What is the typical amount of SAT or ACT preparation these days?
I remember that it was not much a few decades ago (e.g. try the sample questions in the booklet that had the sign-up form in it). But postings on these forums suggest that it is typical, at least for high achieving students, to spend as much time on SAT or ACT preparation as they would a whole extra class.
I can only tell you what my kid did. He took a practice ACT that he downloaded from their website, did pretty well on it, and decided (in maybe January of junior year?) to focus on the ACT, rather than SAT. We got him the Official ACT prep book, which had 5 tests in it, and he did maybe 4 of them and reviewed what he got wrong. Then we got him the Best ACT Math books, he downloaded and did maybe another four or five tests (mostly concentrating on math and science), took the test once, got a 36 overall (with 34 math, 36 rest of sections. No prep course. He probably got about a 32 on his first practice test, before all that self-prep.
Let’s say he did a total of ten tests (overestimate). Let’s say 6 to 4 hours/test for doing, grading, re-studying what he got wrong (mostly math). So probably 40 to 60 hours of prep, mostly in August, for a Sept testing date.
But I don’t think that is typical. I think a lot of kids are not self-motivated, need a course and a tutor. I think that others take the test over and over. From what I read on CC, kids start taking it in 9th grade, and take it six times or more, trying to get a high enough score.
You have to determine what type of student you have, how self motivated they are, and how much time they have to spend on it. One thing my older one discovered, and told the younger one - the standardized test score is the one thing that you can improve late in the game of applications. She must have spent less than 6 hours self-reviewing math, and improved her math SAT score by about 150 points.
We have a kid who has always been very high scoring on any standardized test with only modest preparation.
That being said, the stakes felt high for the SAT and PSAT. Reading was a relative weakness. Our kid prepared by basically doing the reading sections from as many actual tests as possible (using both the officially released tests as well as QAS tests that had been uploaded to various internet forums). I’d estimate at least 12 official reading sections, maybe as many as 15 or 16? So, probably 25-30 hours there, considering review and rereading.
The writing section of the EBRW was less of a concern, probably all 8 or 10 official tests, definitely not more than 8 or 10 hours, and that is being very generous because there was little need for revision.
Math was not a concern, did 4-6 official tests (both math sections), each taking well under the time limit, definitely under 6 hours, basically zero checking and revision.
So, all in, I would estimate from about 40-50 hours spent in SAT-focused prep, all in the late summer/early fall of junior year, took SAT and PSAT within weeks of each other, and was done.
Looking at some other high performing kids in the grade, this amount of prep seemed a little on the low side, but not by much.
My kid took 3 free practice tests downloaded from the Internet two weeks before the ACT (he had resigned to apply test optional bc every date was canceled and then had a rather last minute opportunity). He took two in full “sittings” and one in separate sittings per section. We analyzed his errors and came up with a strategy for each section. And that was it. My older son also never took a test prep class but did do Khan Academy free online and took a few practice tests. They both scored well.
My kids did 5-10 timed practice tests during the months before the tests (typically on weekend mornings), and reviewed/analyzed their wrong answers. No tutoring, prep classes or meaningful independent studying. But they were generally very good at standardized tests, and one of them had taken the PSAT three times because their (public) school administered the PSAT to 9th, 10th and 11th graders.
I know that many of their peers took SAT prep courses and/or had private tutoring (we’re in a relatively well-off area), but I couldn’t say whether it was some, most or the vast majority.
ACT prep was integrated into math/english classes in my D’s HS. For summer work ahead of junior year, the english teacher required an ACT prep book and students were encouraged to take some practice tests. Every week in the Fall, the teacher would do a bit of review in class. For the math section, one of the math teachers offered a free review class once/week for 6 weeks before school. No one paid for private tutoring at her HS because they were pretty well prepared by their teachers.
@momofboiler1’s post made me think that the amount of dedicated prep time needed might depend on the rigor of and/or support provided by a student’s school.
My D22’s school in the UK is pretty intense academically and the college counselor advises students that they do not need to prepare for the PSAT and to only use available test materials (e.g., College Board practice SAT tests, Barron’s or another test prep guide) to prepare for the SAT/ACT.
So these posts above are not the norm at least for here in the Northeast with highly competitive high schools. My S did 2 hours of tutoring and 4 hours of homework for about 6 months before his single SAT and he is a performing arts major with a goal SAT in mid 1400s. On average kids here will take a full time course over the summer if they are looking for a highly competitive school and then 6-12 hours a week during the school year. If your goal is not >1500 or a highly competitive school or if your child is a natural tester then obviously there is less involved
As you probably know, I am a test prep tutor.
IMO, the amount of time kids spend prepping is the same as before the pandemic, with the notable difference being that most students now are choosing to take one test or the other and not both.
Previously, many students would prep for both tests. That isn’t happening at the moment, at least not for me currently.
Now, from the months of March to September, test prep ground to a halt for a lot of kids. Especially as most colleges said they would be test optional.
In terms of actual hours spent prepping, I am guessing that students spend at the very least 30-40 hours prepping for a test. And I will qualify that to say that by students, I mean students whose parents are paying for test prep with the aim that their student will apply to very selective colleges. There are of course many students who don’t spend that much time on test prep.
I took the SAT around 3 times throughout my high school career and after hours and hours of non-concentrated prep, the highest I got was a 1490.
Finally, after refusing to even try the ACT, I gave it a go the summer before my senior year. With 2 months of concentrated prep, my overall score was a 34 (34 English, 35 Math, 35 Reading, and 33 Science). I was 1 question away from scoring a 35 overall but it’s fine.
The point is, I believe that if I had more than 2 months, I definitely could have gotten a 35/36 on the ACT and that would have been possible if I didn’t waste a bunch of time and money on the SAT. After spending thousands of dollars on preparation, I CAN tell you that it is a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. For SAT, using resources such as Khan Academy and real CollegeBoard blue SAT books was really beneficial for some of my peers. For the ACT, using the Red Book and websites such as Crack ACT that offer endless resources for official ACT from literally 1996 or something was super beneficial for me.
I think the important part of SAT and ACT prep is realizing early which test you want to take early on and making sure to reserve the flexibility to take it more than once. The time spent on preparation ranges from person to person and how focused they are. The amount of focus I spent on the ACT in two months was WAYY MORE than what I spent on the SAT in 3 years.
Good Luck!
It’s extremely varied. You can check r/SAT and find kids who spend hundreds of hours preparing, taking 20 practice tests (official practice and published QAS tests going back years), and taking the test 3-4 times.
At the other extreme, my D took one practice test each before taking it in 7th and 8th grade, and reviewed what she got wrong from the QAS.
Last fall, she probably spent 5-6 hours reading the Black Book, took one full practice test, and two addition EBRW sections. Maybe 20-22 hours for all three tests, 15 for the recent PSAT/SAT test cycle.
It depends on where you start, what you’re trying to achieve, how quickly you learn, and how much free time/dedication you have.
I’d start with the diagnostic test on Kahn Academy. Based on the findings, score, and target score, you can develop a plan on how much time to spend preparing for various sections of the test.
This sounds like the small private school I attended in the 1970’s. I didn’t realize it at the time, but we were doing English SAT prep, a small amount, weekly in English class. I do not remember having done it in math. The school had a good record of getting the top quarter of its class into Ivy and T20 schools every year. Even the kid with the 60 average got into NYU back then (but NYU wasn’t competitive back then).