SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

You only need to know one fundamental rule to do well on ACT Reading, and it’s not all that complicated.  That rule is this: There’s only one correct answer choice for every question, and the other three answers can be eliminated based on definitively incorrect elements. In other words, the questions on the ACT Reading section are NOT subjective in any way! 

In this article, I’ll go through the types of incorrect answers you’ll see on the ACT Reading section and how to ruthlessly eliminate them so you’re only left with one solid winning choice.

Though direct analogy questions were eliminated along with the old SAT Verbal Reasoning section in 2005, analogy questions remain in place in a more abstract form in the Critical Reading section. 

In this article, I’ll show you what analogy questions look like, the best way to approach them, and some step by step examples for solving them with real questions from the SAT!

If you’re aiming for a top score on the ACT Reading section, you probably want to know what the hardest questions look like so you’re prepared for everything the test throws at you. In this article, I’ll walk you through the answers to some of the toughest questions I’ve seen on the ACT Reading section.

Why exactly are they so hard? How do you tackle them? How well will you do? Challenge yourself for that top score.

The benefits to standardized testing are two-fold: almost all of the questions are multiple choice, and you do not have to show your work. Why are these benefits to you? Unlike in your math classes, where it is crucial to show your work in order to prove that you know how to solve problems, neither the SAT nor the ACT cares about how you got to your solution. All standardized tests measure is whether or not you have the correct answer.

This means that finding the right answer—no matter the process—is your only goal. There is no such thing as partial credit on standardized testing, but there are plenty of workarounds that can help you to find the correct answer without making you do overly complicated math. This guide will take you through one of simplest processes for working out the answers to several different kinds of standardized math questions—plugging in the answer choices.

In this guide, we'll give you a complete walk through on the strategy of plugging in the answers (PIA)—why use it, how to use it, and when to use it on your standardized test(s). The other best strategy for working around problems—plugging in your own numbers—is covered in a separate guide.

Relative pronouns tend to inspire a lot of confusion. Is it the boy who cried wolf or the boy whom cried wolf? All's well that ends well or all's well which ends well?

As much as we may think we need the fancier pronouns, like whom and which, more often than not, the ones we're more familiar with are just fine. In both of those cases, the first version of the saying is the correct one.

At last, the time has come when you must tackle the ACT Reading. How can you practice for the ACT Reading? Where can you find ACT Reading practice questions? Is it even possible to practice for the Reading section? Read on for the answers to these questions.

Integer questions are some of the most common on the SAT, so understanding what integers are and how they operate will be crucial for solving many SAT math questions. Knowing your integers can make the difference between a score you’re proud of and one that needs improvement.

In our basic guide to integers on the SAT (which you should review before you continue with this one), we covered what integers are and how they are manipulated to get even or odd, positive or negative results. In this guide, we will cover the more advanced integer concepts you’ll need to know for the SAT.

This will be your complete guide to advanced SAT integers, including consecutive numbers, primes, absolute values, remainders, exponents, and roots—what they mean, as well as how to handle the more difficult integer questions the SAT can throw at you.

Little picture questions account for a huge amount of the questions on ACT Reading. Of the 4 publicly available ACTs I surveyed, between 25% and 50% of ALL Reading questions were little picture questions. So what does this mean for you and your ACT test prep? It means that it is well worth your time to make sure you can consistently answer little picture questions accurately and in a reasonable amount of time (what "reasonable" is will depend on the score you're aiming for).

In this article, I’ll provide examples of the different ways ACT Reading will ask you to use little picture skills and explain the strategies you can use to help with these questions. I'll end with a walkthrough of a sample question as well as practice questions for you try out on your own. First, however, I’ll explain what exactly I mean by “little picture” questions

On ACT Reading, you'll encounter questions that ask you to be able to read large amounts of text and distill them down; we call these "big picture" questions here at PrepScholar. Big picture questions can ask about the entire passage, a series of paragraph, or even just one paragraph (as opposed to "little picture" questions, which will ask for specific information). Being able to answer these types of questions will prove very useful for college/university, where professors will expect you to use these skills with even more dense and academic writing.

What are “big picture” questions on ACT Reading, and what are the best ways to approach answering them? I’ll start by discussing the two primary types of big picture questions you’ll encounter on the ACT, along with common ways the ACT will ask you about each. After that, I’ll give you some strategies to answer both types of questions, illustrated with examples from prose fiction and academic writing.

One of comedian Groucho Marx's most famous jokes involves a pachyderm and some sleepwear.

"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas," he says. "How he got in my pajamas I don't know!"

This joke is a play on a grammatical error called a misplaced modifier, where a descriptive phrase or word is placed in the wrong part of the sentence.

The modifier errors on the SAT Writing may not be quite as funny as Groucho's, but it's still important that you understand how they work. To that end, we'll be covering both basic grammatical concepts behind faulty modifiers and how to apply that knowledge on the test:

On the identify the error subsection of SAT Writing, you may have noticed that there is always a “No Error” option. On the sentence improvement subsection, answer choice A will always be the same as the underlined portion of the original sentence.

Have you ever wondered how often the given sentence on the multiple choice SAT Writing questions will be right? Many students fear the “no error” option, but it is sometimes the right answer. In this article, I’ll explore the frequency of correct no error answers.

The ACT Science section, more than any other, is about strategy over knowledge. Because every graduating high school senior has a varied level of science education, the only way to make a "fair" or "standardized" test is to test very basic concepts. If the ACT Science tested basic concepts in an easy way everyone would get a 36, so instead, the ACT tests these basic concepts in new and confusing ways.

In order to get the best score, you need to use a strategy to attack this strange test and practice the strategy on several ACT Science practice tests. For information about practice tests, check out our other article. You only have 35 minutes to answer 40 questions (or 52.5 seconds per question) and each question has the same point value, so you also need a strategy that helps you answer as many questions as possible in the shortest amount of time.

If you've noticed that the SAT Writing section seems to be confusing, that's because it's intentionally designed to be that way.

But we're going to let you in on something that the College Board doesn't want you to know: there are a few key secrets that will help you understand this part of the SAT, and knowing them makes it much easier to crack. Read on to learn how to take this section of the SAT into your own hands.

Author technique is a specific type of reading comprehension question that appears frequently on the ACT English section. Author technique questions require you to analyze a specific sentence and determine if it fulfills an author's stated purpose.

Read this article for a thorough explanation of author technique and guidance on how to figure out author technique questions.