You've decided that you want to take part in the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. Good for you!

Having made this decision, however, you probably have some questions about test score requirements—do you have to take the ACT in order to apply for CTY or its programs? What does taking the ACT qualify you for, and how well do you have to do on it?

I'll answer all of these questions for you in this article. Now, read on...

Starting in Spring 2024, every student who takes the SAT will take a new, digital version of the exam. The digital SAT will be different from the paper version…which means your SAT prep routine will be a little different too!

With this big change coming up, how should you handle digital SAT prep? What’s the best way to study for the digital SAT? 

In this article, we’ll answer all of your questions about how to prep for the digital SAT, including: 

• When the SAT goes digital, and how you’ll take the digital SAT
• How to make a study plan for the digital SAT
• Sample digital SAT study plans
• List of practice resources for the digital SAT

Let’s get started!

AP Statistics is a popular class to take in high school. Many college majors require students to complete a statistics course, and taking it in high school frees up a space in your college schedule. But is this the best choice to make? Is AP Statistics hard? Will you be able to manage the class?

In this guide, we'll look at data, course material, and student perceptions to give you a clear idea of the difficulty level of the AP Statistics class and exam. We'll also go over tips for figuring out how challenging AP Statistics will likely be for you based on three key factors.

If you've taken an AP exam recently or plan to take one soon, you're probably wondering: when do AP scores come out? Unfortunately, you have to wait a bit longer for AP scores than you do for SAT/ACT scores.

Keep reading to find out exactly when AP exam scores come out. In addition, learn where to find your AP scores and get tips on what you can do as you wait for them.

You may have heard of admissions consultants from your teachers, high school counselors, friends, or family. Or you may have done a web search on college admissions and noticed several results that included links to consultants, making you wonder…

What are college admissions consultants? These are professionals, usually from the education field, who work with you to help you achieve your college admissions goals. Whether you have Ivy League dreams, are interested in a major university, or want to stick close to home at a small college, college admissions consultants cater their assistance to your unique needs.

If you're gearing up for a high PSAT score your junior year, then you might choose to take the PSAT as a freshman for practice. Taking the PSAT in 9th grade will help you identify your current scoring level and figure out how you can improve for the future.

As a freshman, you can choose between two tests: the PSAT/NMSQT that 11th graders take or the PSAT 8/9, a version of the test specifically geared toward 8th and 9th graders.

These two tests have comparable but slightly different score ranges. This article will go over the scoring and percentiles of both so you can know what would make a good PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 8/9 score as a freshman.

You wouldn't go for your driver's license test before ever getting behind the wheel, right? In reality, you'd practice your three-point turns and parallel parking first so you're ready and know what to expect when the real test comes.

Just as you suspected, this scenario is an analogy for the PSAT. Rather than sitting for it junior year without a practice run, you can improve your performance if you've already taken it in 10th grade. Taking the PSAT as a sophomore is a great, low-pressure way to familiarize yourself with the test, gauge your level, and figure out where you need to improve.

With this in mind, we'll look at what PSAT scores are good for sophomores and how to improve them even more for junior year. But first, let's consider how the PSAT is scored.

Confused about the SAT score range? The 1600 point score range has been around since 2017 and consists of a combination of scores from two sections: Reading & Writing and Math. But what do these numbers mean for you? And how can you use SAT score ranges to determine the scores you need for college?

First, we'll discuss the current SAT score range for the exam as a whole and for each SAT section. After that, we'll take a close look at how SAT scores are distributed among test takers, explain why colleges maintain different SAT score ranges, and teach you how to set your own SAT goal score.

College is a costly investment. For the 2022-2023 academic year, the College Board reported that the average annual budget was $27,940 for an in-state public college and $57,570 for a private college. These are the averages, but just how much are the most expensive colleges in the US? Which ones have the most expensive college tuition?

Here, I'll give you a list of the 51 most expensive colleges in the US. I'll first explain why they're so pricey and then go over how you can attend one regardless of your financial situation.

Because wages seem to be remaining stagnant and college costs continue to soar, financial concerns are weighing more heavily on families when students make their college decisions. Additionally, student loan debt is increasing and young people are worried about being saddled with astronomical debt when they graduate. That's why so many students are interested in going to one of the cheapest colleges in America.

In this article, we provide you with a list of the 50 cheapest colleges in the United States. We also explain the costs of various colleges and how finances should influence your college selection process.

Anyone who’s applied to college remembers the fear of getting that dreaded rejection letter. (For the record, I got two—and they both stung. A lot.) But what if you could calculate your chances of college acceptance before you applied? 

The good news is that you can! Our college acceptance calculator uses your GPA and SAT/ACT score to estimate your likelihood of getting accepted to a particular school. But aside from GPA and test scores, what other critical factors affect your chance of admission? Read on to learn what schools look for during the admission process as well as how you can raise your chance of acceptance by submitting a strong application.

If you want to do well on the IB History exam, you'll need to have a solid set of notes to study from. This can be difficult though if you're missing notes or feel like some of your own notes don't cover certain topics in enough depth. Luckily, we're here to help! We've assembled the best FREE online IB History notes into this complete study guide.

One of the trickiest parts of the Common App is understanding how to make the most of the extracurricular activity section. You might have a ton of activities—or not very many—and be wondering how you should write about your activities to impress college admissions readers.

If you’ve felt stumped by what you’re supposed to do in this section and how to make the most of your very limited space, read on.

In this guide we'll talk about:  

• How many extracurricular activities you should list
• How to choose which activities to list
• How to write about your extracurriculars

But before we get into that, you may be wondering...

One of the reasons we talk about Ivy League colleges is because they belong to an exclusive club — but how many schools are in the Ivy League, actually? In fact, there are only eight universities belonging to the Ivy League. How those eight got there is a history lesson. But are those schools worth knowing, applying to, and attending? We’ll answer all those questions, so read on!

If you’ve heard the news that the SAT is transitioning to a totally digital format by 2024, you might be wondering how that will affect other exams, like the PSAT. Is the PSAT on paper or computer these days? Will the PSAT format change this year? 

In 2023, the PSAT format will change over from a paper exam to a fully digital test. To help you get a handle on what those changes mean for you, we’ll cover the following in this article: 

• How the PSAT format will change from paper to digital
• Five ways that the digital PSAT will be different from the paper exam
• Three tips for preparing for the new digital PSAT
  
  

Let’s get started!