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Career and College Resources » ACT & SAT Prep Resources

ACT & SAT Prep Resources

General Testing Information

Many colleges no longer require SAT or ACT scores.  Be sure to check college admissions websites to confirm each institution's current policy. If you still plan to take either the SAT or ACT, you can find information by visiting the test-update webpages below.
 
  • It’s best to take the ACT and/or SAT by the spring of your junior year. This gives you time to retake one or both during your senior year, if necessary. Many students increase their scores taking the test more than once.
  • The tests are given on a Saturday morning, and take about four hours each.
  • Some colleges require or recommend SAT Subject Tests in addition to the SAT Reasoning Test or ACT. The subject tests are an hour long, multiple-choice exams. There are 20 subject tests available in five areas: English, history, languages, math, and science. Some colleges use subject test scores to place students in the best courses for them. Based on test results, students may even earn college credit for beginning-level courses.
  • To help you prepare for the ACT and SAT, official practice exams are available.
    • collegeboard.com offers practice for the SAT through study guides and daily SAT sample questions.
    • PLAN is the practice test for the ACT and information can be found at http://actstudent.org/plan
    • This U.S. Army site provides free full length practice tests for the SAT and ACT at https://www.march2success.com/
  • PSAT/NMSQT is the standardized test for the SAT Reasoning Test. It is offered in October for high school sophomores and juniors. This test also links to the National Merit Scholarship program. Students may be offered scholarships based on their scores. Information on this test can be found at CollegeBoard

Register for SAT/ACT

  • Register for the SAT as well as test-taking advice and prep. You can also send your scores to the colleges in which you’re interested.  
  • Register for the ACT as well as test-taking strategies and practice guides.
  • The dictionary folks at Merriam-Webster Dictionary have a Word of the Day feature on their website. We like this site because it gives the word’s pronunciation, uses it in a sentence and gives background information about how the word was constructed.
  • Number2.com allows you to pick which days of the week you’d like to receive a test-prep email. That e-mail has a link to a personalized webpage, a word of the day with definition and related sentence and a log of how much time you spent building your vocabulary on the site that week. Number2.com also keeps track of how many words you’ve mastered after each quiz.