We normally start our students off with a diagnostic test, so we can assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses and recommend one test over the other.  About half of the students show a propensity for one test over the other, while the other half does equally well on both the SAT and ACT.  For the majority of students, it’s best to choose a single  test, focus all of their energy into that test, and stick with that test.  

There are several benefits to focusing on a single test.  It is better to focus on a single test and become an absolute expert in it. Mastering one test alone is far easier than splitting your attention between two different exams, with different pacing, different question types, and even different topics!  It is also a lot less stressful to study for a single test.

While it can be very rewarding, studying for the SAT or ACT is intensive, exhausting, and time consuming.  Adding a second test into...

Many parents want to know the best way to improve their child’s reading score or reading comprehension.  These are two separate issues!  Improving reading comprehension is a nearly lifelong process, including reading a lot of challenging material and strengthening vocabulary.  By the time you reach your junior year, you don’t have much time to work on your reading comprehension.  However, you can improve your SAT or ACT reading score:

1.  Learn a solid reading strategy!  Many students make the mistake of reading the passage first and then doing the questions in order, but this is very inefficient and costs you points.
2. Familiarize yourself with the different question types, such as main idea, author’s tone, inference, graphs/tables, vocabulary, and more. 
3. Know the patterns for right and wrong answers.  For example, an author’s tone is highly unlikely to be extreme or very negative, and vocabulary questions typically...

Marissa and I discuss how kids performed better on the last SAT  math section , yet received LOWER scores.  Fun!