Every Year The Pressure Increases
Every year the pressure grows on students to boost their scores on college placement exams. With rising costs for education, increased competition for prestigious programs, and scholarships more valuable than ever, it is wise to prepare students to take what may be one of the most important tests of their lives.
The most important test of your high-schoolers career means they need to understand the exams, the rules, the deadlines, and the way to score BIG! Money spent boosting test scores can translate into acceptance letters and scholarships down the road.
We Can Help
Our SAT & ACT prep
- Virtual Class, live with recorded sessions
- Tips, tricks, time-management
- Topic-specific instruction for each section of both exams
- No books necessary, all materials provided!
- Questions? Contact us!
The Most Important Thing
To Know About These Tests:
They are NOT tests on everything a student has learned in high school.
Granted, students strong in academics have an advantage, but I’ve seen many advanced students struggle with ACT/SAT because they don’t know HOW TO TAKE THE TEST. The “science” questions are a great example, because even if you never took biology or chemistry or physics, students can use scientific reasoning to get most of those questions correct.
How Do Each Of the Tests Work?
Digital SAT (first administered March 2024)
This new version of the SAT is taken on a computer.
Scored out of 1600: 800 from Reading and Writing, 800 from Math
Total testing time: 2 hours 14 minutes
- Reading and Writing Test
- 32 minutes for 27 questions, 10 minute break, then another 32 minutes for 27 questions
- Problems include basic and advanced grammar and punctuation, reasoning questions, and analysis of basic graphs and tables, similar to ACT Science test
- Math Test
- 35 minutes for 22 questions, 10 minute break, then another 35 minutes for 22 questions).
- Calculators are allowed and a digital graphing calculator (Desmos) is provided on-screen.
- Includes a few “fill-in-the-blank” questions (in contrast to multiple choice); many geometric relationships provided such as volume and triangle formulae; includes problems that require logical thinking beyond straight-forward math calculations
Some marked differences from the prior version:
- The biggest difference is the “adaptive” scoring, in which the 2nd set of questions students encounter in each section is based on their performance in the 1st set.
- Calculators allowed on every math question.
- Reading test is no longer multiple questions based off long passages, but single questions based off much shorter ones.
- Accessibility features available such as text-to-speech, answer masking, and magnification.
Online ACT (first administered February 2024)
This new version of the ACT is taken on a computer.
Averaged out of a maximum score of 36 from 3 sections: Reading, English, and Mathematics; the Science and Writing sections are optional and not included in the Composite score
Total testing time: 2 hours 5 minutes, +40 minutes per optional section
- Reading Test
- 40 minutes for 36 questions
- Problems include reading analysis questions, vocabulary, inference questions, and other comprehension type questions; reading passages are long-form (~100 lines) with approximately 10 questions per passage.
- English Test
- 35 minutes for 50 questions
- Problems include basic and advanced grammar and punctuation questions, and reasoning and interpretation questions.
- Math Test
- 50 minutes for 45 questions
- Calculators are allowed, but no formulas are provided. Includes advanced trigonometry and matrices (these may have not been covered in your student’s Algebra 2 class).
- Science test (Optional)
- 40 minutes for 40 questions
- Problems include interpretation of data, predictions using scientific reason, and some basic knowledge of high school science topics; science passages can include graphs and/or tables, followed by approximately 10 questions each.
- Writing Test (Optional)
- 40 minutes for 1 prompt
Some marked differences from the prior version:
- Less questions and more time-per-question.
- Math questions will only have 4 multiple-choice options instead of 5.
- Science section is optional.
- Composite score does not include science section.
- Accessibility features available such as text-to-speech, answer masking, and magnification.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Test Should My Student Take?
The short answer? Both. Students may do much better on one than the other, but they won’t know which one is “easier” and provides their best chance for the highest score until they have taken both exams. Most colleges and universities post the average SAT and ACT scores of the most recent incoming freshmen class, so check those for an idea of what scores your student will be competing against.
When Should My Student Take The Exam?
- The math portions of both exams require knowledge not covered until Algebra 2 (for a typical student), including trigonometry and graphs of conic sections, so for the best chance at their highest math score, students should take the exam at the end of or just after completing Algebra 2.
- Competition for scholarships and acceptance letters can be based on ACT/SAT scores, so it is wise to take the test as early as possible to have scores in hand. Try not to wait until the end of senior year!
- Students CAN take the tests multiple times. Most colleges and universities accept “super-scores”, where students can submit their highest scores per section (math, English/reading).