Is it too late to start prep?

A good question to ask indeed! Is it too late to start prep a month out from the test date?

Generally speaking, to set yourself up for success, regardless of if you're looking at the ACT/SAT or even the more challenging graduate exams like the MCAT, you'll want at least 3 months to prep for a test date. However, some students make progress over a much shorter time span, either because they are quick learners and needed someone to show them the way, or because their gaps are high-yield fixes regardless of their learning speed. What if you are one of those students? There are also cases where students only want a small gain, which usually doesn't take as much time.

On the other hand, some students buckle under the pressure of preparing for a test only a month out and would benefit from pushing the test date out instead. Or we have students for whom no “easy fix” exists: they are good students and hard workers, but they have big gaps in their fundamentals or face high levels of test day anxiety.

Our favorite compromise is getting started and seeing how it goes - you can feel out how quickly you're learning, and how you're feeling heading into the test. We make sure to give you something valuable with every session, whether it's a new way to approach questions or how to study more efficiently, so even if you do decide to push your test date back or take it then with plans to retake, your time preparing will have been well spent. On test day, we want you to feel confident and aware of what you should be focused on in order to achieve your highest “current brain” potential!