SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

If you want to get accepted into your dream school, you need to earn great test scores. But many colleges have recently made submitting SAT and ACT scores an optional piece of their application process. Yep, you read that right—at some schools, SAT and ACT scores are not required. 

So what does this mean for you? Should you still take the SAT or ACT if your top choice schools have gone test optional? We’ll explain how to handle the SAT/ACT when you’re applying to the best test optional schools in the US, including: 

• What test optional means (and why so many top schools have gone test optional)
• A list of all of the top 100 nationally ranked schools that are currently test optional
• Four key factors you need to consider before deciding how to handle the SAT/ACT for your college admissions

That’s a lot to cover…so let’s get to it!

On January 25, 2022, the College Board announced that the SAT would undergo significant changes, including becoming a computer-based test instead of one you take with pencil and paper. What other changes did the SAT make, why did they make these changes, and when did these changes go into effect? This guide answers all those questions and more. 

Are one or more of the colleges you're interested in calling themselves test optional? What does test optional mean, and what does it mean for you? Read this guide to learn everything you need to know about test optional schools. We'll cover: the test optional college meaning and how it compares to other test policies, why more schools are becoming test optional, if test optional schools can really be fair when reviewing applications, and how to decide if you should submit your SAT or ACT scores to test optional colleges.

Medicine is one of the most challenging yet rewarding fields a student can enter. But before you decide whether becoming a doctor is right for you, it's important that you know every step you'll have to take along the way.

Here, I'll walk you through exactly how to become a doctor, starting with high school. This career is definitely not for everyone—it requires huge investments of time, money, and effort—but if this path is right for you, this guide is what you should read to start preparing yourself early for a successful career as a doctor.

When I started working as a professional tutor, I was fresh out of college with few qualifications other than high test scores and some volunteer experience. I struggled with tutoring my first few students—I didn't feel comfortable giving them assignments and I struggled to figure out how best to use our lesson time.

But after years of tutoring, I became thoroughly familiar with the ins and outs of the whole process. I've drawn on my hard-earned knowledge to create this guide laying out the key steps to helping someone excel at the SAT so that you know where to start when tutoring your own student or child. A big part of being a great tutor is being properly prepared—these seven steps will set you on the right path to raising your student's score:

Are you struggling in a class or simply not enjoying it and wondering if you should drop it? Are you worried about how this might look to colleges and future employers? Should you drop a class?

Read this guide to learn about the benefits and drawbacks to dropping and how to decide whether or not you should drop a class.

Do you love conducting research and engaging with students? Can you envision yourself working in academia? Then you're probably interested in learning how to become a college professor. What are the basic requirements for becoming a college professor? What specific steps should you take in order to become one?

In this guide, we start with an overview of professors, taking a close look at their salary potential and employment growth rate. We then go over the basic college professor requirements before giving you a step-by-step guide on how to become one.

You've taken the ACT and are now waiting for your scores. This can be a tense time, but knowing when exactly to expect your ACT results can help you plan ahead.

When do ACT scores come out exactly? In this article, find out when your test scores will become available, how to get your ACT results as fast as possible, and what to do once you have them.

After you take the ACT, the anticipation isn't over! You have to wait to get your scores. While the scores aren't available immediately, you don't actually have to wait too long to see your scores or have them sent to colleges.

This guide will go over when you can expect to see your ACT scores for each test date, as well as the differences in score release dates for students who took the ACT with Writing.

Taking an AP class this year? You might be wondering about average AP scores or what good AP scores are for certain classes. Or if you are thinking about taking AP exams in the future, you might want to know which exams have the highest passing rates.

In this post, we will break down the average score for each AP test, as well as the average passing rate. We will also show you how to interpret this info and how to use it to make decisions about your schedule.

AP World History seems like it would be a pretty hard class. There's so much to cover—I mean, there’s nearly 1,000 years of global human history! But how much do you really need to know? And how do people usually do on the AP test?

In this article, I’ll examine five different factors to help you understand the difficulty level of AP World History.

If you're a high school student planning on taking the PSAT, you'll be taking the redesigned PSAT. This new version of the test started in October 2015 was administered to all students across the country.

We'll let you know all about the PSAT format, scoring, and content and what you need to know to be prepared. Not only is the 2015 PSAT an important step in prepping for the SAT, but it also qualifies you for National Merit distinctions and scholarships.

Let's dive into the changes in format, scoring, and content being made to the redesigned PSAT and what these changes mean for your test prep.

NOTE: In 2023, the PSAT became fully digital and debuted a new, shorter format. Learn all about the changes and what to expect from the current PSAT here!

Do you want to know your exact ACT score up to six digits of precision? Every digit can help when you want to know your exact performance. I've used real ACT data, newly-released in 2024, to calculate these ultra-high-precision percentiles.

If you've ever glanced through any of the year-end College Board data reports, you may have seen information about the SAT standard deviation. Unfortunately, the reports just list the numbers and then move on, without explaining at all what these numbers mean.

So how is info about the SAT mean and standard deviation useful to you? In this article, we'll explain what the term standard deviation refers to and what it means for you and your SAT score.

Have you heard about the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies programs (formerly called Stanford EPGY), a group of summer and after-school programs primarily for high school students? Curious about what it would be like to spend a summer on Stanford's campus or take online classes taught by Stanford professors? Will participating in one of these programs give you a leg up in college admissions (including applying to Stanford)?

In this guide, we break down what the different programs are, outline the benefits and costs, and go over the pros and cons of attending.