SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

If you are in your junior year, you’ve probably been told a dozen times that this is the most important year of high school. One reason is because this is the year you will take the SAT – maybe once, or maybe a few times. And as you know, standardized test scores are an important component of your college application.

If you have been putting off the ACT/SAT or are hoping to retake one, you need to know when you can take your last test so that your scores will arrive at your schools in time. In other words, when is the very latest you can take the SAT or ACT for your college applications?

Read on to find out when you can still take the SAT or ACT—and when you'd be too late. You might be surprised by how little time you have!

If you've taken the ACT and gotten your ACT test scores back, you probably want to know how you did. Or you might be planning for the ACT and want to know what ACT composite score to aim for. So what is a good ACT score?

In this article, we'll discuss what makes a good ACT composite score. We also give you a step-by-step guide to figuring out what a good ACT score is for you personally, depending on the colleges you plan to apply to. We'll also provide ACT score ranges for 38 popular schools and discuss what you can do if you fall short of your goal score.

The ACT is an important college admissions test that has traditionally been administered on paper. But according to a press release by ACT, Inc., more and more students will soon be able to take the ACT in an online, computer-based format. So can you take the ACT online, or not?

Below, we go over who can (and will soon be able to!) take the ACT test online, what this computer ACT looks like, and the pros and cons of both the computer and paper versions of the ACT.

How do you get your PSAT score report? Can you view it online? The PSAT score report works a bit differently than your typical SAT or ACT report.

We will walk through how to get your report and what to do once you have it.

Many students want to get into Stanford, one of the most prestigious undergraduate institutions in the United States. While getting into Stanford is very tough, there are definite rules to Stanford admissions. Using these rules to your advantage will greatly increase your chances of getting in.

Did you know that early decision isn't necessarily early? "Binding decision" might be a better name for it, since some schools now offer "early" decision deadlines in January as well as in November.

Either way, applying early decision is a big commitment. If you apply this way, you should be totally sure you want to attend that school. Let's review the pros and cons of early decision and look at all the schools that currently offer early decision admission.

Each year about 1.6 million juniors take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in the hopes of qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

But what score do you actually need to earn Semifinalist distinction? In this guide, we'll tell you what PSAT/NMSQT score you need in order to qualify for Semifinalist status in your state and potentially move on to win a National Merit scholarship.

The 2023-2024 college application season is in full swing, which means you’re probably taking standardized tests. Will your scores get you accepted to your top colleges? And if your scores aren’t high enough, what can you do to give your SAT scores an added boost? 

We’ll walk you through how to decide if your SAT scores are good enough for your college admissions goals. We’ll:

• Answer the question, “What is a good SAT score for 2024?”
• Explain everything you need to know about overall average SAT scores in 2024
• Show you how to figure out if your SAT score is high enough

Ready? Let’s dive in!

Deadlines are stressful—so why not get rid of them? Well, some colleges do just that. Rather than having a fixed application deadline, these schools open up a period of time for you to submit your application.

Rolling admission doesn't mean you won't have any timeline, though. This guide will go over what rolling admission means as you apply to college and also provide you with a complete list of colleges with rolling admissions.

Every October, about 1.6 million juniors across the country take the PSAT. Those who score in the top 1% achieve the distinction of National Merit Semifinalist. Most of these students move on to become National Merit Finalists, with some winning scholarship money for college.

Being named a National Merit Semifinalist is a huge achievement along the path to college. Let’s take a look at what you need to do to become a National Merit Semifinalist.

As you apply to college, it's important to understand how high of an SAT score you will need to aim for on test day. This raises the question: what are good SAT scores for colleges? And not just any colleges, but your colleges specifically?

In this article, we'll examine the SAT scores needed for college and how these scores can vary due to differences in factors such as school prestige and competitiveness. We'll then show you how to look for average SAT scores for colleges and how to set your own SAT goal score.

With more than 5,000 colleges to choose from across the country, you might be asking yourself, "What colleges should I apply to?" How do you narrow thousands of schools down to just 10? The best way to streamline your college list is to divide it roughly equally between safety schools, match schools, and reach schools.

This guide will go over exactly what these terms mean and how to choose the best schools for you. Before taking you through the process step by step, though, let's review the research process as a whole.

Why buy a bunch of PSAT practice tests when you can find them online for free? To make your search as easy as possible, I've compiled all the best PSAT practice tests and sample questions available online.

Read on for a link to digital PSAT practice tests, 11 downloadable official PSAT practice test PDFs, and 10 bonus SAT practice tests. Since the College Board has only released one official, printable practice test for the current version of the PSAT, I'll also explain how you can modify older practice tests to effectively prepare for the test.

Let's get right to it with the first official PSAT practice test PDF for you to download. 

Are you planning to take the ACT this year? If so, your first order of business is to check out the testing dates and choose the one that works best for you. Whether you plan to take the ACT once or a few times, remember that standardized test scores are an important component of your college application. You’ll want to make sure you choose the dates that will help you be the most successful.