How Long Should I Study for the SAT 6 Step Guide

How Long Should I Study for the SAT 6 Step Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips In planning your SAT prep, you probably want to know how long you need to study. Is it weeks or months? Is it dozens of hours or hundreds? The answerto these questionsdepends on a variety of factors, including the scores you are hoping to get and how comfortable you already are with the test material from your general experiences in school and life. There’s no reason to torture yourself with endless SAT studying if your scores are already in the target range for your top choice schools. On the other hand, if you are still pretty far away from the scores you are looking for, you may have to work harder than you think. In this guide, I'll show you how to figure out how much you need to improve on the SAT, how many hours you need to spend to get there, and how you should build a study schedule before your next real test. Below are the six steps you need to follow to figure out your SAT study plan. #1: Figure Out Your SAT Target Score The easiest way to get a target score is to Google your top choice school and â€Å"average SAT scores†. You should find a 25th percentile score and a 75th percentile score for the school. The range between the two represents the scores of the middle 50 percent of admitted students.Aim for the 75th percentile score (e.g. a higher score than 75% of the school’s admitted students) as your target to make sure you have the best chance at being accepted! For more details about this, see our article on target scores.Remember, not everyone can or should have the same target score. It’s up to you to be realistic and assess your abilities while also challenging yourself. #2: Take a Practice SAT to Determine Your Starting Point It's important to know your abilities and weak spots before you begin studying. You can plan out your studying time based on how large of an improvement you need to make from your starting point to your target scores. Check out our guide to a set of official SAT practice tests available free online. You can also use your PSAT scores as a baseline for judging how much you will need to improve on the SAT if you've taken that test already. However, I would still recommend taking another practice test if you are in the latter half of your sophomore year and took the PSAT at the beginning of the year. (When I first took the PSAT in high school, I had no idea what was going on in the math section since I had just started my first geometry class. I was like "Shapes? Forget this!" and the proctor told me I had to stop disrupting the other students. Anyways, by the end of the year, everything was much less confusing.) Once you have your baseline scores, you can begin to see where you need to make improvements to reach your target. #3: Decide When You Will Take the Real Test We recommend taking the SAT for the first time during the fall of your Junior year(see the advice under "When Should I Take the SAT?"),but you may decide to take it earlier or later depending on your schedule and level of preparedness. In general, the early bird catches the worm (the metaphorical worm in this case being a higher SAT score).You will have more potential test dates available in the future and a better idea of where you stand if you start earlier. You will also run up against much less stress. You probably don’t want to be worrying about standardized tests while you're filling out college applications during the fall of your senior year. But what if you're in a scenario where you don't have your choice of test dates? Maybe you're planning a hot air balloon trip around the world that's happening at the same time as all the earlier dates. Maybe you'realready coming up on senior fall, and there's only one test date left. In this case, your test date is constrained, and you'll need to work hard to meet the suggested number of hours before your test. Whatever the case may be, you can still find a study plan that works for you. Sometimes you gotta miss the SAT to fulfill the dreams you and your beloved wife once shared. That's how life is. #4: Give It to Me Straight Doc, How Many Hours Do I Actually Have to Study? Based on your goals, you can figure out how many hours you will probably need to study. Follow this handy chart that shows the number of hours you should devote to poring over ancient tomes of SAT knowledge. Number of Points You Want to Improve By Approximate Hours You’ll Need to Study 0-30 Points 10 hours 30-70 Points 20 hours 70-130 Points 40 hours 130-200 Points 80 hours 200-330 Points 150+ hours This is a rough estimate, so itobviously isn't perfect. Each student has different levels of development in terms of study habits and test strategies. We'll go into more detail later about factors that might lead to score variations given the same amount of study time. But in our experience, this is roughly what it takes. If you want to improve by around 30 points, you'll be able to this with a light review, a single practice test, and retaking the official test. On the other hand,if you want to improve by 200 points or more, you'll need to make serious improvements in your understanding of fundamental content and skills.The SAT tests so much subject matterthat to improve by 200 points, you'll need to address deep content weaknesses. Tips and tricks aren't going to cut it. You also might not have this much time to devote to studying because of other commitments. That's why you should take these hourly estimates into consideration while still weighing everything on an individual basis to see what works for you. This brings us to... #5: Make a Study Plan Based on Your Time Constraints and Studying Style Ideally, you will still have at least six months or so before the test to formulate your study plan.As I've said, there is no one size fits all approach to this. You may not need to start studying six months in advance. Two months could be more than enough if you are already closer to your target score or prefer to study for longer chunks of time. Ask yourself how much of an improvement you want to make and then consider what is manageable in terms of time spent. Here are a couple of example scenarios: I Want to Improve by 70-130 Points, and I Have Many Other Commitments Try focused studying for an hour or two every week for however much time you have before the test.If you start at least a few months beforehand, you won’t be overwhelmed with yet another commitment. You'll gradually gain familiarity with questions and learn to avoid any silly mistakes that might cause you to lose points. If you can study for just two hours a week for two months, you should be able to boost your score by 100 points or so. I Want to Improve by Around 200 Points, and I Have the Summer to Study, but I’m not Sure Where to Start! Unstructured time is hard to manage, but this means you have your choice of when you are most comfortable and least distracted for studying times.If you schedule out a few hours each week where you will focus on studying, a couple months can be enough to improve your scores. The chart above recommends around 80 hours of studying for a 200 point improvement. If you have three months to study, that comes out to about five hours a week. Not so bad. If your parents invite their friends over for a barbecue, and they try to talk to you about your college plans in a desperate attempt to relate to you, you can use SAT studying as an excuse to avoid them. Everybody wins. I Want to Improve by 330 Points or More. Am I Crazy? No, you are (probably) perfectly sane!You should start studying earlier, but it’s doable if you are willing to put in some serious time and effort. Especially if your initial score is below average (typically less than 1000), you have a good chance of making a drastic improvement through studying. If you still have six months before the test, you should think about which day of the week you will be least stressed by other commitments and schoolwork and set that afternoon/evening aside for an SAT extravaganza. If you can block out fivehours a week for six months in advance of the test, you should start to see significant positive results. Also, if you happen to have the resources to hire a tutor, this is when you might consider doing so. Tutors have expertise and familiarity with the test material, so they can often help you see your weak spots when you might miss them. Since the SAT is very different from any test you might take in a regular class, it's hard to be a student who is new to the test and try to teach yourself question strategies that are alien to you. Learn from a wise mentor. #6: ConsiderFactors That Increase or Decrease Study Time You might have special circumstances that mean you need to customize your study plan more drastically. Some people should study for more or less time based on past experience and time management skills. You'll Need to Study Longer If: You've already studied a lot, and you haven't seen much improvement.This typically means you need to switch up your strategies in addition to studying more. Take a step back and look at how you have been approaching your study time so you can make productive changes. You're easily distracted.You might not get as much out of your blocks of study time if you are always being sidetracked by other things. Try scheduling out more time, and put your phone away while you're studying. It takes a while for you to learn from your mistakes.If you need to practice answering questions a few times before you understand your mistakes, you should consider studying for longer periods of time. You Might Improve in Less Time If: You are new to the SAT.If you are someone who has barely looked at the test before and just started studying, you are going to see larger score gains in a shorter amount of time. You are a super focused studier.What might take another person two hours to process will take you one, so consider dialing back your study time so you aren't overdoing it and getting test fatigue. You learn quickly from your mistakes.If you never make the same mistake twice, you also shouldn't overdo it with studying. You probably only have to get the wrong answer once before you can rely on yourself to get the right one in the future. Summary: How Long to Study for the SAT You can formulate your SAT study plan based on your goals and the statistics for your top choice schools.The key is starting early! Figure out your target score, take a few practice tests, and decide how much you need to improve.Then, assess your time constraints and be realistic about how much energy you can devote to studying. You’ve got this! What's Next? Check out our Complete Planfor when you should start studying for the SAT. This will give you a more comprehensive view of how to structure your time including what's tested, when you should take the test, and sample score goals for different levels of college selectivity. Also, take a look at our guide forhow to review missed questions on the SAT and ACT. If you can learn to effectively review missed questions, you will be a much more productive studier! Want to get a super high SAT score? Check out our perfect SAT score guide, written by a perfect scorer. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by SAT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

The Best ACT Score Predictor

The Best ACT Score Predictor SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Taking the ACT is stressful- some test you’ve never seen before will affect where you go to college. As a high school student, I felt anxious taking the ACT because I hadn’t done any practice and had no idea whether I’d reach my target score. One way to mitigate nerves surrounding the ACT is to try to predict your ACT score. If you find out your estimate is close to your target score, you’ll feel relieved. If it’s low, at least you’ll know you need to do more preparation before taking the test. What is the best ACT score predictor? What should you do with your estimated ACT score? In this guide, I’ll walk you through the different ways to predict your ACT score and explain the pros and cons of each. I’ll also let you know how to use your estimated score to your advantage. What’s the Best Way to Predict Your ACT Score? The most accurate ACT score predictoris taking a full-length ACT practice test under realistic testing conditions. It's the closest thing tothe real ACT- your using an official ACT practice test from the ACT makers and taking it under similar testing conditions. This process is very time-consuming - it’ll take about four hours - but it’s worth it. Afterward, you have an ACT score from a real ACT test, whichyou can use to checkyourpreparedness to take the actual test, but I'll dive into that later. Where Can You Find a Practice Test? There are five free official ACT practice test PDFs available online, or if you own The Real ACT 3rd Edition, you could use one of those tests. If you’re using one of the free online tests, to give yourself the most realistic testing experience (and to avoid the distractions on the internet), I’d recommend that you print out a copy of the test. Key Tips fora Realistic Testing Experience Your goal is to try to accurately predict your ACT score. To do so, you need to mirror the circumstances of the actual ACT. Clear your desk.You should not have your phone, computer, dictionary or any other outside help.Note: Your phone should be off during the entire practice test.Only put some pencils, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, a calculator and extra batteries on your desk. Keep time on a watch, and stick to the exact timing for each section.Note: the time permitted is printed at the start of the section.Don’t allow yourself extra time; if you allow even an extra minute, you could end up with an inaccurate estimate.Also, you’re only allowed to work on one section during the allotted time. Don’t work on the next section if you finish early, and don’t do work on a previous section. How Do You Score Your Practice Test? Each practice test comes with scoring instructions, which are locatednear the end of the PDFs (typically in the last tenpages). You’ll start by calculating your raw score or the number of questions you answered correctly.Then, you use that raw score and a chart to find your scaled score for each section.You average the foursection scores to find your composite score. Note: This is only a baseline score- you can do dedicated ACT prep and raise your score. Start by creating a study schedule, and if you need a launching off point for your prep, read our free ACT study guides for Reading, Math, English, and Science. Create a schedule for test prep success! What Are Other Less Time Consuming Predictors? Did you take the PreACT* or SAT? If so, you can use that score to predict your ACT score. These test scores make good estimates because they’re taken under the same conditions as an ACT test (in the morning, with other students, etc.).I’ll give an overview of the pros and cons of using these tests as ACT score predictors. *Note:The PreACT is a brand new test that's debuting in the 2016-2017 school year. No one has taken it yet- the firsttest dates will be in Fall 2016. PreACT The PreACT is the next best option to taking an official ACT practice test.The PreACT was created by ACT, Inc., the same company that makes the ACT, to help predict your ACT score.It covers the same content as the ACT.Its difficulty level is similar to the ACT since it uses old ACT questions. The PreACT is graded on the same 1-36 scale.However, it’s much shorter than the actual ACT; it’s only 1 hour and 55 minutes (compared to almost 4 hours for the ACT plus Writing), so it doesnt' require the same level of endurance as the full test. Pros The PreACT was created by the same company as the ACT. It covers the same content as the ACT. The difficulty level is on par with the ACT. It is specificallyintended to predict your ACT score. Cons It’s much shorter than the actual ACT. SAT Score There are easy-to-use conversion tables that will convert your 400-1600 SAT score to a 1-36 score, but this isn’t as reliable as using a PreACT score.While the SAT is similar to the ACT and PreACT, the SAT was made by the College Board, not ACT, Inc. Though there is some matching content on the SAT and ACT, the material is not the same.For instance, while the ACT has a science section, the SAT doesn’t, and while the SAT has a no-calculator math section, the ACT doesn’t. If you use an SAT score to estimate your ACT score, the prediction could be off by up to 4 points.As an example, I got a 1420 on my SAT. Using this score and the conversion table, I found out my ACT score prediction would be 31, but I got a 34, 3 points more than the estimate.Some people do better on the ACT than the SAT (and vice versa). Pros Like the ACT, the SAT is designed to show college preparedness. Like the ACT, the SAT covers Math, Reading, and Writing topics. Cons The SAT was not created by ACT, Inc. The SAT doesn’t cover all of the material on the ACT. Estimates may not be exact (could be off by up to 4 points). Also, comparisons between the two tests are difficult to make since the SAT just underwent major changes. Some students simply performbetter on the ACT than SAT (and vice versa). Now that you know the good predictors let's examine the bad: What Won’t Be Good Predictors? I’d recommend avoiding any estimation method not mentioned above. However, here are some of the more commonly used ACT score predictors that I wouldn’t recommend. Non-Official Practice Tests Online you might find some non-official ACT practice tests (ones not created by ACT, Inc.).These will not give you a reliable ACT score prediction because they’re too dissimilar to the ACT.They don’t cover the same topics and don’t accurately copy the test format. While some students end up with scores close to the non-official prediction, the majority end up with scores 5-10 points higher or lower than the estimate. GPA Some students assume ACT scores correlate to GPA.If you have straight A’s, then you’ll get a 36; if you have a low GPA, then you’ll get a low ACT score.However, that’s not necessarily true. Some test-takers with low GPAs can get high ACT scores while others with high GPAs can end up with low scores.Don’t rely on your GPA to estimate your ACT score. AP/IB Tests Other students think that AP and IB exam score will be good ACT predictors since they cover college level material. However, these tests cover very specific, high-level subject matter such as Biology, Calculus, Economics, and History.These tests surpass the level of content covered by the ACT.Excelling or failing AP and IB exams has no correlation with ACT success. Use your predictor to see if you meet your target score. What Should You Do With Your Prediction? Are you unhappy with your predicted score? If so, you need to create an ACT prep schedule to help raise your score.Here is a rough estimate of how many hours you need to study to achieve certain score improvements: 0-1 ACT Composite Point Improvement: 10 hours 1-2 Point Improvement: 20 hours 2-4 Point Improvement: 40 hours 4-6 Point Improvement: 80 hours 6-9 Point Improvement: 150 hours+ Check out our ACT study guide for the Reading, Math, English, Science, and Writingsections to help you get started with your preparation. Are you happy with your estimated score? If so, you should still do a little ACT prep.Study for at least 10 hours.Take two practice tests with in-depth review. This way you’ll get more comfortable with the ACT test format, and you’ll be able to double check that your practice test scores match the original prediction. The ACT plusWriting has five sections:English,Math,Reading,Science, and Writing- they always appear in that order.Below is a breakdown of the timing and number of questions per section: English - 45 minutes - 75 questions Math - 60 minutes - 60 questions Reading- 35 minutes - 40 questions Science - 35 minutes - 40 questions Writing - 40 minutes - 1 essay Disclaimer: Remember that no estimate is 100% accurate, not even taking an official ACT practice test.Therefore, you should plan to take the real ACT more than once. That way, if you don’t reach your target score the first time, you have another chance. What’s Next? Now that you found your estimated ACT score how does it compare to your target score? Not sure where you’d like to go to college? Read our guide to finding your target school. Need help with your college application? Learn how to write about extracurriculars on your college application; get advice on the Common App essays. Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.