Masterclass: Should Your Student Take the SAT, ACT or None at All?

Awesome. As everybody starts to funnel in, so happy you are here and looking forward to sharing all about testing and test prep and how to support your kids. Um, testing can be daunting, and I want to see if we can make it just more enjoyable. Um, having the right resources Makes life so much better. So we're gonna go with that. We will start directly on time. So if you wanna grab something to drink, a little snack, we will start right at 5 o'clock. So for those of you who are here on time, thank you so much. Yay! All right. So Scott will be with us in just a moment. And we will get started. I just want to make sure that everything is technically ready. And let's go ahead and get started. Welcome, everybody. My name is Shellee Howard, and I'm the founder and CEO of CollegeReady. And Carrie just jumped in as Christy, and so that's why we couldn't find you. Carrie is part of the CollegeReady team. She'll be answering questions and helping to navigate, um, through this process. So welcome, um, Carrie.

Thank you.

Awesome. And Scott— Scott is our awesome, awesome, um, celebrity this evening. He is going to talk about all things testing. I had the opportunity to interview him on a podcast, and I was just blown away. So you are in for a treat. He is going to be kicking off the meeting this evening and then I'm going to be talking about how testing will impact the application and scholarships. So Scott's going to talk about the meat and potatoes, and I'm going to wrap it up. So if you have any questions, if you have any concerns, please put them in, um, the chat. And without further ado, um, Scott, it's your time to take the lead. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Shellee, for the invitation to come on and speak with you and your community. So can everyone see my slides now? Yes, this is probably the best way to preview them because I want to jump around to some, some other tabs in my Chrome window here. So we're going to talk tonight about whether your student or you, if you are a student joining, should take the SAT. The ACT, or should you apply test optional? And Shellee Howard's going to expand a little bit later on what that even means. What does it mean to apply test optional? How do colleges kind of think about your application when you don't submit test scores? Um, so here's the roadmap of where I'm going to go tonight. We're going to first talk about test optional at a really high level. How does it work? What colleges do when they sort of review applications on a test optional basis. Then we'll look at the SAT and the ACT, kind of the fundamental differences, which one might be more aligned to your student's skill sets and strengths. And then I'll give some pointers on how to prepare for the SAT or the ACT, whatever test you choose to prepare for. There's some good best practices that I want to make sure everyone walks away with. So first off, how does test optional actually function? So this slide is a little outdated, but in the spring, Dartmouth made headlines for returning to requiring the SAT and the ACT. And there's been, there have been a few other schools that have followed suit in the following months. And so we're seeing kind of the swing back away from the kind of early pandemic rush to test optional when testing was really difficult to secure spots for, right? When a lot of test sites were being canceled due to the COVID pandemic and the threat that that posed to group you know, events. A lot of colleges went test optional, and now they're kind of rethinking those policies now that they've had a few cycles, admission cycles, where they've seen sort of the quality of students who have applied and then ultimately enrolled, uh, with and without test scores as part of their applications. So we're seeing this kind of swing back. Uh, the Ivies are sort of leading that swing, but we expect more and more schools to follow suit. Um, that said, since more than 80% of U.S. schools are still in this kind of awkward test optional, uh, temporarily test optional phase, uh, it's pretty important for students who are planning to go to a 4-year college to understand how this policy works. So to do that, we have to kind of understand historically how the students— what the admissions folks call academic records, kind of the academic metrics or side of their application— how has that been considered, or how has that been evaluated in the past? So typically, this is how it worked. First, your immediate high school context was considered. So that means that if you, you know, went to a school that produced one of these school profiles— most schools these days do it. I would say private schools do a bit better job at presenting it. So this is a private school in the Portland, Oregon area. They say things like, you know, here's our size, here's our class, you know, enrollment. They'll even have a little section down here that kind of like of their standardized test scores. So what are the ranges of scores for students at that school? So the the admissions officers reviewing an application from a student that attends that school can look at that, look at their test scores or their lack thereof, and see, okay, what's kind of an average score at that school? And maybe even what's the— what's an average GPA, how the grading works, things like that. So this is what they mean when schools say they review your academic record in the— in your context, in the immediate context of your school. So they look at that context, uh, they look at your GPA, they look at the kind of classes you've been taking, um, up to the, you know, spring of junior year, which is when, uh, the last kind of— you're applying early especially— is kind of the last semester that they'll see on your transcript. Um, and then if, uh, and this is the— in the before times, they would kind of take your test scores and assign them a rating, just like, uh, they would assign your GPA and your course rigor as a rating so they can make it really data-driven and easy to kind of compare students side by side. And then all these ratings would be tabulated into like a rank. And this would be an easy way to, again, you know, just rate you or rank you alongside other applicants because they're making these decisions on the basis of like, you know, thousands or sometimes tens of thousands of applications every year. So they wanna make it really streamlined. Um, well, when, uh, the pandemic hit and a lot of schools had to kind of shift gears really quickly and go to this test-optional philosophy or policy, what they did was very simple and straightforward. They just dropped test scores, uh, from this sort of, uh, breakdown or this equation, and they weighted the other things more heavily. Um, so if you didn't apply with SAT or ACT test scores, well, then your GPA counted more.. And if you did happen to have those scores, then it was kind of the original equation. So they kind of made this modification in, you know, to, to account for the fact that some students were applying with scores and some students were applying without scores. As test optional has evolved and as the pandemic's, you know, threat has subsided and students are able to take tests again, and, and we're seeing more and more students are taking tests. In fact, the College Board released testing data recently that indicated that in 2023, or actually it was the 2023-2024 school year, academic year, more students had taken the SAT than they had pre-pandemic. So we're kind of back to full, you know, testing capacity, and more students even than before 2020 when testing sites were shut down are taking the SAT. Now, are those students all submitting their scores with their applications? The answer is no. They're being more strategic and selective with, uh, when and to whom or which colleges they submit those scores. Um, so we're kind of in this sort of new era of test optional where it's a lot more— it's a lot more strategic, and even colleges are getting a lot more strategic too and how they wield their test optional policies. Um, so some schools have now kind of, uh, decided that test optional really aligns with their you know, values and their mission as an organization. So they've made a permanent decision to keep test optional, or sometimes in the case of like the University of California system, test blind or test free, make that kind of a permanent part of their admissions, right? So these are schools that you kind of expect to have much more robust processes than the one that I just ran through for evaluating students' academic metrics. They've, you know, committed to not using test scores, or at least not the way that they did before. And they've come up with ways to get the data that they think is really helpful in helping them identify students that will be successful academically at their schools without the use of test scores. That said, other schools keep doing this sort of like kick the can down the road process or approach to test optional. They keep saying every year that, well, we're going to extend our test optional policies one more cycle or maybe two more cycles. And what I, as a test prep professional, hear when I hear that kind of announcement is they really want to go back to requiring the scores. They really think that there's value in the scores, but they're still kind of sensing from the, like, you know, maybe the media or the general public sentiment around testing that it's not there yet, that they're gonna get, you know, maybe criticized or ostracized or something if they kind of make that decision. So they're deciding not to, to make test-optional a permanent, uh, admissions policy, but they're also not going to go back to requiring the test scores. So they're kicking the can down the road another year or two. So these are the kinds of schools that you should watch out for, because these are the kinds of schools that actually do care about scores, and they can't justify requiring them again, but they're going to find or try to find that data, that information, somehow. So these are schools like Rice. We saw Rice go to a test-preferred or test-recommended policy this past year. So they don't require test scores anymore, but they, they are saying explicitly that they would like students— they would really like students to submit scores because they think that they're valuable. Another example is a class of schools that is asking for kind of additional evidence of academic achievement. So these are schools kind of looking for alternative ways to validate students' academic performance beyond just the GPA and the course rigor. They realize that maybe students want to apply test optional, students aren't proud of their scores for one reason or the other, and they, they're saying, okay, well, fine, you can apply test optional, but you need to do this other thing. You have to jump through this other hoop. So a good example of that is Washington University in St. Louis. Washington University did this last year. They said, well, look, if you're not going to apply with test scores, you're going to have to do this other thing. You have to provide a teacher evaluation from probably a course that's related to your intended major who can vouch for your academic readiness in that particular field. So it's super pointed. It's not just a general teacher rec that says this student came to class and did all the assignments and participated in class discussion. No, it's a bit more than that. So it's someone who can hopefully vouch for the quality of your writing on a research assignment or project or, you know, something that's like course or subject or field specific. So this is an example of a college making an exception to their typical test optional policy in order to capture some of the information that they are not getting from students who don't submit SAT or ACT scores. So if you're a student thinking about a school like this, and I think there will be more and more schools that, you know, unveil or wield these kinds of policies in the future, you can be asking yourself, is it easier for me to just prepare for and take the SAT or the ACT and get strong scores and be prepared to submit them to almost all or all of my colleges? Or do I need to be prepared to jump through these each, you know, individual unique hoops that all these colleges are going to start inventing? In order to capture this information. If I were a student right now, if I were a high school student like a sophomore, junior, I would be saying, man, that sounds like a headache. I do not want to have to deal with that when it comes time to whittling down my college list. I don't want to be thinking, well, I've got to submit this to WashU, and I've got to submit this to Pomona, and I've got to account for this if I want to go to, you know, this other school on the East Coast, because that's kind of how it's going to end up breaking down. Instead, I'm just gonna plan on preparing for and submitting SAT or ACT scores. I'm gonna prep and study and spend the time and put in the work and secure scores that I think are, you know, an accurate reflection of my academic abilities and potential. And I'm gonna be prepared to submit those when it comes time in the fall of my senior year. I think that's the easier strategy here. Oh yeah, there's another example of how they're kind of looking for more information. This is a Khan Academy product, schoolhouse.world. This is another way that WashU is saying, well, you know, you can also kind of do this to kind of show us a field or subject-specific proficiency. Anyway, so kind of zooming out a little bit and thinking about test optional. So now there's about 8% to 10% of schools, 4-year colleges and universities in the United States that have gone back to requiring SAT or ACT scores. The vast majority, as I mentioned earlier, over 80%, are still test optional. But notice that only a fraction of those have actually made test optional permanent. So the majority of schools are still in this kind of, you know, temporary, we're not sure what we're going to do, we're extending our test optional policy 1 year, 2 years at a time. They're in this sort of light yellow or orange bubble here in the middle. So we don't know what they're going to do in the end. I think it's unlikely that they're going to go test-free. I don't think they're going to kind of join the University of California and some other schools on that test-free bandwagon. They will probably either move into this green bubble on the right or make their test-optional policy permanent. And that means that if you have test scores and you're willing to submit them, you are still going to be at an advantage at these colleges. Right. Just some kind of predictions about what I think is going to happen over the next few years. There's a lot of talk about great inflation, and there's actually a study that came out this week about great inflation. I think it was ACT released it. So it is, it's still kind of on the, on the ups. We're seeing a lot more evidence of a post-COVID kind of great inflation wave that actually just accelerated what was already happening pre-COVID.. And I think that this, as more and more data and research is conducted around this, the importance of a GPA will become lower. It's, it's still the number one factor in admissions according to surveys of admissions counselors, admissions officers. And I think that that might actually get knocked down. We're not sure exactly what's going to happen, but more and more research seems to indicate that grades are less trustworthy and reliable than they used to be. Statewide assessments also seem to continue to show learning loss. This always gets a wave of headlines in the kind of late summer or late spring, early summer, when those results come in, because spring is usually the time when states do their testing, and we're seeing, you know, more and more evidence of schools and students not being kind of at grade level. We're also seeing colleges struggling to evaluate college readiness, which is why they're introducing these other components to assess college readiness in the absence of SAT and ACT scores. This is an example of— from, uh, Emory University. This is the Dean of Admissions at Emory. He's basically coming out and saying— I think it's on a podcast, uh, or maybe an interview for an article, uh, that he believes that grades are inflated. And this is a guy that's kind of directing the admissions policies and processes at a pretty important You know, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. Uh, this is Jeremiah Quinlan, who's kind of always been a SAT fanboy, um, but he's, uh, the Dean of Admissions at Yale, um, and he came out in a podcast this past spring with Dartmouth's, uh, Dean of Admissions, um, Lee Coffin, and said, yeah, SAT, ACT, that's actually number one for us. It's not GPA, it's test scores. So yeah, we really believe that even the government will kind of continue pressuring colleges to show value as the cost of college is increasing and the kind of loan forgiveness program is in jeopardy. I think there's going to be more and more pressure from Congress to, you know, pull these college presidents in and say, what are you doing? Can you just justify your high cost? Can you justify that your admission practices are fair and equitable?. And I think colleges are going to feel that pressure and go back to more objective measures of admissions. So a bit of a prediction there. We'll see, we'll see what happens. All right, let's go to the next section of our presentation here, which is which test is best for you, the SAT or the ACT. And I want to clear up some myths here in this part of the presentation. So a lot of parents who grew up where— when the SAT was dominant, or maybe they grew up on the coasts, or maybe they're Midwesterners and they grew up when the— where the ACT was dominant. Um, they may not be aware of the fact that all colleges and universities in the United States these days have no preference for the SAT or the ACT. They don't care. They don't weight one more heavily than the other. We'll get to some updates that are coming for the ACT, and that's actually introduced a question mark about the ACT. But for now, uh, until those changes take effect next fall, there's no preference for the SAT over the ACT or vice versa. So Your student should make the decision about whether they should take one test or the other purely on the basis of which one they can do better on. So that's the takeaway there. Some changes with the SAT over the past year. So in March, the SAT went to an all-digital format. So March 2024 was the first administration of the digital SAT. Now there are no more paper SAT. There are no more Scantron bubble sheets. So I wanna make sure everyone knows, is up to speed on what that meant. First off, it was changed, it was reduced in its length. So the paper-based SAT was about 3 hours. The digital SAT is now 2 hours and 15 minutes. So it's a shorter test. It's good for students. It's adaptive now. So the way that this works is that students take the first section of either the reading writing section or the math section math component of the exam, and then depending on their performance, depending on how they do, they will either get a harder or an easier second section of that type, right? So if you do well in the math— first math section, you'll get a harder second math section. If you don't do as well, you'll get an easier second math section. And it's important because that will dictate your score. So you really— if you're going for a top score, if you need to, you know, do well on that section of the test, The only way to get a top score is to do really well on the first section and then get the harder version of the second section. Your students should be pretty familiar with this because this is a pretty standard, like, software, you know, algorithm-based experience that the SAT took from gaming. So students need to level up, so to speak, in each section of the test in order to secure a top score. The reading was changed pretty significantly to remove really long passages. So the passage used to be 80 to 100 lines of text, and now they're really like 6 to 10 lines of text. It's bite-sized. I think the idea here was, you know, article-based reading rather than book-length reading, or even like internet research. Versus, you know, going and finding a book in the stacks of your library and reading a whole book cover to cover. It's kind of a changing media as far as the way scholarship is done and research is conducted. And then the reading and writing section is combined with, with kind of questions together, but it does go in the same order. It goes reading first and then writing. It's just in the same section. And then all the math is now calculator math. There used to be a no calculator math section on the paper SAT. They did away with that because just practically speaking, if you're doing a test on a computer, you have access to a calculator. We have a digital fact sheet that I'll send out as part of the follow-up email for understanding the differences between the the paper-based SAT and the digital SAT. Um, it's, it's, uh, pretty important for students who take the digital SAT to understand if they took, for instance, the PSAT last year, which was, um, well, actually, the PC last year would have been digital SAT, digital, digital-based. But 2 years ago, if they took the PSAT 2 years ago, uh, would have been paper-based. So they might not have encountered the digital SAT yet. Um, shifting gears and talking about the ACT. So about 2 months ago, the ACT made a big announcement and, uh, said that they were going to make some changes as well. Uh, this is broadly seen as in the test prep professional, you know, community as a response to the SAT's changes. So they're kind of following suit. They're making their test shorter as well. Uh, they were at 195 minutes, uh, for the paper SAT— paper ACT, and they're going to make it, uh, about 2 hours and 5 minutes now. So dropped it down pretty significantly. They are gonna make the science section optional. This is the kind of biggest change that they announced. So starting for computer-based ACTs in April of 2025, and then for paper-based ACTs in September of next year, the students who register for those exams will have a choice when they register if they wanna take the test with a science section or without the science section. So they take without, they'll just see 3 sections: reading, writing, and math, just like the SAT. The math is also, uh, gonna make it a little more simple. Uh, there's currently 5 options for answers in the math section, uh, and they're gonna reduce it to 4. So it makes guessing a little easier. Um, they're also reducing the number of questions in that section. So that's one of the ways they're making the, the test a little shorter. And then finally, they are not doing away with the paper exam. They did some surveys for students, and they realized that this was kind of an opportunity to differentiate with the SAT. The SAT is only available by digital exam format now. The ACT realized that some students really preferred to continue taking the test on the paper. They preferred the ability to do scratch work right on the test booklet. For instance, or to annotate the reading and science passages right in the booklet instead of using annotation software on the screen. And so they will continue to offer the ACT on paper indefinitely. So again, the timeline here is that if your students take the computer-based ACT starting in April, that's when they'll see a science section as optional and a shorter exam. Um, if they take it on paper, they won't see those changes until September. So the kind of takeaway here is that if you are a junior and you're already kind of starting down the road of ACT prep, I don't think this change should impact you. If you're already starting to prep for the ACT, you're probably prepping on paper, and you should probably, uh, not be testing as late as September 2025. That's pretty late. Um, so that shouldn't— this shouldn't really apply to you. If you are a sophomore or younger, this change is important. You should know about this if you're considering the SAT versus the ACT. You're going to want to factor in, uh, the, the difference of being able to take the ACT with the science section or without the science section, because that's one of the big things that differentiates the SAT and the ACT right now. Speaking of that, let's shift gears over to this fact sheet. So we built a fact sheet to help students understand kind of the differences between the SAT and the ACT. And again, I'll send a copy of this out in a follow-up email. But this first section here gives us kind of the big picture differences. And again, this is for the current version of the ACT. So current version of the ACT, science is not optional. And there's a pretty big difference between the time allotted per problem between the SAT and the ACT right now. That's going to change when the ACT gets shorter and removes the number of questions. But for now, the SAT gives significantly more time per problem in both of its components, the reading and writing component and the math component, and ACT gives less time. SAT is adaptive and ACT is and will remain linear, which means you— all the students take the same version of the exam. It doesn't get harder or easier based on your performance. Scores. So the SATs are scored out of 1,600. Each section is worth 800 points. The ACT is out of a 36-point scale. And your scores are averaged. They aren't added together. So one of the things that we'll be advising students on as the ACT changes and makes the science optional is your composite score will consist of just these 3 components. Even when you take the optional science section, the ACT will report your ACT composite score as an average of just reading, writing, and math. So that's an important difference for sophomores and younger to know that, because that's a pretty big difference right now between the SAT and the ACT. My students who are gung-ho science students who are taking honors and AP and IB levels in science classes,, they tend to do well on the ACT Science section. And that's a benefit. That's an added, you know, value for them. They can demonstrate that skill set. Uh, if it's not part of your composite score, will it be important to take? One of the things that we're going to be watching over the next year— colleges have not weighed in on this change, by the way. One of the things that they will weigh in on, hopefully, uh, before students apply in fall of 2025 when this change actually is active is, uh, how will they review ACT composites and ACT score reports when the science is optional? Is it actually going to be optional for, let's say, uh, the School of Engineering at MIT? I don't think so. I think they'll probably still require it. They'll say if you're taking the ACT, you need to take the science section, and we need to see a science score. You know, that's just my prediction. But I suppose that a lot of colleges will be announcing admissions, you know, standards and policy changes in the spring around this change.

Math.

So the SAT goes to— it takes a different tack when it comes to the math content. It's more of a depth game than a range game. So they both test math up to and through Algebra 2, which is the kind of national requirement for graduation from a U.S. school, U.S. high school. So they can't test anything like pre-calc or calc because you don't need it to go to college, but you do need Algebra 2 to graduate high school and therefore go to college. But the ACT really kind of focuses on a smaller subset of math topics, and it finds more creative ways to test that content. ACT takes a different tack. It says, well, we're going to keep things pretty straightforward. Um, we're not going to make our questions very tricky. We're not going to have a lot of word problems. Instead, we're just going to ask about more topics. We're just going to make you memorize more formulas and force you to kind of demonstrate a wider range of expertise in content mastery. So think about your student.

Are your—

is your student the kind of student who someone who is really great at memorizing a lot of different topics and formulas and approaches? Or are they someone who does better going really deep on a smaller subset of topics? That would be SAT's approach. Finally, on the reading and writing, the SAT is going to really prioritize students who have a strong vocabulary, who are well-read in a variety of texts and types of genres. And the ACT is going to reward students who are quick and can scan and find important information very quickly. So that's the broad overview of the SAT versus the ACT. I like to say that it's very hard to make a decision just based on this overview. What I recommend that all students do is take a baseline test. Take an SAT, take a full-length SAT, take a full-length ACT or pre-ACT and PSAT if your school offers those. And compare them. There are concordance tables that the SAT and the ACT have collaborated to produce, and it'll help you equate your scores and see, you know, if you got a 25 on the ACT and you got a 1080 on the SAT, well, ACT's higher. We think you should, you should probably prepare for the ACT in that case, right? So use this fact sheet in conjunction with full-length practice test scores, and we have a a slide coming that's going to give you a promo code to get a free practice test for the SAT and the ACT through our website coming up. There's that concordance table, just FYI. All right, so 3 takeaways here. Um, I just said this one: you want to test drive both the SAT and the ACT. Take a full-length practice exam. I want to make sure that you're getting a really realistic impression of how you would do on a full-length exam. There's some tutoring organizations or websites that will give you an abbreviated exam, like 10 questions of SAT Math and 10 questions of ACT Math. That's not how the test really is. It's a, you know, it's a significant slog. It's a test of mental stamina and fortitude. And so you want to make sure that you do a full-length version before making any kind of choices. Also, if you're a student who is— feels kind of intimidated by what I said about ACT Science, or what I said about SAT Reading having heavy vocabulary. Don't make a judgment prematurely. Make sure you take a, again, a full-length exam, see how you actually score, and then compare those scores with that concordance table. And then finally, if you are a student who qualifies for extended time or a certain accommodation due to a learning difference or a 504 plan, make sure you take your practice tests with that accommodation in place. Because it's going to skew your scores if you are not able to, you know, finish the exam because you actually get 50% extra time. We want to make sure that you, you take your baseline exams in those same conditions. All right, last section here, final stretch. How do you prep for the SAT or the ACT? I'm just going to distill some best practices that we've seen work for students over the years. Um, here's an observation: most students improve their scores when they take the SAT or the ACT more than once. I mean, how many people have, uh, you know, done something hard? Like, I just ran a marathon this past Sunday. First one went pretty well, um, but it didn't do as well as I'll probably do the next time I do it, right? Uh, it was hard. It took a lot of time training. I trained for the past You know, 5 months, 6 months, um, learned a lot and now I think I feel like I can do another one even better. Well, that's what an SAT or official SAT or official ACT is like. It's like a marathon. You're preparing for this big important thing. It's, you know, you gotta invest the time up front, you know, learn the exam, you gotta do your drills, you know, do your practice tests on the weekend. Um, and, uh, when you do it more than once, you learn a lot about how it went. So first thing is plan to take it more than once. Secondly, try to aim for what we would consider a moderate or maybe even a moderately aggressive score gain. We can advise your student on what that looks like. It's kind of different for each student. For some students, a 200 points is a moderate gain. For some students, it's a pretty aggressive gain. So I wanna, you know, pitch our free consultations. We do, we do free, uh, 20-minute student intake calls. Um, just get on the phone with us and tell us your student's situation and let us, uh, give you the best advice we can because every student is different. But it tends to take 3 to 6 months, uh, to get a gain, uh, that we would consider moderate. So don't rush it. Don't come in and think that, you know, you're going to cram for this exam. It's not like that. It doesn't work that way. Um, It's something that you have to work at. Again, it's a marathon, not a sprint. And here's some kind of guidelines for how to actually do this thing, how to study, how to prep for the exam. The first thing, I can't stress this hard, you know, firmly enough, really you want to work with official materials. That's most of what we use in our curriculum is we really platform the official College Board release materials or ACT release materials. There's a lot of practice tests, there's a lot of practice material that both agencies release. And so your, the kind of hallmark of your prep should be that. Don't go and buy the Kaplan and the Barron's and the Princeton Review books and just use those. Those are not nearly as good as the official stuff. And when you do take practice tests, you wanna simulate real testing conditions. So the software we use proctors the exam for students, make sure that they're taking the breaks that they need to take at the right times and they're moving on when they need to move on. So don't take it on your bed at 10:00 PM, proctoring yourself and letting yourself go past the time or the, the, the watch a couple minutes for every section. That's not realistic. You're gonna get an inflated score. Secondly, spend as much time reviewing your performance as you do actually taking the test. So you can't just take the test and then be like, oh, I didn't get that great of a score. Okay, I'll just take another test. That does not, that's not going to help. You're not going to get better that way. So you want to make sure that you review your test thoroughly and, um, and spend as much time understanding and learning from your mistakes as you did taking the exam or preparing for the exam. And then last, find someone to help hold you accountable. Um, it's the kind of thing that's easy to say you're going to do it, you're going to do it, you're going to do it, and then your test date creeps up on you and you didn't do it. So find a study partner, find a teacher. Obviously we're here as tutors to help to hold you accountable to actually putting in the hours. That's where the gains come from. Just a few slides to preview our scoring software. So our practice platform. So we have 10 full-length digital SATs loaded up in our platform and 4 full-length ACTs. It's gonna show you a pretty realistic interface. It's very similar to the Bluebook app, which the College Board uses for their official exams. You can do all the same things like eliminate, highlight, and then what it's showing you here is the percent of students who answered that question. So you can kind of see like how off or on base you were for each answer you made. And then obviously there's a summary that tells you kind of about your performance and progress through the material. And the backend is really helpful. Your tutor's gonna see things like this, which gives them insights on how you spent your time. They might look at this and be like, oh, you got that question right, but heck, you spent a lot of time on it. We need to make sure you can do it faster next time, right? So not just the ones you got wrong, but even the ones you got right will tell us something about how we need to improve your prep. So ending here with grade level advice. If you're a junior, um, keep, uh, keep working hard at your classes. This is usually the hardest year, uh, in, in high school to date, at least. So you're taking maybe AP classes, you're taking IB classes. Um, don't neglect your GPA. Don't study for the SAT 60 hours a week and fail your calculus class. That's not going to help. Pick a lane if you haven't already and start to prepare. So if you're a junior and you're on this call, you should be looking at spring test dates. You should be looking at registering for, let's say, the February ACT or the March SAT and getting a prep plan in place right now so that you can take the test at least once in the spring and then maybe a second time in the summer or fall. And then finally, yeah, we really recommend testing at least twice. 3 is kind of the, the hard limit. We don't Tend to see scores improve that much after 3 times. Um, and then if you're, you know, in the fall of your senior year, you really want to be focusing on applications. If you're a sophomore, want to make sure that you are loading your GPA and transcript up. So focus on taking the hardest classes that you are prepared to take. Try to choose kind of an area, like maybe that's, you know, humanities, or maybe that's science, and really, you know, make that your your domain and excel, you know, seek extra support, make sure you're taking the hardest classes that your, your school offers. Um, you can test drive both the SAT and ACT. You got a bit more time than juniors. Um, so, you know, take a full-length practice test, sign up for the PSAT, take a pre-ACT if your school offers it. A lot of private schools will do both PSAT and pre-ACT. A lot of public schools will just do one or the other. Depending on state contracts. Um, but by the end of your sophomore year, try to have kind of like an idea of which one you're, you're better suited at so you can start your prep over the summer. Um, and then when in doubt, if you're kind of in this, in this presentation, you're thinking, well, I don't really know what the admissions policies at the schools that I'm going to apply to are going to be like, do this. A lot can change in 18 months. Plan as if the, the schools that you're interested in will actually go back to requiring the SAT or the ACT by the fall of your senior year, because that is a very possible outcome, probable even. Uh, just a pitch for some of our classes. So we're doing a promo for everyone on the call tonight of $150 off our SAT or ACT small group classes. Um, these are two that are offered, uh, starting in the spring, so towards spring test dates. Uh, we have one targeting the April ACT that starts in January. Mates Money Wednesdays, uh, from 7-8 PM Pacific time. And then we have an SAT that starts in February targeting the May exam, Tuesday, Thursday, same thing, evening time. Um, and if you want to grab this QR code, uh, it'll take you to a landing page that outlines all the promos. So we got some on tutoring packages, we got that free practice test promo, and then the $150 off the classes. So thanks so much for attending. I'll leave that for just another second, and then—

oh, thank you.

Uh, love it. Here are our socials, so if you want to follow for more good content, you know where to reach us.

All right, outstanding. Wow, that was so thorough. I feel like I can go master this right now. Um, I don't know about you parents, but things have changed. Um, so we will put that link, um, in an email with this, uh, in the recording, and we'll send it out. So if you didn't have your phone, good job, way to focus, way to be there. Um, so now I'm going to kind of bring it back to how it can help your child in many ways. So when it comes to testing, we have a lot of things to consider, right? The student is— there's only so many hours in the day, so we have to decide, do they need to focus on their GPA, their test score, community service, leadership, extracurricular, letters of recommendation, the essay? Like, they have a full plate. And so Scott did such a great job of simplifying it. So well done on that. I will tell you, every teenager is going to go through this process differently. I have 4 of my own, and every one of them did it differently. So the best advice is plan like it is not test optional, because from the very beginning we told our students, what if they change? What if your dream school changes and you have no time to pivot? It will never be a reality. So I really want parents— because let's be real, your teenager's not going to go, oh please, can I test prep?

That's the—

that's what I want to do every weekend. I'm so excited. No, that's never going to happen. What I will tell you is test scores equal scholarship money. So I want to bring home how we can use this for your child's short-term and long-term success. I'm not going to do a slide presentation. I'm just going to talk to you in straight-up terms because this is an important piece that we like our families to understand. So the first thing is, I ask the students when I talk to them, do you think testing is optional? And they'll say, oh, it's blind here, or I don't need to take it, or I'm not good at test-taking, or I have test anxiety. Um, how can I fit it in with my football schedule? I've heard it all from my own children to the thousands of students over the last 17 years. And what I like to tell their parent is, if you want scholarships, testing is a solid proof that you have a really great student. If they are not good test takers, on the other hand, We want to be strategic, but we don't know if they are or not until they really dig in. And I'll give you just a brief story with my firstborn. He was a straight-A student, and he convinced me that he did not need to— I didn't need to pay for test prep. That's how he put it. That's how he sold it. Mom, I'm good, straight-A student. Please don't waste your money is how he said it. And I'm thinking, wow, that's really mature of him. And I said, okay, let's try it. And he said, just buy me one of those books I think Scott mentioned. Just buy me a book. And I'm like, wow, that's, that's impressive. He's gonna self-study with a book. So I, I trusted in a straight-A student, and I went and I got him a book. And I, 3 different times, not once, 3 times, I found him asleep on his book. And I said, "Wait a minute, I don't think that process is gonna work for you. The whole thing of it just kind of coming up through the pages, probably not gonna get you the score you want." He's like, "No, no, Mom, I've got this." So again, I let him do his process, and when he got his test score back, he cried. Literally haven't seen this kid cry a few times in his life, and he's like, I'm stupid, no college is gonna want me, you know, on and on he went. And I'm like, well, wait a minute, so you're telling me you can take all AP classes, get all A's, and you're stupid? I don't think I'm buying that. So I said What do you want to do? And he's like, what do you think I should do? And that's exactly what I was waiting for. And I said to him, let's do it the way that it should be done. And so very similar to what Scott offered, I do not sell test prep, so this is not me selling you anything. This is me saying from my perspective, this is what I've seen. Doing a diagnostic real test that's timed is the best thing you can do for your child. They are not going to be excited. As a matter of fact, they're probably going to kick and scream that that is a waste of their weekend. It is the best thing that you can do. Do not allow them to take the SAT and the ACT on the same day because they only want to waste one weekend. Okay, I've heard it all. And so you want to be mindful, the second test they're going to be fatigued. There's no way you can do a comparison. So this is what I recommend. One, set up a quiet area that is going to be very focused. Turn off all notifications on their computer and on their cell phone and put all distractions in another room. Give them a really good meal the night before. Have them get a good night's sleep, wake up with an alarm, and hit the test. And tell them— this is what I would recommend— that if you get your dream score, you're done. You're one and done. How amazing would that be if you could take that practice test and just ace it? Wouldn't that be worth putting all your effort in? And they're like, okay, Now you're speaking my language. Let's get this done. So test number 1 gets done. Following weekend, we do it all over again. Then we sat and we looked at the concordance and we're like, okay, if you got this on this test and this on this, which is your best test? Very rarely— I don't know, Scott, how many times you've seen it— very rarely have I seen it identical. Like, you can go either way. I have seen it, but it's pretty, pretty minimal. So then we look and we're like, wow, you're heavy this score or you're heavy this score. It really— it's evidence-based because I can tell you how many teenagers will say, oh, I'm just going to take the SAT. And I'm like, awesome.

Why?

Well, because my friend's brother, sister, cousin got a really good score on the SAT and said the ACT was way harder. I'm like, well, do they like to answer multiple choice? Do you know? In other words, don't do what your brother, sister, best friend is doing. That will be disaster. So it's very important that this is completely unique to each child. So what we do with our students is after they do the diagnostic, we sit down with them so there's no Um, there's no talking their way out of it. Maybe your child wouldn't, but my child did. And I said, look, it shows you are significantly better on this test. There's no way that they can talk themselves out of that. Then we can see if their dream school— we have a program at College Ready that we can say, at this school, your dream school, this is the score you need. They're like, oh, I didn't hit that score. Now they have a choice. Do they want to give up the dream school or do they want to test prep? But guess what? Now it's their decision. It's a beautiful thing. As a parent, you're not having to hound them and beg them to prep because it's a simple discussion. Do you want to get into your dream school? Because this is the score you need. Now, if it is blind, there's still a little wiggle room that they're going to try to fight you on. I get that. But we do know the GPA and all the other things that they need. So very important that you take your child as a teenager going through this process. It's like asking them to do their own laundry or asking them to put away the dishes in the dishwasher. You're going to get a little, uh, uh, uh, I don't really want to do that. But if they see the benefit that it's going to give them, they're going to lean in and they're going to do it. So I just wanted to give you some context from the simplicity of being a parent. We want our children to do well, but if they don't buy in, they're not going to do well. I will tell you, this past year I had a freshman take the ACT their first time and get a 36. So for all those people who are following this timeline of the average student, you need to talk to Scott, or you need to take the diagnostic, because not every child is in the same place, right? My firstborn, he started in Algebra 2 in high school. So if he would have waited till his junior year, he would have had to relearn all of that old material because he was already in Calc A, B, and BC. So that was kind of like old material. So be strategic with your child. Don't treat them like the average because they're, they're probably not average on all subjects. So we treat each student individually, and we want them to be considering what is best for their overall strategy and their timeline. So yes, we have timelines. We, we love students to understand this is for a student who starts in Algebra 2 in high school. This is for a student who starts in Algebra 1 or Pre-Algebra. But they need to understand it's not going to get easier if they wait until their sophomore year or their junior year or their senior year. I have students calling me right now and they're like, I haven't taken a test and now my, my school that I want to apply to says it's required. What do I do? And I'm like, wow, now you're applying to colleges, you're writing essays, you're test prepping, you have more rigor than ever. This is a formula for disaster. As much as I want it for them, we need to be mindful what is going to sink their ship. And if we overload them their senior year, it is going to be really difficult and it is going to be challenging. So I'm trying to give you the benefit of when you want to start this process. It's unique to your child. The first thing we do when we bring on a client is we have them take a diagnostic SAT and ACT, just like Scott said. So That is a really solid way. I can show you what test score they need to get into any school in the world based on who got in last year. So I can get rid of the mystery and just say, hey, this is the average test score of who got into Rice or Dartmouth or whatever. And now your child gets to choose if they want to work that hard. That is super empowering versus telling a student, "Oh, just go get a perfect score." I don't know about you, but none of my children felt very empowered when I said they had to be perfect. They were like, "But I'm not perfect, and now I don't really feel like I can get that score." Super important to meet them where they're at. The second thing I want to encourage you as parents, right? We— a lot of times when you hop on a webinar and it's all about the child, I want to talk to the parent tonight because this is going to be a marathon, like Scott mentioned, and you're the one giving them the snack and the water and the prep and the high fives and the hugs and the attaboy, attagirl. Is remember this, they're going to learn a lot of things in high school, but not all of it's going to carry into their future, right? They may learn concepts that they'll never see again. And I will tell you, learning how to beat a test is something that will carry on for the rest of their life. I remember my firstborn when he decided to test prep the way I recommended with the strategy I recommended, and he increased his score by 300 points. That's the difference between a state school and an Ivy League. When he got into Harvard, the testing never stopped. He learned how to beat the test. But even better, when he took the MCAT his junior year at Harvard, he self-studied with the same skills he learned with the SAT and the ACT and was able to get a 98 on his MCAT. That is game-changing when you are applying to med school. So I just wanna help you to see that it's money well spent. Yes, you get what you pay for, I understand, and yes, it's expensive, but it's so important. My son would tell you 10 times over, if he had to do it all over again, he would've done what mom suggested in the first place, and that's hard for a teenager to say, But that MCAT score was proof that it was so powerful, and all the tests he took in college were enhanced by the skills he learned how to beat the test. So I'm gonna get to questions in just one more minute, because parents, this is really about you and your child. We want the best for our children. And that's why we come to these webinars and we lean in as parents. But times have changed. And if you don't do this well, the competition is 1 in 3 people, 1 in 3 students now get a certified college consultant and professional test prep. If you can't, or if you don't see the value, just know that is your child's competition. That is what I want for you. So my gift to you this evening— and Carrie and I are available to answer questions— but if you go to college-ready-plan.info, you will get an application. It's a small one. It's not a college application, but in I think it's 7 questions. You're going to see it. Is your child college ready? Can they apply to college right now? So that's our gift number 1. And when you do that, you're going to get a free resource book of all of the things you need to know as a parent to get them college ready. So if you're like, hey, I've got this, I want to do it on my own. Take this resource and at least have a checkbox of everything that you need to make sure your child's college ready. So again, it's a gift and then another gift because we want you to be able to help your child be successful. So, Carrie, are there any questions that Scott and I can answer?

There's a couple questions. First one, will the PSAT help determine which test to take? My son, who is a junior, takes it in a few weeks.

Scott, I'm gonna let you take that.

Yeah, so the PSAT can definitely play a really helpful role. I would pair that with an ACT practice test just to give your students an opportunity to showcase their skills on both exams. The PSAT is gonna The, the PC is really good at showing you College Board's world, um, the SAT world, but you want to make sure that your student has an opportunity to see if the ACT might be, you know, a better fit for them. So definitely take the PSAT when your school offers it on that school day. Usually it's a Wednesday, uh, for our local schools here it's October 16th. Um, and then maybe that weekend try to sit your student down and do a full-length ACT practice test, and then we can have a call to compare the two.

The other thing is, I'm gonna piggyback real quick. If it is their junior year, it is a critical thing that they take the PSAT. It's not a nice-to-have. It equals money. So I really just want to circle back, like, it equals money. So having them prep and spend the time and do well, it is not a time for them to go in blind and see how well they do. So just thought I'd add that little element. Go ahead, Carrie.

All right, next one. Shellee Howard, where are your kids going to school? And where are your kids going to school? Harvard. And what else?

So my firstborn, he had 7 full-ride offers. He was— he set the bar high for sure. He ended up getting a full ride at USC, and Harvard matched it. So he actually graduated debt-free from Harvard. He then went on to UC San Diego Medical School. I do have to add this. He got one B at Harvard. That was his first B in his life. And he applied to 33 medical schools and got into 3 with a 98 on his MCAT. So just know it doesn't get any easier if you don't fight for it. Now, he went to UC San Diego Medical School, medical school, and he is now an orthopedic surgeon at UCLA. With $30,000 total in loans. So he will have that paid off within his first few paychecks. Not too bad. My second said, "Absolutely not. Harvard is weird. Weird people there, and I'm not going there. You can't make me." And she wanted to go to University of Alabama. That was her dream school. She wanted the full sorority thing, football. Roll Tide. We're from Southern California. I don't get it. But I said, I am not going to pay for out-of-state. So she said, well, you help me. And she ended up getting a full ride to University of Alabama. So I let her go. She is now a pediatric registered nurse, um, working in the emergency room with zero debt. So that was number 1 and 2. Number 3 said, well, he did that, she did that. I want to do something totally different and I want to do film. And he wanted to be a news broadcaster. Whoa, I like— where did that come from? So my stepson decided he wanted to do media broadcasting, went to San Francisco State, got a major and a minor in 3 years, 3 and a half years because of COVID graduated completely debt-free. So I'm, I'm 3 for 3. My youngest, my stepdaughter, she says, well, they did all that. I want to do it totally different. She said, I want to go get a dual degree in the Czech Republic of Prague, international business. And she is graduating this year completely debt-free from AAU in Prague. So my 4 have done it all completely different. After 17 years, I can tell you Every child has the best fit school. We just need to figure out what that is for them. Any other questions?

I see one more here, um, or more of a comment. My son skipped 2 years in school. He wasn't reclassified a senior until this summer. We were told he can't take the PSAT now because he was reclassified.

So how do you know anything about that? That's a unique situation.

Ah, that is a pretty unique situation. Yeah, I know that SAT or College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which is the co-presenter of the scholarship, the National Merit Scholarship, have some pretty serious rules around the competition for the scholarship. I wouldn't be surprised if there was something that disqualified your son like that. You might be able to appeal it. You might be able to have them take, actually, you know what you should do? There's a process called alternate entry for the National Merit Scholarship Competition, and you don't have to take a PSAT. You take an SAT, or actually they expanded it to allow you to take an ACT instead last year. So you take an SAT or an ACT full length. Official Saturday test, and then you enter the competition through this alternate entry process. You have to submit some more paperwork. But if your student did not get a chance to take the PCT for some reason, I think that's the only way that you would be able to get into the scholarship competition.

Yeah, and I'm happy to dive into that deeper, but it doesn't affect a lot of people. So if you want me to, to help you with that process, Happy to do so. Just go to college ready plan dot info. I see another question. The Prague University. It's called American Anglo University. It is a— it's all in English. So I just got back from 6 weeks of touring colleges in Europe. We're starting an international division of College Ready. So if you have interest in that, please let me know. Um, I just toured so many of them, I'd be happy to tell you. Um, all of them are taught in English. She will get a dual business degree from the US and from Europe. And so it's a two-for-one. It doesn't work great for every major, but for business entrepreneurship, it's a beautiful opportunity for her. So, um, 27,000 total, $27,000 total to get a dual degree is what it cost. So, um, and she gets to go to other countries on the weekends. I mean, I'm doing a do-over. I'm kidding, but it's, it's a pretty, it's a pretty awesome thing for a student who loves that opportunity. Way better than a gap year because you're getting all of it in one experience. And you're still— she's going to graduate in 3 years with a dual degree for $27,000. It's quite amazing.

So plus the experience.

Plus the experience.

Yeah.

There's one more. Did you see? Can Shellee share how much she paid out of pocket for each kid's education?

So child number 1 at Harvard, I paid zero. Child number 2 at Alabama, I paid zero. Um, check this out. My daughter decided she wanted to join a sorority at University of Alabama, the most expensive sorority in the world. And I said, I am not going to pay for a sorority if I'm not paying for college. And she took a loan out. They let her take a loan out for her sorority. I did not cosign. I did not agree. And so that's the only money that she'll owe, or she's probably paid it off by now. Um, child number 3 paid zero. Um, he wanted to work and do it on his own. Good on him. And child number 4, um, she had that money, uh, saved that she worked, uh, through high school, so that she did it on her own. So I didn't pay anything. Yeah, I did save money in a 529 that I'm enjoying spending. So, um, you know, I did save money, and, and, and it's been nice. I told him that I will help with the grandkids someday. Um, any other questions? We've held you over just a little bit.

I think we're good.

Awesome. All right, so again, please know that we're here to support you. If you would like the free resources, please connect with us. Every student needs to do this uniquely. Scott, any last words you'd like to share?

No, I know I covered a lot of ground tonight, so feel free to review the slides and the recording, everyone on the call. And if you have any questions, we're here to help, so just reach out. We'd love to have a, you know, more personal conversation about your student's needs.

Awesome. I just put in there, somebody asked, is there an email? If you go to collegereadyplan.info, I— it will give you everything you need, um, plus the free resources. Scott put his up there also. We're going to send out this recording to the people who were on the call, and all of this information will be in there. Okay, thank you everybody for being here. I hope it was super valuable. Scott, that was phenomenal. Well done. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful evening. Bye for now.

Bye everyone.

Good night.