SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

The SAT has been around in one form or another since 1901. Through all its changes, probably the most helpful one for you is the rise of free online practice questions and guides covering every aspect of the test.

Rather than having to carry around 400-page practice books like the students of yesteryear (ie, the 90s), you can use these online resources to prep from anywhere with Internet. To help you discern the high quality resources from the low, this guide will break down the SAT prep websites you need to review content, learn strategies, and of course, find practice questions.

Your SAT scores are a very important part of your application, especially as the applicant pool gets bigger and more competitive every year. So how can you make sure colleges will consider your very best scores?

This article will talk about colleges that superscore the SAT. After the list, I'll talk about how you can use this information strategically as you prepare to apply to college. To start, let's briefly review what "superscoring" means.

If you want to do well on the SAT or ACT, keeping track of time and how many questions you have left is extremely important. Taking the SAT or ACT is a lot like preparing an organ for transplant: you need to know where you are and how much time you have left at all times in order to perform your best.

Sections are 35-60 minutes long on the ACT and 25-65 minutes long on the SAT. One of the leading reasons students perform poorly on either test is that they run out of time. And one of the leading reasons students run out of time is not because they're not aware of how much time is left.

We'll go over the best way to keep track of time on the SAT/ACT in this article, including what timekeeping devices are and are not permitted on test day.

Every year students fight to get the SAT score they want. For many students, completing all the questions before running out of time is a serious challenge. If you're one of those who struggles to finish the test in time, skipping can be a real asset. But how many questions can you skip for a good score on the SAT?

You're serious about studying for the SAT. You have a year or more to study, and you want to put a real effort into it.

Is studying this much worth it? What are the payoffs? And most importantly, what's the best way to study for the SAT / ACT on the year-or-more level? This post answers those questions!

Whether you’re building your own prep program or just supplementing a class, finding SAT practice tests and questions can pose a serious challenge. This article will go through every type of practice SAT test, how to best use them, and — most importantly — where you can find them.

If you’re reading this guide, I’m going to assume you don’t have a lot of time before your SAT test date. If you do have a lot of time before your SAT test date (1 month or more), feel free to read this article for useful tips, but I urge you to spread your prep out over the full amount of time you have. Do not wait to cram. The total amount of time spent preparing for the SAT matters, and though you can make great strides in just 10 days, you still need to put in the time. I’ll guide you through the steps to successfully cram for the SAT and raise your score by up to 200 points. 

With so many SAT prep books to choose from, how can you tell the good ones from the bad? Not to worry - we've evaluated the books for you. This fully updated guide gives you our recommendations for the top 10 new SAT preparation books to help you achieve the scores you seek.

The SAT Reading section presents you with challenging tasks. Not only will you have to sustain your focus over a long 65-minute section, but you’ll also have to search actively for evidence in each passage to back up your answers.

The test may be time intensive and full of tricky “distractor” answers, but you can learn to avoid the common pitfalls with the right approach. This guide will discuss the best strategies for reading the passages effectively and achieving a high score on the new SAT Reading. To start, let’s go over what the redesigned passages are going to look like on your test.

If you've only got a month before test day, don't freak out! Although it's not a ton of time to prepare for the SAT, it can be enough if you use your time wisely.

In this guide, we share with you our best advice on how to study for the SAT in a month. We'll begin by analyzing the feasibility of studying for the SAT in a month and then go over the critical steps you must take in order to get your plan going. Finally, we’ll leave you with 12 high-impact tips you can use during your studies and on test day to help you get the SAT score you need for college!

NOTE: This article largely assumes you’ll be conducting a self-guided study plan. Those who'd prefer a helping hand should take advantage of our expert SAT tutors as well as our completely customizable SAT prep course!

You know you need to take the SAT. Maybe you’ve even registered. But what now? How do you prepare?

If you’re not sure where to begin or how to prepare for the SAT, this is the guide for you. First we’ll go over what you’ll need to do to prepare for the test. Then, we’ll discuss some methods you might use for preparing for the SAT. We’ll wrap up with some resources that you might find helpful. 

There are a lot of “Best SAT Books” lists out there. We think most of them aren’t very good or thorough, and I’ve tried to write a much better guide here. You’ll learn which books are absolutely critical for your prep, which books you should use to improve individual sections, and which books you need if you’re aiming for a top score. Importantly, you’ll also learn HOW to use these books to study effectively.

Keep reading to learn more.

You may use apps to take photos of your food and put dog filters on your face, but did you know you can also use apps to prepare for the SAT? It's true! There are a number of apps that are designed to increase your familiarity with the SAT and get you closer to reaching your goal score.

In this article, I'll let you know how you can use apps in your SAT preparation, and I'll name five of the best free SAT prep apps.

Standardized tests have a reputation for presenting questions in formats that are tricky and confusing. Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to get past all that and take a shortcut to the correct answer? This article provides expert SAT hacks to help you solve SAT questions that might otherwise leave you stumped!

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.