5 Reasons to Incorporate SAT/ACT Practice into Your Curriculum

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5 Reasons to Incorporate SAT/ACT Practice Into Your Curriculum

Secondary curriculum in most schools and districts is meant to prepare students for university study, but it rarely prepares them for the exams that still play an important role in college admissions. Whether due to time constraints, the perceived difficulty of the material, or the idea that SAT/ACT material is incompatible with other curriculum priorities, SAT/ACT practice is often left to students to do on their own.

In this article, I’ll give you 5 reasons why incorporating SAT/ACT practice into your curriculum is a great idea, whether or not your school separately offers SAT/ACT prep courses or workshops. In a later post, I’ll give you some ideas for easy ways to do so.

1. SAT/ACT Material Goes Beyond Most State Standards, Meaning that You’ll Not Only Cover But Exceed Your Standards

When compared with the Common Core and other state standards, the SAT and ACT require a higher level of reading, language, and math skills. Not every topic or skill you teach will appear on the SAT/ACT, but where there’s an overlap, SAT/ACT questions generally go deeper and require more critical thinking and analytical skills. The reading passages are rich sources of academic and Tier 2 vocabulary. Math questions tend to require greater integration of diverse math skills and more complex problem solving.

2. Skills Tested on the SAT/ACT Are Critical to Success in Higher Education

Before I started tutoring and offering small group SAT/ACT test prep, I mistakenly believed that the SAT and ACT measured mastery of topics and content knowledge. As I began to understand the tests better, I realized that they are actually designed to measure academic skill.

While content knowledge is certainly a big part of doing well on the math portion of these exams, and vocabulary is important for the language portions, content knowledge only gets students so far. The rest comes down to skill: how well do students parse a text for meaning, argument, evidence, and structure? How well can they problem solve? How well do they think and write about a topic? These are skills that are crucial for students’ future academic outcomes.

3. Not All Students Have Access to SAT/ACT Prep or Know How to Prepare

All students are subjected to the same test, but unfortunately study after study confirms that socioeconomic factors play a major role in SAT/ACT scores. Building in some SAT/ACT-type practice to your curriculum is a great way to make sure all students gain familiarity with the test material and format.

4. SAT/ACT Practice Can Make Topics or Skills Covered in Your Curriculum More Relevant and Memorable to Students

I can personally attest to the truth of this one: when I mention to students that a particular math topic is tested frequently on the SAT/ACT, their ears perk up. What may have quickly been forgotten after a lesson or unit ends is now given a place of greater importance and is more likely to be remembered. Not every student will be motivated to pay extra attention to material they know might appear on the SAT/ACT, but many will.

5. SAT/ACT Practice Provides a Great Challenge and Enrichment Opportunity

For consistent early finishers and high achieving students, SAT/ACT practice provides a challenge and an opportunity to test and improve their skills. I love reinforcing crucial academic skills that are relevant to the topic at hand with “SAT/ACT challenge questions.”

I’m a big believer in the idea that all students (not just our self-motivated high achievers) benefit from challenging work that requires higher level thinking and problem solving, with the appropriate support and resources.

Please let me know your thoughts (and whether you include any SAT/ACT practice in your classroom) in the comments below!

SAT and ACT Prep: an Overview

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College Entrance Exams Inspire Mixed (Mostly Negative) Feelings

I have my feelings about high stakes academic testing, and chances are you have yours as well.

On the one hand, the fact that individual students with all of their diverse talents and gifts are subjected to a single test that carries so much weight troubles me. I’ve seen first hand the anxiety that many students experience over their SAT and ACT scores. I’ve also seen the inherent disadvantages that some students face in taking the SAT/ACT.

On the other hand, I recognize that colleges need some “objective” method to both assess students’ readiness for college and compare students who may have almost identical academic records. Whether or not the SAT and ACT effectively meet this purpose is, of course, subject to debate. Studies have shown that students from wealthier and more educated family backgrounds tend to do better on the SAT and ACT than those from less privileged backgrounds. The SAT’s new adversity score attempts to contextualize students’ SAT scores based on their school, neighborhood, and home environments.

But for now, unless we opt out of testing (as some schools have allowed), SAT and ACT scores remain important factors in college admissions decisions. And if students are going to take them, they might as well give themselves the best chance possible of getting a high score.

There are many options for SAT/ACT prep, ranging from almost free and self-directed to pricy online and in-person courses and private tutoring. The good news is that with a solid study plan, some SAT/ACT materials, and consistent practice over a long enough period of time, students can improve their scores significantly without expensive SAT/ACT prep courses or private tutoring.

Content Knowledge vs Academic Skill

The skills tested on the SAT/ACT can be loosely grouped into content knowledge and academic skill.

Content knowledge is the specific material learned by students in a subject area, such as point slope form, special right triangles, and vocabulary.

Academic skill, on the other hand, consists of students’ abilities that apply across various subject areas (e.g., reading speed and accuracy, the ability to analyze a text for structural features, applying content knowledge to solve unique and unfamiliar problems, etc.).

There are some SAT/ACT questions that students could get right based on content knowledge alone. But the majority of questions involve academic skill of some kind, and without that the content knowledge only goes so far.

Content knowledge is relatively fluid. A student who has forgotten the rule for 30-60-90 triangles can relearn that rule pretty quickly. But academic skill is sticky; it takes a long time and a lot of practice to build.

Content may be learned, forgotten, and relearned, but critical reading, writing, and problem solving skills follow students throughout college, higher education and beyond, paving the way for better understanding and better academic performance. A longer view of SAT/ACT prep takes the approach of building these skills over the time necessary for them to become engrained, resulting in higher scores and better preparedness for more advanced studies.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

So what’s the best way to prepare for the SAT and ACT? Aside from intensive prep courses or private tutoring (which can improve students’ scores in a relatively short period of time, at a high cost), the best SAT/ACT prep approach is an early start with a slow and steady pace to build academic skills like critical reading, writing, and logical problem solving. (Guide to Self-Study for the SAT/ACT)

I recommend that students take the PSAT or PreACT as early as possible and look to fill in any weaknesses as identified by one of these tests. I also recommend that students begin a regular vocabulary building practice as early as 8th or 9th grade, since a broad vocabulary is a major advantage in both the Reading and Writing/Language sections (and of course in college and beyond).

The single best form of preparation for the Reading and Writing/Language sections of the SAT and ACT (and for higher education) is being an avid reader. Students who love to read outside of their assigned school work tend to be more analytical and efficient readers and have better vocabulary, grammar, and writing skills.

The Good News: Self-Study Works

While expensive SAT and ACT prep courses and private tutoring abound, diligent and self motivated students can improve their SAT/ACT scores with just a few affordable materials and a lot of practice spread out over as many months as possible. Check out this guide to self-study for the SAT/ACT for tips on how to prepare for these exams the right way, as well as the following resources for SAT/ACT prep:

There are also many SAT/ACT prep books available from established test prep companies such as Kaplan and Princeton Review. These books recommend specific strategies for approaching different types of test questions.

I’ve also created the following resources that students can use independently for SAT/ACT prep:

overview of SAT/ACT prep









The Right Way to Self-Study for the SAT and ACT

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I think SAT/ACT self-study can yield great results for students who are disciplined, self driven, and consistent in their approach. For students who need more structure or have a short window before the test, the best option is to take an SAT/ACT prep course or schedule regular tutoring.

This is a general guide to self-study for the SAT and ACT without taking budget or time frame into consideration.

1. Assess

The first step in any SAT/ACT study plan is assessment. Students should take a full length exam and score it (if necessary to manually score) to determine where they stand prior to studying. Simulate real test conditions as much as possible to get the most accurate assessment of performance. The PSAT or Pre-ACT are pretty good predictors of SAT and ACT scores, respectively, but it’s best to take a full length SAT or ACT.

Khan Academy offers full length SAT’s online, plus students can link their College Board account with Khan Academy to input their PSAT and get personalized study recommendations.

2. Understand and analyze results/identify weaknesses

Section scores and subscores will tell a story about students’ current levels of preparedness. For example, a student who takes a full length SAT and gets a 700 in math and a 500 in reading and writing clearly has to focus his or her efforts on the reading/writing sections.

Within sections, both the SAT and ACT provide score information for the different categories of questions. Students should spend some time going over their scores and looking at the specific categories of questions within each section. Students should also spend some time becoming familiar with the test format and how the test is scored.

If other testing issues arose, such as time management, students should take note of them as well.

3. Identify goal scores based on admissions criteria of the schools students plan to apply to.

Determine what kind of improvement is needed overall and across different sections of the test.

If students have a long window to study, score improvements of 300-400 points on the SAT and 10-11 points on the ACT are possible (I’ve worked with students who’ve improved this much!). The shorter the time before the test date, the harder it will be to get large score improvements, but solid score improvements are still very much possible. Set a reasonable but challenging goal.

4. Get SAT/ACT prep materials and extra materials to cover weak areas, as needed.

Get materials with tons of practice problems, and content review materials for any subject areas that were especially weak. Here are the materials that I believe are essential to prepare for the SAT/ACT:

The College Board and ACT both make free practice questions available on their websites as well. Khan Academy also provides excellent free SAT study materials, including practice questions divided by topic. In addition, there are many other high quality study materials and online courses available, budget permitting.

The large test prep companies such as Kaplan and Princeton Review also offer workbooks and other SAT/ACT prep materials.

I’ve created the following resources specific to SAT/ACT vocabulary, grammar, and math that may be helpful for students:

5. Based on the weaknesses identified, goal scores, and the prep materials available (depending on budget), create a study plan.

First, students should map out the time until the test date and break that time into weeks or months, whatever makes the most sense depending on the time period. Next, they should determine what they think they can accomplish during week 1/month 1 and each additional time period.

For example, students with low math scores would first need to spend a good amount of time reviewing math content. Unless a student scores over a 600 (or 25), he or she should review the content first and then start doing practice. If there’s still a year before the exam, students can spend a month reviewing math and any other content they might need to review. With only a couple of months to study, students can spend a week or two reviewing content.

Within the time period allotted for content review, students should break down the content further into chunks so that they have a day by day and week by week plan.

The ideal SAT/ACT study plan will have students doing something every day, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. The importance of consistency in studying for these tests can’t be overstated.

It’s far better to do 30 minutes a day of practice questions than 3.5 hours one day a week. That’s the same amount of total time spent, but there’s much more bang for the buck with the 30 minutes a day plan. The brain needs time and familiarity to assimilate everything that is learned in preparation for the SAT/ACT, and 3 hours one day and then nothing for 6 days just doesn’t cut it.

6. Practice, analyze answers, and learn from mistakes. As the test date approaches, do more timed practice using the actual SAT/ACT pacing for each section.

After doing any necessary content review, the majority of students’ study time should be dedicated to doing practice questions, analyzing why they got them right or wrong, and filling in any content gaps as necessary.

If there’s a year to study, students might spend a couple of weeks just working on one subject and really mastering it. With only a couple of months, students should spend no more than a few days doing practice questions in just one subject area.

As the test date approaches, students should mix the practice questions so that each test section gets some attention almost every day. The key is not to let any area get rusty before the test date.

7. Within the study plan, map out dates to take timed full length tests.

Students should plan to take as many full length practice tests as they can, with at least a few weeks in between each full length test. Over the course of a year, students can easily take at least 4-6 timed, full length tests. If students have only a couple of months, they should try to take a full length test every 3-4 weeks. Also, they should set aside time to do regular timed sections in any weak test areas.

How to self study for the SAT and ACT