand out, so there’s a lot of pressure to get it right.

Luckily, being able to craft the perfect beginning for your admissions essay is just like many other writing skills—something you can get better at with practice and by learning from examples. 

In this article, I’ll walk you through exactly how to start a college essay. We'll cover what makes a great personal statement introduction and how the first part of your essay should be structured. We'll also look at several great examples of essay beginnings and explain why they work, how they work, and what you can learn from them.

Most AP tests are very challenging, and scores don't always turn out the way you imagined they would. If you're concerned that you've forfeited any chance of getting college credit, can you retake an AP exam? In this article, I'll show you how you can bounce back from a low AP score to end up with college credits and AP Scholar Awards.

If you're interested in going into the entertainment industry in any capacity, be it directing, writing, producing, animation, editing, or otherwise, you should consider attending film school. I wrote this article to share my knowledge as a USC film school alum and to help you get accepted to film school as well!

One of the competencies you need to develop for AP Language and Composition is a thorough understanding of rhetorical strategies and techniques. This is because you will both be expected to identify these strategies and techniques in the writing of others and to use them in your own writing.

But given the huge number of rhetorical terms there are, how do you know which ones you need to know and understand? Do you need to know what anaphora is? What about synecdoche?

Are you preparing for the Environmental Science AP exam? One of the best ways to study for the test and figure out how well you’re doing is to take practice tests. Taking practice tests lets you see what kind of questions you’ll be asked on the exam, and they can help you figure out which subjects or types of questions you struggle with and need to review more. Finding practice tests can be time-consuming, and, unfortunately, not all practice tests are created equally.

Luckily, we’re here to help. In this guide, I’ll provide links to all the AP Environmental Science practice tests available, point out which ones are the highest quality, and explain how you should be using them.

One of the best ways to prepare for the AP Calculus AB exam, as well as stay on top of lessons in class throughout the year, is to take regular practice tests. Taking practice tests lets you estimate how well you’ll do on the AP exam, shows you the areas you need to focus your studies on, and helps you become more comfortable with the format of the AP exam.

There are a ton of AB Calc practice tests available, however; not all of them are created equally. Taking a poorly written practice test can give you a false idea of what the real AP exam will be like and cause you to study the wrong things.

You can avoid those problems by reading this guide to AP Calculus AB practice tests. I’ll go through every AP Calculus AB practice exam that’s available, tell you which are highest quality, and explain how you should use practice tests when preparing for the AP exam as well as throughout the year.

Feeling lost and confused about which SAT Subject Test to choose? There are a lot of options - 20 to be exact - so it can be bewildering to know which ones will be best for your college applications.

Not to worry! We've gathered the most important considerations in selecting an SAT Subject Test. As long as you approach your decisions with these ideas in mind, you'll be sure to choose the best SAT Subject Tests to take for you.

Think you did horribly on the ACT? Need to cancel your scores? Or are you just wondering what you would do if you ran into an emergency on test day?

In this guide, we'll cover three actions you can take to deal with a bad ACT score: canceling scores, stopping college score reports, and deleting existing scores. Likely you would only need to use one or two of these methods if you run into trouble, but we will cover all three to make sure you know all of your options.

Generally, the better your grades, the more college options you'll have. However, some students are under the false impression that you need straight As in order to get into a wonderful college. Students stress and worry that a few Bs will sentence them to an inferior university.

Fortunately, getting Bs won't prevent you from being able to go to a good school. There are a number of excellent colleges that admit B students. I'll provide a list of 29 of the best colleges for B students and explain how to find a good college if you're a B student.