SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

Walmart offers several scholarship opportunities for dependents of their employees. The Walmart Dependent Scholarship is meant to cover college or vocational school expenses for those with financial need.

In this guide, I'll start by talking about eligibility requirements and the application process. If you're already familiar with this information, skip to the second half of this post—this is where I'll give tips and strategies for increasing your chances of winning a Walmart scholarship.

Scholarships can be a significant source of college funding for students of all different backgrounds - if you know where to look, that is. Many top scholarships have eligibility requirements regarding financial need or academic merit, but there are also excellent scholarship programs that are specifically for minority students. Most of these programs were created in order to facilitate access to education for minority students, and many aim to help students pursue careers in which people of certain ethnicities or backgrounds are underrepresented. 

One of the best ways to optimize scholarship funding is to apply to scholarships with more specific eligibility requirements (requirements that you meet, of course). To help you find scholarships like this, I’ve compiled a list of awards meant for students of specific ethnic and racial backgrounds. I started with scholarships meant for students of all minority backgrounds before moving into awards meant for specific minorities. Finally, I’ve ended with some tips and strategies for getting the most scholarship money possible. 

Did you know that the ACT is accepted by all four-year colleges? For this article, I've compiled a list of colleges with the highest average ACT scores for admitted students. With this data, you can compare your own ACT scores (or goal scores) with those earned by admitted applicants at top colleges.

We'll also talk about what these rankings actually mean: are these schools the best you can attend? Are they the most competitive? What if your ACT scores are below the listed averages?

Read on to find out the answers to these questions (and more)!

If you've already taken the SAT, you know it will likely be an important component of your college applications. Maybe you've set a goal score for yourself based on the types of colleges you're interested in. Even if you haven't taken the SAT yet or are still considering whether to take it, you probably want to know more about what the most competitive colleges and universities expect when it comes to applicants' standardized test scores.

I've compiled a list of colleges with the highest average SAT scores for admitted students. You'll be able to compare your own SAT scores (or goal scores) with those of top colleges and universities. I'll also talk about what these rankings actually mean so that you can interpret this information effectively. For example, are these schools the best schools you can attend? Are they the most competitive? What do you do if your SAT scores are below the listed averages?

Read on for a list of the top schools ranked by SAT score, and answers to the above questions!

In order to study effectively for the SAT, it's important to use practice tests that test the same strategy and content as the SAT does. With the major 2016 SAT overhaul, this means turning to updated, more recent materials.

Official College Board practice tests are the gold standard when it comes to prep materials. Here, you'll find free links to all official SAT practice tests, essays, answer keys, and scoring guides, along with tips and strategies for how to use them.

You might notice, though, that there's a limit to how many free official SAT resources are available. For those who want to prep with other high-quality SAT practice problems and tests,we offer you some useful alternatives to official practice tests.

Getting your first job is really exciting—you have real-world responsibilities, and real-word money that you earned yourself, probably for the first time. In your teen years especially, the independence that comes with a part-time job is especially appealing. You get out of the house, meet new people, forge professional connections, and make your own savings and spending decisions.

But you probably have a lot of other things on your plate as well: school, extracurricular activities, family, friends, even college applications. How do you know whether getting a job is a good idea? In this post, I'll talk about the things you should consider before submitting those job applications. Hopefully you come away from this post with a better idea of whether getting a job is right for you.

Are you considering applying for federal financial aid? If so, you might have heard of the Perkins loan program. Perkins loans are government-backed, low-interest loans that are meant to help students pay for school. They come with a lot of great perks, including the opportunity for loan cancellation (that's exactly what it sounds like it is⁠—imagine taking out a loan for school and not having to pay it back!).

If you want to get a Perkins loan for yourself, you've come to the right place. Read on for easy-to-follow instructions on exactly how to apply for a federal Perkins loan.

Note: As of 2017, the Perkins loan program is no longer being run. But don't worry⁠—we'll still give you a few options for what you can do for aid instead!

There are a lot of different ranking systems out there for almost any type of college you can imagine. Even though these rankings purport to use sophisticated algorithms and calculations, all the final lists seem to differ from each other. How should you be able to figure out what the best liberal arts colleges are when there so many different ranking systems out there?

I did the work for you by considering many of the top lists and compiling rankings of liberal arts colleges; in the beginning of this article, I'll lay out how exactly these ranking systems work. If you're looking for a realistic, reliable ranking list for the best liberal arts colleges in the country, then you're in luck.

If you (or your child) are worried about preparing for an upcoming PARCC exam, official practice tests are the best way to study.

Here, we’ll direct you to these PARCC practice materials. We’ll also explain how to use these tests (and other resources at your disposal) if you want to do well on an upcoming PARCC exam.

If you’re looking for a way to fund your college education, you should definitely check out merit scholarships. They’re especially great options for high-achieving students who may not qualify for much need-based financial aid. The best part of getting a merit scholarship is, of course, that you’re essentially getting free money for school. But how to get a merit scholarship can still be confusing and overwhelming.

In this post, I’ll explain what defines a merit scholarship before going into both where you can find them and how you can get them. At the end, you’ll find a list of some of the top merit awards available - this way, you can get a head start on getting that cash.

College is a huge investment - you spend a lot of time, energy, and money to earn a degree. Graduating from school means making financial sacrifices, but it also means reaping significant educational and professional rewards.

But what if the whole money problem wasn’t an issue? What if you could go to school without worrying about tuition expenses or accruing interest? With a full ride scholarship, all your college costs are taken care of. Instead of thinking about paying your bills, you could focus on the important things: studying for that big exam or getting your term paper in on time. Here, I’ll lay out everything you need to know about how to get a full ride scholarship: what exactly it is, who can get one, and where you can find them.

Applying for scholarships can be stressful and time-consuming, especially if you’re looking at really competitive awards. Wouldn’t it be nice to apply for scholarships that you knew you had a really good shot at winning?

If you want to get your hands on some easy scholarship money, you’re in the right place. First, I’ll talk a little bit about what it means to be an easy-to-win scholarship. Then, I’ll get to the good stuff by directing you to the places you should look for these awards - you might be surprised at where you can find them - and how to put together a successful application.

Understanding how the SAT scoring system works is an important part of preparing for the test. After all, how else are you supposed to measure your progress and set goals?

The SAT underwent some big format changes in 2016, which means that the scoring system most people were familiar with was radically overhauled. Here, I’ll cover how the scoring system has changed on the SAT, how this has affected the highest possible SAT score, and what this means for test takers.

Law is one of the toughest trades to break into—there's a lot of competition out there, and there's a lot at stake (law school isn't exactly cheap). If you're interested in entering the legal profession, you should be well-informed about everything it takes to become a lawyer.

Here, I'll go through all the steps of how to become a lawyer. Before I jump into that, however, I'll begin by touching briefly on what the job market looks like for lawyers both now and in the future.

If you know you’ll need to get financial aid to make college more affordable (most students do, by the way), then you should definitely learn everything you can about grants. They happen to be some of the best forms of financial aid you can get.

Here, I’ll tell you exactly why grants are so great and why you should seek them out. Then, I’ll get to the important stuff: where and how you can get your own grant awards.

Let’s get started!