While finding an excellent SAT or ACT tutor can give your children a significant advantage when they take their test, finding quality SAT tutors can be difficult at times. Obviously, a good SAT or ACT tutor can have a profound influence on a successfully improved score, but many great resources are available to families that can either complement the efforts of a tutor or substitute for them.
Returning to those promised resources, here’s a list of 6 free things you can do to help your student improve her SAT and ACT scores:
1. Watch Jeopardy one night a week as a family. Why? It will expose your child to words she might not know, teach her the type of thinking that goes into crafting standardized test questions, and provide a relaxed and entertaining setting in which she can learn.
2. Listen to A Way with Words. This curious, once-a-week radio show provides an extensive exploration of various words and phrases. Since the ACT and SAT pull their writing selections from a variety of sources, exposure to the diverse phrases featured on A Way with Words will help your student to navigate those sources.
3. Read one essay or article a week (yes, as a family), and have your child try to pick out the main theme from the work. Beyond that, discuss the essay—how does the author present her argument? You can get selections of essays from your local library or bookstore, or simply peruse the New York Times to find a weekly essay.
4. Try using ProfessorWord as a way to highlight ACT and SAT vocabulary that appears in that reading
5. The SAT Question of the Day and ACT Question of the Day are free!
6. Utilize the best free ACT and SAT resources on the web. If you need assistance with SAT math, give PWN the SAT a whirl. The site is a bit goofy, but most students like it—and the site’s author also has a Q&A section where he responds to SAT questions for free. If you’re worried about ACT and SAT reading or English, The Critical Reader provides great online resources and tips. If you need further practice materials, Knerr Learning Center lists even more.
Wondering what else can be done to improve your child’s score? Well, the books published by PWN the SAT and The Critical Reader offer excellent supplementary resources. However, they don’t cover things like ACT math or science. So your best overall resources are The Official SAT Study Guide and The Real ACT Prep Guide. Even handier than books, though, are mobile apps. Why? Teenagers always have their smart phones on them, so they can train no matter where they are. Virtual SAT Writing Tutor, QuotEd Reading Comprehension, QuotEd ACT Science, and SAT Up are among the most effective. As a side note on other prep materials (online courses, books, or apps), just because people like how easy they are to use doesn’t mean they are actually helping students improve their scores. You want your child prepared for the test, not bursting with unfounded overconfidence! Please keep that in mind when you see glowing evaluations of prep materials.
And, for those of you wondering how SAT studying might work if you were the sole driver of your child’s training, Debbie Stier’s delightful book called The Perfect Score Project is a great introduction to both the SAT and parenting while your student prepares for her test.
Bio:
Kreigh Knerr is a former classroom teacher who specializes in preparation for tests like the ACT and SAT. Kreigh has successfully worked with students from over thirty countries (and almost every state in the US) and consults nationwide on test preparation and test anxiety. In 2012, he invented QuotEd, a mobile app used by thousands of schools and individuals throughout the world.
This post was provided by Kreigh Knerr, the founder of QuotEd, who was a guest on College Smart Radio “Tackling the Runaway Costs of College” on December 21st, 2013. Listen to this broadcast on YouTube here.
Photo Credit: Alberto G.
