What's the difference between a period and a semicolon? Between a comma and a dash? These questions bedevil not just students, but even professional writers. Punctuation can be one of the weirdest, most confusing parts of writing.

However, the ACT English section isn't writing—it's a multiple choice test, which means that every question has to have only one correct answer. The ACT tests a specific set of punctuation rules, most of which deal with commas. I covered commas in a separate post—here I'll be explaining the other punctuation rules you need to know, which deal with apostrophes, semicolons, colons, and dashes.

Pronoun agreement errors are some of the most common on the SAT Reading & Writing section, and they can be confusing because people often misuse pronouns, especially when we speak. In fact, I just made a pronoun mistake: can you spot it?

Take a closer look at the second half of my first sentence: "people often misuse pronouns, especially when we speak." Who is "we" referring to here: "people." However, the correct pronoun for the third person plural is they. The correct version is "people often misuse pronouns, especially when they speak."

On SAT Reading & Writing, you'll be expected to spot many such errors. We'll be covering both the basic SAT writing rules regarding pronouns you need to know and the common mistakes you'll see on the test:

The Code

The universal SAT Home School Code, needed to register for the SAT and applicable anywhere in the USA, is 970000.

When you use this, it means that the score results will be sent directly to your home. Using this code simply indicates, for the sake of data gathering, that you are a home schooled student. Home schooled students, on average, score higher on the SAT than their public school counterparts. This code is the College Board's way of tracking the results accurately. Also, the SAT compares you to the local average, but as a home schooled student, you won't provide an accurate representation of the local district scores.

However, if you want to, you can use the local high school's code as well.

What registration code to you use to register for the SAT as a homeschooled student, and what considerations should you remember? Read our guide to get the details.

How do homeschooled students register for the ACT, and what is the ACT homeschool code? What important considerations should you keep in mind? Find out here.

If you don’t have much time left before the ACT, you may be wondering how you can maximize your scores with a short term study plan. If you’re looking for a big score improvement and you only have a few days before the test, you might not be able to reach your goal this time, but you can get a good head start towards it (and you’ll be better prepared to study harder before your next test session).

But if you only need to improve by one or two points, really intense studying for a few hours could get you where you want to be, if you have some clear weaknesses you didn't know about!

In this article I'll show how to create a last minute ACT study program and give last minute ACT tips to boost your score.

If you took the ACT recently, you’re probably eager to see how you did so you can send your scores to colleges or prepare for the next test date. But how do you get your score report, and what’s the best way to interpret your scores?

In this article, I’ll go through how and when you can get your report, what’s on it, and how to get the most out of the information you’re given.

So you just took the SAT, and you’re eager (or terrified) to see your scores. Especially if this is your first time taking the test, the score report can be confusing. But reading it correctly will help you to identify weak spots and do better on the test next time and get real SAT results.

I’ll go over how to get your SAT score report and read it so you’re getting the most out of the information the College Board gives you.

Do you receive your education at home or outside the formal setting of a public or private school? If you're a homeschooled student aiming to go to a 4-year college, then you're probably planning to take the ACT (or its equivalent, the SAT).

This guide will go over how you can prep for the ACT as a homeschooled student, come up with a solid test plan, and be strategic in your approach to taking this important test. The first step is asking yourself about your strengths and weaknesses as a student.

We go through exact SAT test dates for 2015 and 2016 for freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and tell you the advantage of each testing date.

I’ll break it down date-by-date and class-by-class so you can easily figure out the best time for you to take the test.

On Saturday, June 6th, I sat alongside high school students to take the SAT at George Washington Prep High School in South Los Angeles. I knew what to expect. I’d taken the test back in 2009 in South Florida when I was beginning my own college application process.

I could never have imagined how different my experience would be this time. My SAT Testing center, located in a poor area of Los Angeles, had HUGE flaws that resulted in extremely unfair testing conditions for the students. When I shared these experiences with my co-workers, they were flabbergasted. But others shared experiences that were just as deplorable.

I wish I were joking. I wish this were satire.

But this isn't Saturday Night Live, and there were serious problems that ruined the experience for the other test-takers, many of whom were taking it for the first time and using vouchers. This is undoubtedly happening across the country and crippling the scores and futures of thousands of students. 

Unfortunately, as in my experience, these problems may be especially prevalent in lower income areas where students aren't as well prepared for how the test SHOULD go, and incompetent proctors may be overlooked.

Read this and make sure this doesn't happen to you.

No one likes to be a tattletale. Okay, most people don’t like to be a tattletale. However, when your future dream college is at stake, which it is when you take the SAT/ACT as it accounts for 30-50% of your college application, you NEED to be a tattletale when there are testing issues.

Can you recognize a sentence when you see one?

Most people will automatically answer that they can. But correct sentence structure is one of the most commonly-tested grammatical concepts on the SAT Writing section.

What does it take to make a sentence complete? How can you recognize a fragment or a run-on? Read on to figure out how the SAT manages to trick so many students with this seemingly easy concept.

It's the week or the day before your big ACT test date, and you want to have the best chance possible at raising your score. At PrepScholar we've written hundreds of free guides to help you succeed on the test, but some guides are especially helpful right before your test.

How do you learn new words, especially big ones like "obstreperous" and "percipient" that you don't often hear in daily conversation? Do you pore over long lists, make flash cards, or focus on one or two at a time? 

For those playing the long game, SAT Word of the Day sites and email lists can be useful resources for gradually building your vocabulary over time. This guide will point you to the best sources of SAT Word of the Day and give you some strategies for how to use them effectively. First, why might you want to study vocabulary this way?