A recent celebrity college admission scandal saw actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman being charged with bribery and fraud, accused of going to devious and illegal measures to ensure their kids were admitted to colleges that they might not otherwise have been accepted to. The scandal illuminated the lengths to which some students and parents will go to ensure attendance at their school of choice. While most of us won’t break the law, there are certainly increased measures one can take to broaden their chances for university admissions. Scoring particularly well on the SAT is one obvious tactic. Some students chase this goal via significant self-study; others pay for private SAT tutors and SAT prep courses.

If you really want to get a high SAT score, perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that “talent” or “IQ” matters far less than you think. There are not really “math people” or “natural readers.” What matters is the amount and quality of your SAT prep, which of course is influenced in large part by how passionate and genuinely interested you are in doing well on the SAT or ACT. So if you want to get a 99^th percentile SAT score or a 34 on the ACT, it’s possible that you can do it.

What is the best way to prepare for the ACT or SAT?

Well, it’s true arriving at a useful answer to this question does depend a lot on your timing and the context. If you are a junior with average grades, but aspire to get a high SAT score, and you take the SAT in 30 days, this article should be able to help adopt the right mindset and bring some calm and confidence to exam day. But practically, with only 30 days until the exam, you should be considering online SAT tutoring or an SAT crash course to get the best SAT score you possibly can. SAT tutoring and courses can and will help you get a higher score.

SAT Math Mastery: The Origin Story of an SAT Math Textbook

This is a guest post by Christian Heath, author of SAT Math Mastery Volume 1 and Volume 2. Chris has been teaching SAT and ACT prep to high school students for 10 years and has perfect scores on both tests.

COVID-19 has changed every aspect of our world. From the increased time at home for everyone to students learning from home via Zoom, it has been a year of transition and change, particularly for high school and college students. Many colleges, for example, have waived ACT and SAT requirements completely during the admissions process, likely opening up new possibilities for tens of thousands of students. But hopefully, the COVID-era won’t last forever. By the time students applying to college in the next few months actually head to school, Coronavirus may be in the rearview mirror.

In our last blog post on this topic, we explored why today’s high school students must be so productive in high school. Getting good grades isn’t quite enough anymore. You need to show a variety of interests and ideally achieve leadership positions outside the classroom to maximize your chances of admission to a top college. We offered a six-step process to being more productive in high school: