Prepping Your Homeschooled Child for the SAT/ACT

The SAT and ACT are entrance examinations used by many colleges and universities to help them make admissions decisions.

If your teen was college-bound during the pandemic, you might recall the shift to test-optional policies by many colleges. Currently, these policies are still in place at numerous schools, allowing families to choose whether to submit scores for SAT, ACT, or no scores at all.

However, some universities, such as Harvard, Brown, CalTech and others, have reinstated mandatory testing policies and it's unsure if and/or when other colleges will follow suit.

For teens who are not strong test-takers, test-optional policies are a golden opportunity. Applications can be submitted without standardized test scores, allowing admissions committees to focus on individual strengths, like essays, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation.

If your teen excels in testing, submitting high test scores can strengthen their applications and help them qualify for additional merit scholarships.

Either way, it's good to have a strategic discussion with your child, create a targeted plan, and if they need to use the testing route, make sure that they prepare well in advance for their upcoming exams.

When to Begin Preparing

Preparation for the SAT/ACT begins at the start of your child's junior year of high school. This gives your teen enough time for assessments, study sessions, and practice tests.

You'll also want to ensure that they’ve completed Algebra 2 before starting their test prep, as this knowledge is foundational for the exams.

You can help your child prepare in one or more of the following ways:

• Use the College Board website to build study plants and take full-length practice tests.

• Take advantage of Khan Academy's Test Prep content.

• Get familiar with the test's Question Bank so your child isn't surprised on test day.

• Try a Test Prep Book from Princeton Review

• Get targeted help from an in-person center like C2 Education

• Sign up with a local school to take official PSAT exams. Doing this can help acclimate your child to what the SAT would be like and in some cases, make them eligible to receive scholarships. PSATs can be taken as early as 9th grade!

Key Strategies for Test Prep

1. Don't Give Up - Most students take the SAT/ACT at least 2-3 times to achieve their best score. Colleges often accept “superscores,” where the highest scores from each section across multiple tests are combined, helping your child be able to submit their best work.

1. Submission Strategy - Check each college’s average score range to decide whether submitting test scores will be advantageous. Remember, that once submitted, your child's test scores cannot be unseen.

Ultimately, standardized tests are just one part of the admissions puzzle. Use them wisely, and don’t let them overshadow the bigger picture of your teen’s talents, achievements, or unique experiences as a homeschooler.

For details on how these exames are brokwn down, read our past article on the SAT and ACT here.