SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

Because the ACT has no penalty for guessing, you should always guess on the ACT if you don’t know the answer. After all, leaving a question blank and guessing are functionally the same.

This article will focus less on the technical aspects of whether it’s beneficial to guess on the ACT and more on strategies for guessing that might lead you to the right answer. After reading this guide, you should be able to score some additional lucky points on the ACT!

Wouldn't it be great if there was a key that unlocked all the shortcuts to success on the ACT? Although that dream might be a little unrealistic, the advice in this article will give you the next best thing in the form of mini-strategies that will cut down on your stress levels and improve your scores.

Getting a stellar ACT score isn't easy. You'll have to put in sufficient study time, and you'll have to employ effective study strategies. So what should you be doing to reach the top ACT score of your dreams?

In this article, I'll explain exactly how to ace the ACT from the methods you need to use in your test prep to the best test-taking tips to maximize your score.

There's so much info out there about doing well on the ACT - a lot of it is really helpful when it comes to preparing for the test! But this onslaught of information can get pretty overwhelming, especially when you just want a simple answer to a simple question: how do you pass the ACT? 

Getting your SAT/ACT dream score will likely take a considerable time investment. The vast majority of high school students have to spend many hours of studying before they're able to get their desired score. However, your time is limited. You have school, homework, studying, and extracurricular activities. How will you be able to put in the necessary test prep time on top of your other responsibilities?

In this article, I'll let you know how you can balance SAT/ACT test prep with school. If you follow my advice, you'll be able to effectively incorporate test prep into your schedule.

The ACT is upon us, and it seems fair to assume (since you're reading this article) that you're under-prepared. If you've got less than three weeks before the exam and haven't really studied yet, you're officially cramming for the ACT.

Now, if you're willing and able to put in some 60 hours of preparation before the test, take a moment to read our cram plan for those very circumstances. If that doesn't sound realistic for your circumstances, though, read on to discover the most useful strategies you can employ to get up to speed on the test in a pinch. We'll cover tips specific to each part of the test, as well as some global advice on topics like guessing and keeping a level head on test day.

We've all experienced nerves before an important evaluation, but for many of us the anxiety is much, much worse than a few simple jitters. 

By all accounts, a significant percentage of students experience some level of test anxiety, ranging from significant but livable symptoms to the most severely debilitating manifestations.

Dealing with any level of test anxiety during the SAT or ACT is, at its best, the opposite of fun. This guide will explain what test anxiety is, why it happens, and what you can do to manage it. 

If you’re using practice tests for your ACT prep, great job! That’s the best way to prepare for the ACT, but how do you make sure you’re learning from each ACT practice exam you take? How do you make sure you’re really prepared for the actual ACT? You must sit for each ACT practice exam with realistic testing conditions. What might you be doing (maybe on accident) that’s destroying your realistic testing conditions? 

Do you have a high GPA, perform well in school, but can’t seem to do well on the SAT / ACT? This is a common pattern, and there are certain strategies that work especially well for you. First, we'll figure out why this is happening to you, and, depending on the reason, suggest ways to improve your SAT / ACT score. Second, we’ll go over what a high GPA but low SAT / ACT score signals to colleges and how to counter that signal.

If you’re looking for a concise, effective list of the best ACT advice, you’ve found it. Sometimes too much information can do more harm than good - in this post, I’ll lay out the five most important things you should do in order to do well on the ACT. 

Let's get to it!

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Participation rate has a huge impact on state average SAT / ACT scores. In any state, the top students on the SAT/ACT are those most eager to take it, so states with low participation rates have artificially higher SAT / ACT scores.  Here, we use advanced statistical methods to adjust for participation rate to get at the real ranking of states by their real SAT and ACT scores. 

At long last, you get your SAT or ACT scores back, and now you have to make an important decision—do you retake the test and aim for a higher score? What are your chances of improving your score?

The answer can get complicated, depending on how many times you've taken it before and what your score target is. Read on to develop the best testing plan for yourself.

It seems obvious that each ACT / SAT question must have exactly one answer, and this answer must be clearly and objectively correct. However, as we’ll explain below, that simple fact alone disqualifies vast swaths of reasonable questions that you otherwise see in everyday tests at school.  This obvious fact also leads to a little-known secret that, when applied correctly, guarantees the cracking of each question. You don’t have to trust me -- read through this guide and ask any perfect or near-perfect scorer. They’ll agree on the secret.

Do you have great extracurriculars?  Maybe you’re captain of the football team or president of a top debate team.  Your approach to college admissions will be quite different than a typical student’s, and your SAT / ACT prep process should be uniquely tailored to you. In this article, we talk about what unique opportunities you have in test prep and what traps you should avoid.