High school students have a lot of options for what they can do once the school day ends: they can study, do homework, participate in a sport, watch TV, work at a job, play video games, attend a club meeting and more. Some of these activities are more useful and productive than others, and spending your time after school wisely can help you become better prepared for college and the rest of your future.

Whether you're a student or a parent, read on to learn about the benefits afterschool activities can have and which are the best ones for high schools students to participate in.

Are you a high achieving student who’s used to getting good grades in school? Were you expecting a similarly high standardized test score and were disappointed when you got your scores back?

I have two pieces of good news: 1. You are not alone; this problem is a lot more common than you probably think. 2. There are ways to improve your test taking skills and raise your score. This guide will go over the most common reasons smart students get low scores on standardized tests and give step-by-step guidelines for solving the problem.

So you’ve been staring at one math problem for what feels like forever, or maybe you’ve gone through your solve and none of the answer choices match what you found. Or maybe you just feel like somewhere along the way you made a huge mistake….

Well, never fear! Right now you might be stuck on a math problem, but we’ve all been there and there is always a way to recover. We’ll walk you through both how to recognize when you’re stuck (it’s not always obvious until too late) and what to do about it when it happens.

Standardized test scores have long had an important place in college admissions, as well as for some jobs. Schools and employers want to they accept the most talented people, so they often use SAT scores to judge intelligence and future success. However, some common beliefs about what SAT scores represent are actually false.

Read this guide to learn what information SAT scores can and cannot be used to determine and maximize the usefulness of standardized test scores for your school, business, or committee.

You’ve lined up all your SAT math study material, but now how do you use these questions to their best effect? Getting the materials to study is only half the battle—making an effective study plan and knowing how to best execute it is the second, crucial step.

We’ve put together a comprehensive plan on how to make use of the study materials you have at hand. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to best use your math practice problems and how to make the best study plan possible to boost your SAT math score.

To completely prepare for the ACT, you must spend time taking official ACT tests in the same conditions that you’ll face on the day of the real thing.

But what if you’re stuck on a concept that you just can’t seem to quite wrap your head around? Or what if you gone through many of the available practice tests already, but still would like to keep working on your skills? The great news is that there are many other ways to effectively study the concepts being tested on the ACT!

In this article, I’ll talk about what alternative practice ACT resources are good for, and how to use them best when preparing for the test. Then, I’ll also go through the ACT section by section and lay out all the available alternative resources. By the end of this post, you'll have a huge stock of extra practice material to help you prep for the ACT.

For students who are already scoring high on the SAT, improvement can be an uphill battle. High scorers may need to use different strategies to get the most out of their studying and push themselves into an elite score range.

In this article, I'll go over what it means to be a high scorer and how high scorers can take their prep techniques to the next level. 

If you put to a vote whether the ACT Math test or the SAT Math test is easier, there's going to be heavy contention on both sides. Some will swear up and down (and sideways) that the SAT Math section is easier. Others will not be moved by any force in the world away from the position that the ACT Math section is the simpler one.

But which faction is right? And more importantly, which test should you take? We’ve broken down the ins and outs of each math test to tell you which is easier, depending on the type of test taker and math student you are.

You might have heard that a new SAT was released in March 2016! What's it out of? How do you know what a good score is? How do you determine what new SAT score you need to be accepted to your target school? I'll cover all of this information below.

Imagine: you’re in Social Studies. You hear a fellow 7^th-grader sitting next to you say “Ugh, I have to take the SAT this weekend.” What is this person talking about? Why would you take the SAT in middle school? Is there even such a thing as a 7^th grade SAT score?

If you're a parent, you may have heard of various advanced programs for gifted and talented children that require taking the SAT. But is it worth it to have your child take the SAT so early? Why start the stress around college applications earlier than high school?

In this article, I’ll go over the pros and cons of taking the SAT in 7^th grade and the programs you can get into with high 7^th grade SAT scores.

Now that you’ve gathered together all your ACT math study materials, it’s time to put together a plan of attack. Having the right study materials is key, but understanding how to use them to their best effect is just as important. (What good is a tool wielded improperly, after all?)

We’ve put together a comprehensive plan on how to make use of your ACT math study materials and boost your math score. We’ll walk you through how to best use your math practice problems and how to make the best study plan possible to prepare yourself for test day.

Like most students who take the ACT, you may have taken the test more than once or are thinking about taking it multiple times. How will colleges look at your multiple test scores? Will they look at all your scores? Just your highest score? Will they average your scores and use that number? Standardized test scores are an important part of applying to college, but it’s not always clear how colleges will determine your ACT scores if you’ve taken the test more than once.

Being in 10th grade is a little like walking over a bridge. You're crossing from the less consequential testing of early high school to the world of high-stakes tests, like the SAT and the ACT – tests that can affect your future. One of the ways you get from one side of this metaphorical divide to the other is by getting the chance to practice. For example, some students take the PSAT, which is meant to be a precursor to the SAT that they will take in their junior or senior year.

Others take the ACT Aspire, a national achievement test that assesses how well students from 3rd to 10th grade are measuring up to Common Core standards. The format, structure, and scoring of the ACT Aspire are all very different from the ACT. But, because it is designed by the same organization that creates the ACT, it can feel like a precursor to the real thing.

So what’s a good score on the ACT Aspire for a sophomore? In this article, I’ll talk about different ways to think about what makes a good score, and how to tell where you rank based on the score you got. I’ll also discuss whether your 10th grade ACT Aspire score means for your future ACT score.

It’s tempting to compare the ACT Aspire test to the PSAT, but in reality they are quite different in their goals and purpose. The PSAT is meant to be practice for the real SAT, and doing well on it can qualify you for the National Merit Scholarship.

On the other hand, the ACT Aspire is a test for 3rd to 10th graders that is meant to determine whether students are measuring up to Common Core standards. Just like the real ACT, the ACT Aspire covers English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing. But the format of this test, the structure of the questions, and the way the test is scored are all very different from the ACT.

So how do you know what ACT Aspire score you should aim for in your freshman year of high school? Or if you already got your results, how can you tell where you stand compared to your peers? In this article, I’ll talk about how the ACT Aspire is scored, give you some different ways to think about what a good ACT Aspire score is for a 9th grader, and demonstrate several tools to use when thinking about your specific score.

If you took the SAT in 2006 or 2007, you may be wondering what your percentile score is on the SAT. Is a 1700 on the SAT in 2006 the same percentile score as a 1700 in 2007? Do percentile scores change over time? 2006 was a big year in SAT history; it was the first full year of the Writing section and the maximum score changed from a 1600 to a 2400. Next year, the SAT will be going back to the 1600 maximum score.

In this article, I will explain SAT percentile scores, how they change, and I'll provide the percentile scores for SAT composite scores from 2006 and 2007.