When is the best time to take SAT/ACT tests?
Love it or hate it: the college admission tests (SAT/ACT) are here to stay.
The high school (HS) credits earned during K-12 form the foundations of your college admission criteria. Many students knowingly or unknowingly take HS credit courses as early as sixth grade. However, the college admission clock starts ticking the moment you enroll in HS credit courses, irrespective of the actual class you are in.
Besides your overall GPA, another critical deciding factor for college admissions and winning scholarships is your SAT/ACT test score. Every dollar given by an award is free money, so why waste it? Therefore, love it or hate it; the college admission tests (SAT/ACT) are here to stay.
The important question that stares at the students and parents is when to start preparing for the SAT/ACT tests?
Well, surprise! Surprise! There is no defined preparation for SAT/ACT tests. By the end of the junior year, you are expected to have gained mastery of the subject matter that will be covered in these tests. Therefore, what you need is training to ace these tests, because, these tests evaluate the mastery of the common core standards that you learned throughout your K-12 education and specifically, during your HS years.
In other words, by your junior year, you have gained the expected subject knowledge. However, chances are you have not been trained to take these timed, third-party administered tests; precisely 154 questions in 180 minutes. You might have mastered the subject matter, but the college admissions officer will evaluate you otherwise if you are unable to answer them within the allotted 180 minutes successfully.
Therefore, it is prudent to complete essential pre-requisites by 10th grade, take challenging courses during 11th grade and complete all the college admission requirements by the end of junior year. Utilize the PSAT as your practice for the ‘real’ SAT. Start training for the SAT/ACT tests during the Fall/Winter of your 11th grade. This will give you ample time to practice these tests and earn the desired scores.
So, what are you waiting for? We @FPLAUSA help you establish an excellent foundation in test-taking skills in reading, writing, grammar, and math. Over the years many students trained by us have gained admission to top-ranked universities throughout the nation. A typical test prep program runs for ten weeks, so, call us for a free consultation.