ACT and SAT Tutoring: When Is Enough Enough?

At Star Tutors, we’ve tried to create a handful of ACT and SAT tutoring programs that we believe work for most students. We’ve found that about 30 hours of ACT or SAT prep is generally enough time for students to cover most of the important topics and take several practice tests. And about 40 hours of ACT or SAT prep allows a hard-working student to get through everything on the test. With a good ACT or SAT tutor, and time to complete one of our standard programs, you should be in great shape.

But over the years, we frequently have students decide to work with us beyond our standard programs, primarily so they can practice with additional ACT or SAT tests. Let me first say: THIS IS GREAT! If a student has the time and resources, taking additional practice tests after completing one of our standard ACT or SAT prep courses is the best way to see massive score increases. (I’ve discussed this in another article: click here).

But the question may come up: When should I stop? When is enough enough? My business advisors might say never (smiley face), but, of course, there comes a time when I don’t recommend additional ACT or SAT tutoring. Here’s what to look for:

Plateauing scores: If you’ve completed one of our ACT or SAT tutoring programs, taken at least four or five practice tests, and seen your scores clearly start to plateau, and then you take an official ACT or SAT test and match your plateaued practice test scores, there’s a good chance you’re done. You’ve hopefully—and, dare I say, likely!— seen some significant score increases already. Congratulate yourself, and focus on your usual school work. (An important possible exception: If your ACT or SAT tutor believes that many of the problems you’ve missed are ones that you should be getting correct, you may be able to “pull out” of the plateau. You’ll know this is the case when, as you’re reviewing a test with your tutor, you keep saying to yourself: “How on earth did I miss that one?!” or “Jeez, that was easy—not sure what I was thinking!” You might also notice a number of careless mistakes, which tend to decrease with practice. In these cases, you probably want to keep working with your ACT or SAT tutor. But if you’re test scores have plateaued and most of your misses seem pretty tricky, you’re probably done.)

Long layoff: If you’ve scored at least close to your personal best on a recent official ACT or SAT test, and if there’s a long layoff before the next official test, without ample time (or money) for consistent additional ACT or SAT tutoring, you might call it day. This is specifically applicable to the SAT, which has a long (and unfortunate) break between the early December test and the next test in March. The summer break for the ACT (as of this writing) also counts. Students will get rusty if they’re not either regularly meeting with their ACT or SAT tutors or actively working on their own for those three months. (Again, I assume that you’ve completed one of our ACT or SAT tutoring programs—at least 30 hours of tutoring for most students. You should have learned the most important techniques and strategies for the tests before considering any of these bullets.)

Easier points (non-Reading): If your non-Reading scores have already increased significantly (for the ACT test, this includes English, Math, and Science scores, and for the SAT test, this includes Writing/Language and Math), you might discontinue your ACT or SAT tutoring. You’ve already grabbed the “easier” points. Reading scores are often harder to raise significantly, so while continued ACT or SAT tutoring will probably lead to higher scores, the returns may be diminishing.

Target score: Perhaps it’s obvious, but if you had a target score in mind—probably one that you or a college counselor decided would safely get you into the colleges of your choice—and if you meet this target score on a real ACT or SAT test, you can consider yourself done. Additional ACT or SAT prep might raise your score, but consider it gravy (i.e. optional).

We’ve worked with some students well beyond one of our regular ACT or SAT preparation programs. Scores, we’re happy to say, tend to continue increasing. In fact, for students who show slower growth or who are “poor test takers,” we see some of the greatest score increases post-program, when we can put the learning of techniques and strategies behind us and just focus on fine-tuning these techniques on ACT or SAT practice tests. So if you have the time, I’m all for continued tutoring after you’ve completed a standard ACT or SAT tutoring program. But there does come a time when enough is enough. If you’ve met any of the conditions described above, consider calling it quits with your ACT or SAT prep. Take a walk. Read a book. And pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

SAT and ACT Test Scheduling

Planning when to take official SAT and ACT tests can be a bit of a science. Should you take an official test in the middle of an SAT or ACT program? Or should you wait until a program is completed before taking your first official test? I’ll answer these questions below.

First, as I’ve discussed in a separate article, I recommend taking the SAT or ACT test two or three times. I generally consider the first official test a “dress rehearsal,” and the second test the “target test.” For a number of reasons (mostly the intensity of the environment and the stress of knowing that the test is for real—both extremely difficult to mimic in practice settings), students often struggle on their first official SAT or ACT test compared to recent practice tests, so it’s important to plan for at least two, and sometimes three.

So when to schedule these official tests? Generally speaking, you have two options:

Option 1: Take your first official test during the program.

Plan to take the first test (the “dress rehearsal”) during your SAT or ACT tutoring program, and the second test (the “target test”) soon after your program’s completion. This option has two advantages: First, tutoring will continue naturally after the first test, and there will likely (hopefully) be no need for additional SAT or ACT prep after the target test. This is definitely the better option if additional tutoring, beyond your scheduled SAT or ACT tutoring program, is not an option. The second advantage to this option is that in some cases your SAT or ACT tutor can go over the first official test with the student before the target test (see this article for more about the Question-and-Answer Service for the SAT test and the Test Information Release for the ACT test). There are two important rules for Option 1:

1. Make sure the first test (“dress rehearsal”) is scheduled after about 20 hours of SAT or ACT preparation. Most students will take their second scheduled practice test at around the 20-hour mark of their SAT or ACT program. We think it’s important to have this practice test under your belt before taking the first official test.

2. Make sure the target test is scheduled within a few weeks of the completion of your SAT or ACT tutoring program. Obviously, if you take a longer layoff, you’ll risk getting rusty without additional tutoring or self-prep.

Option 2: Take your first official test after the program.

The advantage to taking the first test after you’ve completed your SAT or ACT tutoring program (as above, without more than a few weeks’ delay) is that you’ll almost certainly score higher on this first test than you would with Option 1. (Read this article about SAT and ACT “score choice,” and why it’s probably important to take every official test seriously, and not bomb any of them.) The major downside of this option, however, is that tutoring won’t naturally continue between the first SAT or ACT test (the dress rehearsal) and the next one (the target test) because technically we’re done with the scheduled program. So here are the rules for Option 2:

1. You must plan to continue working—either on your own or with your SAT or ACT tutor—between the first test and the target test. This typically includes taking practice SAT or ACT tests, at least a couple a month, and once a week as the test approaches. The biggest risk of Option 2 is getting rusty between tests.

2. As with Option 1, make sure the first official test is scheduled within a few weeks of the completion of the SAT or ACT tutoring program.

Summary:

So which option is better for you? If you have a hard stop (as is the case with seniors in November or December), or if budget or time restricts the amount of SAT or ACT tutoring possible, go with Option 1: take an official test any time after the 20-hour point of your SAT or ACT prep, and take your target test soon after completion. If you don’t have significant time or budget constraints, go with Option 2: you’re dress rehearsal score will likely be higher, so you won’t be sharing a lower score to a college that doesn’t offer Score Choice, and you’ll likely see higher overall scores, especially if you are able to continue working with your SAT or ACT tutor beyond the schedule program (between tests).

One final, and important, thing to consider: Since the SAT canceled the January test a few years ago, there is now a lengthy break between the December SAT test and the next one in March. This adds some weight to Option 1 for students whose SAT prep will finish before the December test.

Any questions, let us know. And good luck with your SAT or ACT prep!

ACT and SAT Tutoring: The Big Picture

The ACT and SAT tests are primarily based on techniques. By far most of a student’s ACT or SAT prep time involves learning techniques. We like to think of the tests as made up of a bunch of different locks (these are the questions), and each of these locks can be opened with a key (these are our techniques). (And, luckily, most keys can unlock more than one lock.) Our ACT and SAT tutors have a simple but important job: figure out what keys each student needs, and show her how to use them.

But our intensive focus on techniques can sometimes lead students to lose the forest for the trees, as the saying goes. So, before jumping into an in-depth ACT or SAT tutoring program, I think it’s important to understand the “big picture” of our tutoring. The following, I hope, will give students and parents a general sense of how we approach our tutoring.

Strategies vs. Techniques: As mentioned above, techniques are the bread and butter of any good ACT or SAT prep program. So how do techniques differ from general strategies? If techniques function at the level of the question, strategies function at the level of the test (either individual sections, such as Reading, Math, etc., or the test as a whole). Strategies include concepts such as how to manage your time (of which more below), how to get faster, what to read (Reading passages), what not to read (Science passages), knowing how to identify harder (and easier) questions, knowing when to guess, and so on. Strategies are important, although your ACT or SAT tutor will spend less time on them than on the many important techniques, as discussed above.

Every section of the ACT or SAT test is taught in these two ways: general test-taking strategies, and more specific question-level techniques. So even as you find yourself focusing on the techniques (the trees), don’t forget about the more general strategies (the forest).

Technique Identification: Since we’re talking about techniques, turn to a page or two in our ACT or SAT tutorial and find a magnifying glass (they’re everywhere—just look for the a gray box with a magnifying glass). A student may be an expert with a certain technique, but if she gets to a problem and doesn’t know that it tests this technique, her knowledge of the technique may not help her. Thus, technique identification is an important and unique part of our ACT and SAT tutoring programs. When a student is done working with us, she’ll know how to use techniques, but importantly she’ll also know when to use them. If you’re interested, you can read more about technique identification here.

Learning: We’ve set up our ACT and SAT tutorials to facilitate long-term, but gradual, learning. Let me use one example (if you have our tutorial available, I recommend you follow along):

1. Turn to the Proportions lesson (in the Math section’s Arithmetic chapter—use the TOC at the front of the tutorial): Your ACT or SAT tutor will cover Proportions at the second lesson. During the lesson, the tutor will tackle example (“EX”) problems while the student watches; this way the student can observe an expert using the technique.

2. Later in the lesson, the student will tackle “lesson” problems (questions without the “EX” symbol) to confirm her understanding.

3. For homework (“HW”), which in our ACT and SAT prep programs is generally “open-book,” the student will revisit the technique and reconfirm her understanding. For the most part, she’ll know what technique to use at this point, simply by knowing what lesson the homework is covering (for example, Proportions in this case).

4. Now turn to the worksheet at the end of the Arithmetic chapter (again, you can use the TOC): After completing the lessons in a chapter, and periodically throughout a student’s program, a student will be tested on techniques using quizzes or, as we see here, worksheets. Now things are more difficult because techniques from other lessons (in a chapter) are included. Technique identification becomes more important.

5. And finally, and again periodically, each student will be tested on actual ACT and SAT practice tests. This is of course the final step in the process, when the problems are completely mixed, and students must display their mastery of both identifying and using our techniques, not to mention applying general test-taking strategies. Hopefully the gradual steps that lead up to taking actual tests will have the student ready and confident to excel.

Timing: Timing is an important aspect of ACT and SAT tutoring. We approach timing in three ways:

1. We’ll help the student identify harder questions, and potentially skip them. The goal is to make sure that if a student runs out of time, she’s confident that all the easy- and medium-level questions have been answered. This idea alone often raises students’ scores immediately and significantly, without any additional knowledge of our curriculum (although, of course, the increases quickly reach a natural ceiling without the support of techniques).

2. We encourage most students (especially for the ACT test) to get a silent stopwatch so they can monitor their position in the test. An analogy: A runner doesn’t wait until the last mile of a marathon to see if he’s on track. He doesn’t want to go too quickly (and wear himself out) or too slowly (and find himself unable to make up the time). We’ll approach the test in a similar way. (Details, of course, will be covered in our ACT and SAT programs.)

3. Finally, learning techniques will, over time, help students get faster. To go back to the key metaphor, it’s much faster to turn a lock with the correct key than to spend time picking the lock, or breaking down the door.

Practice Tests: Students will take a diagnostic ACT or SAT test (usually for homework after the first lesson), a “midterm” test (around the 20-hour mark of both our ACT and SAT prep programs), and then one test every 10 hours or so of tutoring after that. Practice tests are important, but until we’ve created a good foundation for a student (strategies and techniques), they offer diminishing returns. The time to focus on practice tests is near the end of a program, not the beginning. (You can read more about my philosophy about practice tests here.)

1. Corrections: For each test, students will correct problems as the chapters that support these problems are completed (and not before). By the time a student has finished her ACT or SAT tutoring with us, she will have gone over just about every question on every test she’s taken (depending on her program). But we do this gradually, for obvious reasons—there’s no point covering a question on parabolas until we’ve covered the lesson on parabolas. (If you’re interested in how we do this, take a look at a student’s Homework Packet, which is part of her materials. In this packet, turn to the Grading and Analysis page of any of the official practice tests. A student’s ACT or SAT tutor will circle missed question numbers on this page. Then, when the tutor assigns corrections for a given chapter, the student will know exactly which questions to tackle.)

2. Techniques chapter: Turn to the Techniques chapter at the back of our ACT or SAT tutorial. This is a very important part of our curriculum. Every question on every test is “married” to a technique in our tutorial (and students are allowed and encouraged to use these pages during corrections). No curriculum I’ve seen so clearly links its techniques to the questions of real ACT and SAT tests.

These are some of the big picture aspects of our ACT and SAT tutoring programs. I hope both students and their parents now have a better sense of what’s to come. As always, if you have any questions, please contact us any time.

-Erik Klass is the author of The Ultimate SAT Tutorial and The Ultimate ACT Tutorial and the owner of KlassTutoring. KlassTutoring offers exceptional private SAT preparation and ACT preparation in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Pasadena, and more…

What Does “Test-Optional” Really Mean?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started last year, I’ve been asked (like, a million times) about what “test-optional” really means. The more important question is this: Should I bother taking an ACT or SAT test when many colleges have (temporarily, in most cases) gone test-optional? Allow me to unpack this.

(Before I begin, let me state the obvious: I run an ACT/SAT tutoring company. You know this (I assume), but I’d like to acknowledge it up front. I’m going to address the topic of test-optional colleges as transparently as I can, with links and quotes to impartial sources where possible.)

I’m focusing here on schools that give you the option to submit ACT or SAT test scores (“test-optional”). There are three possibilities:

1. If all of your target schools are “test-blind,” which means they will not consider ACT/SAT test scores, then do not take one of these tests!

2. On the other hand, if any of your target schools require ACT/SAT scores, then do take one of these tests!

3. The question I’ll be answering in this post is this: What to do when none of your target schools require the tests, and at least some of them are test-optional? Read on...

A little background on test-optional.
Some schools were test-optional before the pandemic, but most schools (close to all) still required an ACT/SAT test score. The canceling of ACT/SAT tests around the country forced most colleges to stop requiring the tests, for the simple and understandable reason that so many students were not able to take them. At least one college counselor has described these schools as “reluctant” test-optional schools. I’ll talk about this more below.

So who should consider skipping the ACT/SAT test?
Before answering this question, let me give you my thoughts on college admissions criteria:

Generally speaking, college admission officers look at three aspects of a student’s college resume: (1) GPA and classes taken (such as APs and honors), (2) college essays and extracurricular activities, and (3) standardized test scores (such as the ACT/SAT, assuming, of course, that the college is not test-blind). Different colleges may choose to weigh these three components in different ways, but it’s safe to assume that most schools weigh each area roughly equally (imagine a pie cut into three equal slices).

So back to my question: If you have an above average presentation in the first two criteria—and I mean really above average—and if you suspect your ACT/SAT scores will be lower than average for most of the colleges on your list, then you should probably consider skipping the test. This seems pretty obvious to me, and reasonable. I might add: If you don’t have time or resources to put into ACT or SAT tutoring, then skipping the test might be a good idea. Talk to your counselor about this—he or she should be able to help you decide whether your resume is strong enough for your target schools without ACT or SAT test scores.

One other thing worth considering: In the unlikely event that most or all of the schools you’re applying to were ones that were test-optional before the pandemic, these are schools that apparently have embraced the idea of test-optional admissions. They’ve already set up their admissions to work well without ACT/SAT test scores. You can probably safely skip the tests with these schools without (potentially) hurting your chances—but again, this really only applies if the other parts of your college resume look great.

So who should consider taking the ACT/SAT test?
For students who don’t fall into any of the categories above, I think taking one of the tests can still make a lot of sense. As I mentioned above, I run a tutoring company, and it’s only natural that I think many students should sign up for an ACT or SAT prep course and eventually take a test. I’ve always believed these tests do a good job of helping colleges compare students from across a broad range of high schools, and I think colleges value the information these tests provide. (This is the point of these tests, although this is sometimes lost in the recent politicization of standardized tests.)

I’ve also spoken to a number of college counselors about this—including Alexandra Dumas Rhodes of Rhodes Educational Consulting, who’s a college counselor superstar—and they have all agreed (with one exception, who said: “You tell me, Erik.”): Taking an ACT or SAT now, while many colleges are still in test-optional mode, can only potentially help you. If you do well, then it will improve your college resume and, importantly, separate you from other students who choose to skip the test. If you don’t do great on the test, then simply don’t submit your scores (here’s an article I wrote about Score Choice). I think this is important to emphasize: When you take an ACT or SAT, you can choose to submit—or not to submit—your scores. I’m not going to say there’s no downside to taking one of these tests (I’m not the one who has to wake up early and sit in a room filling in bubbles for over three hours, not to mention the time and cost of tutoring). But having a score under your belt, even if you only use it for those colleges with average acceptance scores below your score, might be a good idea. If your ACT or SAT test scores are worse than average for a school, simply don’t submit the score.

As I mentioned above, a few counselors brought up the idea of “reluctantly test-optional” schools. If you have a sense that a college went test-optional only because of the pandemic, these schools probably still value ACT/SAT test scores. I strongly recommend submitting scores for these schools (which, by the way, is most of them).

Finally, if you’re lucky enough to have the time and means for ACT or SAT tutoring, this could truly be a rare historical opportunity to separate yourself from the crowd. Once colleges start swinging back to test-required admissions, well, then the opportunity to display (hopefully) high test scores while other students present no scores at all will be lost.

A case study.
I’d like to use Georgetown University as a case study. The school, which like most schools went test-optional last year, had its lowest acceptance rate in school history (11.7%). The reason why is simple: the pool of applicants increased by 30% (mainly, we can assume, because students who otherwise would have stayed away from a solid university like GU because of the students’ (potentially) low test scores decided to give it a try).

But here’s the important numbers: 80% of applicants chose to submit ACT or SAT test scores, and just under 90% of those admitted did submit their applications with ACT or SAT results. Finally, here’s a quote from Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon: “We will continue to allow applicants who are not able to access the SAT or ACT due to Covid to apply without the test but it is our expectation that vaccines will be readily available by this summer [2021] and we expect that most applicants should be able to fulfill the testing requirement by next fall.” (You can read more about this study here.)

Summary.
We know that some schools have decided to go test-optional permanently (here’s a pretty good list). And, here in California, you probably know that the UC’s are planning to permanently remove the ACT/SAT test requirement, although the university may eventually create its own standardized test, which one imagines will be tutorable (and probably similar to the SAT/ACT), which makes you wonder what exactly the UC folks are thinking. But until more schools either join the UCs in going test-blind, or seem to fully embrace the idea of test-optional, I think most students will benefit from taking one of the tests. It’s a bit of a win-win, since you can always choose to not submit your scores. Of course, if you choose to work with KlassTutoring, my hope is that your scores will be so high that you’ll have no choice but to submit them!

I hope the above clarifies “test-optional.” Any questions, please let us know. And stay safe everyone.

-Erik Klass is the author of The Ultimate SAT Tutorial and The Ultimate ACT Tutorial and the owner of KlassTutoring. KlassTutoring offers exceptional private SAT preparation and ACT preparation in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Pasadena, and more…

Mitigating Learning Loss from COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed society in profound and unanticipated ways, and in the process exacerbated underlying social and economic inequalities. Pandemic-related school closures represent the largest disruption to education in history, with far-ranging impacts on K-12 learning. This generation of students now risks losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value, or about 14 percent of today’s global GDP according to a report published by the World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF.

Data on learning loss during the pandemic have been slow to emerge. Unlike economic sectors or the healthcare system, school systems typically do not post data at high-frequency intervals. Schools and teachers have struggled to adopt online-based solutions for instruction, let alone for assessment and accountability. Data evidences a drop in coursework completed, increased dispersion of test scores and overall less time studying.

This crisis extends beyond the traditional classroom and has significant impacts on the health and well-being of students, teachers and parents. It has widened pre existing opportunity and achievement gaps, hitting historically disadvantaged students hardest. High schoolers are now more likely to drop out of school, and high school seniors, especially those from low-income families, are less likely to go on to postsecondary education.

Concurrent economic effects have made parents less able to provide support, as they too struggle with economic uncertainty or poor working environments. The health and mortality risk of the pandemic incurs deeper psychological costs, as does the toll of social isolation. The fallout from the pandemic threatens to weaken prospects and limit opportunities well into adulthood. In Covid 19 and education: The Lingering Effects of Unfinished Learning, McKinsey group forecasts that today’s students may earn $49,000 to $61,000 less over their lifetime owing to the impact of the pandemic on their schooling. The impact on the US economy could amount to $128 billion to $188 billion every year as this cohort enters the workforce.

Federal funds are in place to help states and districts respond, however, funding has its limitations. The systemic and pervasive challenges in our school systems predate the pandemic and previously resisted reform. More than ever, states and districts will have an integral role implementing and organizing funding into sustainable programs that bolster student outcomes. It is clear that there is an immediate need to reimagine our education systems, anticipate future challenges, and maintain higher frequency data in the educational sector. Across all of these priorities it will be critical to take a holistic approach that accounts for the academic and nonacademic needs of students, teachers, and parents.