Getting Ahead: Preparing for the SAT or ACT as a Sophomore
The ACT and SAT are so linked to college applications that you likely don’t start to think about them until fall or spring of junior year, when you start looking into college options. However, sitting for an exam earlier in your high school career may offer an easier and less stressful path to achieving your goal score.
Give yourself more runway to meet expectations, or improve past your goal. Not all students learn at the same pace, and sometimes you learn through the test prep process that you may need more practice or more time to retain the information you’re learning to reach your original goal score. There are only a certain number of tests given each year, and by starting to prepare sophomore year, you have an entire year’s worth of additional opportunities to sit for an official exam.
If you prep through your junior year to take an official test in the fall of your senior year, there will only be 3 test dates to choose from before college applications are due. If you prep through your sophomore year to take an official test in the fall of your junior year, you will still have another 7 opportunities to take the test in the spring of junior year and fall of senior year combined. You remove the concern about your ability to perform under a strict deadline. Even if you do score as well as you expected on your first official exam, you would be giving yourself additional time to increase your score further if you want that opportunity. If you didn’t score as well as expected on that first official exam, you still have enough time to make the necessary improvements before you sit for your final official test.
Start early, finish early. Your time as a busy student is valuable, and the last thing you want to do is add unnecessary stress to your schedule. Sophomore year tends to be an ideal time to prepare for the ACT or SAT because so much time during junior year is spent with an increased workload due to harder classes and AP exams, and the fall of senior year is spent focused on college essays and applications. By preparing during sophomore year for an official test the spring of sophomore or early fall of junior year, you get to avoid attempting to coordinate prep time and learn outside material during what is typically the busiest and most stressful time of your high school career. Having your goal score in hand as a first-semester junior is an impressive - but not impossible - feat that will only serve to give you more time to focus on other educational endeavors.
Excel in upcoming courses. While you will be preparing for the content specific to each test, by no means are you learning material that you will only see on the ACT or SAT. The exams will give you a sneak peek into the material you should expect to start learning in your classes junior year. By prepping for the ACT or SAT to learn the material - not just attempting “cheat” strategies - you’re getting a head start on the more difficult content that you otherwise may not get to see until later in your educational career. Doing practice work to hone these advanced skills during your sophomore year means you have an advantage once these skills become necessary for success in your classes, which will reflect in your grades.
