How To Approach Test Preparation

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Editorial - Tutoring & Testing

Written by Tracy Zollinger

Monday, 23 February 2009 01:58

Whether you generally do well on tests or freeze up at the mere thought of a multiple choice question, some amount of study and preparation is bound to help you improve your overall SAT or ACT score. Depending on your time, resources, and just how competitive you want your scores to be, the options available range from simply buying and studying a text guide on your own to spending many hours with an individual tutor or small study group.

According to Ed Carroll, the Executive Director for High School Programs at Princeton Review, the best place to start if you want to figure out what kind of help you need, is to simply take a sample test. Some companies offer free sample tests online, and they are also usually included in printed study guides. (For the latter, it’s important to remain true to the test’s timing, because the ability to finish within the allotted number of minutes can affect the final score.)

“That’s the first thing we would do in any program,” says Carroll. “The sample test tells us if a student has a strength or weakness in one area and what they need to work on.”

Having a clear idea about what subjects need more work than others can help you pick a course of studying for the test. If your sample math SAT score is nearly perfect, for example, you might choose to simply work on an online course and focus on the writing and critical reading sections of the test. The ACT has five sections (English math, reading, science and an optional writing test), so chances are good that you’ll need to do a fair amount skill-building in some, if not all, subjects. Testing companies like Princeton, Sylvan, Kaplan and other, smaller programs also build a lot of strategies for taking the test into their preparation services. They explain the ins and outs of the particular tests, help you understand whether or not guessing is a good idea and even provide suggestions for reducing stress levels on test days. They know what mistakes teenagers most commonly make and can warn you against them.

The most popular forms of test preparation tend to be classes, generally held either on-site at high schools, or at free-standing test and tutoring centers. While improving test scores is the top claim for almost every course, many also include new components about choosing and applying to the appropriate college.

Local availability of these courses tends to reflect the trends in testing geographically. According to Carroll, SATs traditionally carry more weight at colleges and universities on the east and west coasts, while the ACT is more important to Midwestern and southern schools. In some places, the ACT has already replaced (or may soon replace) mandated state graduation tests.

Whichever college test you need to study for, there are also a growing number of options available online. There are computer-based courses, as well as live individual online tutoring sessions. Companies like Princeton have also developed hand-held games and iPhone applications.

Tracy Zollinger Turner is an arts, culture and education writer from Columbus, Ohio.

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