You can ask 100 different high school counselors and get 100 different answers on the best test prep strategies. The truth is that there’s no one size fits all approach that will cover all situations. There’s a tradeoff to investing your time and, potentially, money into test preparation. I’d start by looking at your school list and confirming if they are test-required or test-optional. If a school requires it, you have your answer! If it’s test-optional, I’d ask if you think that you will be at or above the median score for their population. That’s the criteria where you’d be likely to submit your score. Another aspect to consider is whether or not there are automatic merit-based financial aid offerings contingent on a standardized test score, which can absolutely tip the scale towards making the test worth your while.

Once you’ve confirmed that you want to take the test, I’d recommend that you spend some time thinking about the best learning environment for you. Do you like self-study? Then a test prep book and some online supplements may work for you. If you struggle to set aside the time yourself, maybe you’d like a one-on-one tutoring session to get that extra push. Are you looking for general test-taking strategies and like working in more of a classroom setting? If so, there are a ton of cohorts offered by professional test-taking services that will work for you.

At a minimum, I’d recommend that you check out the free Khan Academy prep materials for the SAT – https://www.khanacademy.org/digital-sat. It’s a great, free resource that will familiarize you with the structure of the test while developing some generic strategies to break down difficult sections into a more manageable task.

Another low-cost option is to buy a test prep book. They do a good job of going over the structure of the test and often have practice questions and practice tests where you can simulate the actual environment of a test. Since both standardized test providers are moving to digital versions of the test, I’d highly recommend that you make sure that there’s an option to perform at least one of the practice tests online.

• https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sat+test+prep+2024&crid=5FX1OXKPGNQ9&sprefix=sat+test+%2Caps%2C151&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_9
• https://www.amazon.com/s?k=act+test+prep+2024&crid=6J0CMCO1G8LU&sprefix=ac+test+prep+2024%2Caps%2C411&ref=nb_sb_noss

Finally, there are a couple of local businesses that offer test preparation services should you want to go down either the cohort group study route or hire an individual tutor. Please reach out to Catherine or Ed for recommendations that fit your specific needs!