ACT or SAT? Regardless of the test, the first step of the process is to find your starting score by taking a practice test under realistic test-taking conditions.

Most students will have the option to sit for both tests, so unless you have a good reason not to, take both a practice SAT and a practice ACT to get a baseline score.

Download a sample SAT by clicking this link.

Download a sample ACT by clicking this link.

Be kind to yourself – don’t take them both on the same day!

Although a high SAT or ACT score won’t guarantee admission to a top university, a lower than average score will certainly put you at a disadvantage.

Take a look at the chart and find a few of the colleges you want to apply to. Make note of their average scores, and compare your baseline score from your practice tests with the average acceptance score of your college of choice.  That’s how many points you’ll need to improve by to give yourself a good chance at admission.

To further improve your odds, you want to score safely above the average – ideally in the 75th percentile – on either the SAT or ACT.

The scores change every year, so take a look at the U.S New College Rankings for up-to-date scores and rankings.

Now that you know where you want to apply, and how much you’ll need to improve, it’s time to decide which test to focus on. Although a few schools strongly prefer one or the other, most will readily accept both.

Take a look at the concordance table, and find your scores for both tests. If you scored higher on one test than the other,  such as a 1400 on the SAT but only a 27 on the ACT, it’s probably best to focus on the test that you did better on naturally.

If your scores were pretty close, or you are still unsure, check out our in-depth article on How to Choose Between the SAT and ACT.

How many more points do you need to hit your target?

If you score within 50 on the SAT or 2 points on the ACT, an additional 10-20 hours of study will help get you there. Need 100 points on the SAT or 3-4 points on the ACT? Plan to invest at least 40 hours.

Increasing your score by 200 points or more on SAT or 6 points or more on the ACT is doable, but will require dedicating a significant amount of time and effort – 80 hours or more.

For more information, check out our in-depth article on when to start studying for standardized tests.

The bad news is that tutors can’t a) take the test for you, or b) magically imbue you with their skills.

They can, however:

• guide you through the test-taking process
• assess your weak-points
• help you formulate an effective, personalized study plan to maximize your score
• show you different ways to efficiently attack specific problem types
• teach you any material that you don’t know
• help you stay on track
• inspire confidence
• and more!

If you choose to work with a tutor, we recommend about 1 hour of tutor time for every 3-6 hours of solo practice time.