SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

Standardized testing is not most people's idea of fun—quite the opposite actually. Why take the ACT, then? There are quite a few reasons, actually, and they range from the essentially necessary to the more elective.

In this guide, we'll discuss what those reasons are, from college applications to job searching, as well as why the ACT may fit you better than the SAT.

For many students, the SAT is one of the biggest stressors to come up during high school. Few anticipate, though, that it may still be a concern during college. Occasionally, however, you might find that you need new SAT scores after high school. 

So can you take the SAT in college? Yes, you absolutely can. There is no regulation that forbids it. In fact, the College Board's website specifically discusses non-high school testers.

This article will discuss why you might need to take the test as a college student and cover some solid information about that process—and what makes it both unique and challenging.

Standardized test preparation has spawned a booming business. Stepping into the vast sea of available resources that have resulted can be overwhelming. What follows is a considered review of one particular resource, Princeton Review's Cracking the New SAT, Premium 2016 Edition. The hope is that this review will help you decide whether that particular book is worth your time—and how to approach it if it is.

SAT Math questions often hit you with a lot of jargon. Some types of questions are prone to being pretty wordy, and many problems just don't make sense—they simply don't click in your brain.

Well, this state of affairs simply will not do. There's got to be a better way of hammering away at these problems. And, lo and behold, the post that follows has arrived to illuminate this path.

This article will walk you through how to figure out what an SAT Math question is really getting at—what it's truly asking under all that banter.

If you took the ACT in high school, you were probably perfectly content to bid it farewell when you want on to college. If you didn't take it in high school, you were probably just as glad to get a pass on that particular trial. But what if you need to take it after you graduate? Can you take the ACT in college?

Yes! It's absolutely possible to take the ACT in college; there's nothing standing in your way. This article will discuss reasons to take the ACT as a college student, what the process is like, and what makes it different than taking it in high school.

The SAT is a daunting exam. Plus, it's not a direct part of your schooling, so why take the SAT? Well, as it turns out, there are plenty of good reasons.

On of the most significant reasons is how the test affects your college options, though there are other considerations, too. In this article, we'll talk about all the reasons to take the SAT, including why it might be a better test for you than the ACT.

The ACT is upon us, and it seems fair to assume (since you're reading this article) that you're under-prepared. If you've got less than three weeks before the exam and haven't really studied yet, you're officially cramming for the ACT.

Now, if you're willing and able to put in some 60 hours of preparation before the test, take a moment to read our cram plan for those very circumstances. If that doesn't sound realistic for your circumstances, though, read on to discover the most useful strategies you can employ to get up to speed on the test in a pinch. We'll cover tips specific to each part of the test, as well as some global advice on topics like guessing and keeping a level head on test day.

We've all experienced nerves before an important evaluation, but for many of us the anxiety is much, much worse than a few simple jitters. 

By all accounts, a significant percentage of students experience some level of test anxiety, ranging from significant but livable symptoms to the most severely debilitating manifestations.

Dealing with any level of test anxiety during the SAT or ACT is, at its best, the opposite of fun. This guide will explain what test anxiety is, why it happens, and what you can do to manage it. 

What on earth is a CEEB code anyway? As you may know, it's really just an identification number, though there's a bit more to it than that. So the real question becomes: why do I care about CEEB codes? Well, CEEB codes are the identifiers that help get SAT (and other) data communicated to the correct high schools, colleges, test centers, etc. In fact, they're a crucial part of the SAT process.

Now, while CEEB codes are necessary to register for the SAT and to get your scores reported to the right schools and scholarship programs, most online forms have an automatic CEEB code lookup and fill-in feature that lets you skip that process yourself. There are still a few reasons you might need to look up your CEEB code, though. For instance, not all forms are online, and not all online forms have the auto-fill feature, so you may find yourself in need of that number as you communicate with the College Board or a college.

It can be hard to tell what counts as a good score on the ACT, especially for high-achieving students. In this article, I'll explain what competitive ACT scores are for an honors student and what that means for you.

But first let's define our terms!

It can be hard to tell the differnce between a good SAT score and a bad one, especially for high-achieving students. To help you see how you stack up gainst your peers, we've done a throrough statistical analysis to determine what counts as a good SAT score for an honors student. In this guide, I'll give you a sense of what a high score looks like for a top student and help you understand what that means for you.

But before we get into the data, let's define our terms.

The ACT is daunting. It just is. One of the most intimidating things about it is the average student's initial uncertainty as to what types of questions are going to be asked: Will it test vocabulary? What's tested on the science section? How many formulas do I need to memorize?  The best way to clear up the confusion is to look at some ACT sample questions, so you can get a sense of what to expect on test day.

As you are most likely aware, there are five sections on the ACT—English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing—each of which has its own types of questions. In this article, I'll guide you through every type of question you're going to encounter in each of these areas and offer some tips on preparing for them.

In delving into the world of test prep, you've probably uncovered a whole slew of unfamiliar terms describing the various question types featured on the SAT. This jargon—improving sentences, identifying sentence errors, extended reasoning, literal comprehension—tends to feel extremely off-putting.

Why all the lingo? Why all these divisions and subdivisions by topic and type? Well, this guide will explain the logic behind the different terms and walk you through every single question type, with real SAT sample questions.