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 (i.e., the 90s), you can use these online resources to prep from anywhere with the Internet. To help you discern high-quality resources from low-quality ones, this guide will break down the SAT prep websites you can use to review content, learn strategies, and find practice questions.

Whether you're building your own SAT 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 to find them.

Taking the SAT can be a super intimidating process. The test is known for being tough and tricky, so it’s not surprising that many students ask themselves, “Is the SAT required for college admission?” And you’re not alone: up to 40 percent of all students experience some form of test anxiety! 

If you’re worried about the SAT and wondering, “Are SAT scores required for admission to every college,” then this article is here to help. We’ll go over: 

• Are SATs required for college
• General information about whether the SAT is required for college admission 
• The history of the SAT...and why some universities are dropping it
• Four different types of SAT testing policies 
• Four reasons to take the SAT no matter what 

Keep reading to see whether you need to take the SAT!

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many universities to adopt test optional policies for students. “Test optional” means that a university won’t require you to submit your SAT scores as part of your application. COVID-19 has made taking the SAT difficult for many applicants, so universities are trying to alleviate some of the stress by going test optional!

It might seem like this is a pandemic trend in higher education, but actually, many schools across the country went test optional long before COVID was a thing. And since test optional schools make the SAT...well, optional, you might be wondering, “Do I have to take the SAT at all?” 

The answer is a little more complicated than just a “yes” or “no.” We’ll help you answer the question, “Do you need to take the SAT?” in this article, along with: 

• Explaining whether you have to take the SAT to graduate from high school
• Going over how the SAT fits into the college application process (and if you should take it) 
• Discussing how the SAT impacts your ability to get scholarship money 
• Giving you four reasons you may not have to take the SAT
• Outlining the reasons you might want to take the SAT no matter what

Let’s get started!

There are a lot of "Best SAT Books" lists out there, but we think that most of them aren't very good or thorough. As a result, I've tried to write a much better guide here.

In this article, you'll learn which books are absolutely critical for your SAT prep, which books you can use to improve your individual section scores, and which books you'll need if you're aiming for a top score. More importantly, you'll learn how to use these SAT prep books for effective studying.

Your senior year is coming up, and you're ready to blow those standardized tests out of the water once and for all. It's time to figure out the best study plan for you that still leaves time for summer jobs, shameful levels of ice cream consumption, and acquiring incomprehensible tan lines.

Follow these five steps to make the most of your summer studying before your SAT or ACT test date!

You might 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 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 currently available.

With so many SAT prep books to choose from, how can you tell the good ones from the bad ones? Well, not to worry because we've evaluated SAT books for you! This fully updated guide gives you our recommendations for the top 11 SAT preparation books to help you achieve the scores you want.

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 discuss the colleges that superscore the SAT. After giving you a list of every college that superscores the SAT, 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.

Are you putting together your college application list? One factor you might not have considered is which schools require you to send your entire SAT testing record. Unfortunately, you can't always hide your rotten SAT scores! So if you have some less-than-stellar scores, you might avoid (or at least think carefully) before applying to those schools.

We have a complete list of which schools require your complete SAT testing record. Read on for this list as well as exclusive advice for applying to these schools.

At PrepScholar, we've written the largest set of high-quality SAT guides available, covering pretty much everything you need to know to improve your score on the SAT. They're all free and online, right here on our blog, and we think they beat any book you can purchase.

This guide, our Ultimate SAT Prep Study Guide, combines our most important SAT guides on one page. If you master all of the concepts linked to on this page, use them in your own practice and studying, and stay motivated to work hard, you'll have an amazing shot at improving your SAT score. Essentially, you'll have a huge advantage over students who don't know this information and lack the motivation to employ it in their own studying.

"I have no idea what to expect" is not a sentence you want running through your mind on your way to take the SAT or ACT. If you take control of your test prep and schedule, then you shouldn't have any surprises on test day.

Besides studying, part of your preparation should be strategically planning out your SAT/ACT test dates. Instead of closing your eyes and pointing randomly at a calendar, you can ask yourself some key questions to figure out when the best SAT/ACT test dates are for you.

The first question that every student should ask herself, of course, is, When are my college deadlines?

Are you scoring in the 600-750 range on SAT Reading + Writing? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible—to a perfect 800?

Getting to a perfect SAT Reading test score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 800 on Reading on my real SATs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score—or get very close.

Are you scoring in the 600-750 range on SAT Math? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible—to a perfect 800?

Getting to an 800 SAT Math score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've scored 800 on Math on all my SATs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score—or get very close.

The maximum score on the SAT is a 1600. Out of the two million students who take the test every year, only about 500 get the highest possible SAT score. This elusive perfect score catapults you to the top of high school academic achievement and can be a big boost to your college applications.

I scored perfect scores on the SAT. I actually scored two perfect scores—a 1600 in 2004 when I was in high school, and a 2400 in March 2014 when I took it ten years later.

Most of the advice out there about how to get a perfect score come from people who didn't get perfect scores. In this exclusive article, I'll be breaking down exactly what it takes, and the ruthless techniques I used to get a perfect score.