Parents often wonder when their children should start preparing for the SAT or ACT. As with many things, the answer is, it depends! Is your child likely to be a recruited athlete? How will they spend their summers? Is there a particular sport that monopolizes a specific season? Are they at boarding school?
That being said, there are generally better (and worse) times to start and to test.
9th grade
Parents often ask if their kids can or should get started with SAT or ACT prep in 9th grade. The answer really is no, but that doesn’t mean 9th grade isn’t important. Grades really do matter, even in 9th grade, and students are learning the content and skills they need to perform well on the ACT or SAT. If your child finishes 9th grade with strong grades and some interesting activities outside of school, that’s more than enough!
Many of our families choose to start academic tutoring at this time, for any subjects where their child is struggling. This is a great opportunity to build foundational skills and relationships with tutors who will transition to test prep when the time is right.
10th grade
We recommend that our kids try a diagnostic during the second half of 10th grade. Our day students often try diagnostic tests sometime between January and April, though we often also have kids come in after school ends in June. Our boarding school kids tend to try testing over their breaks in March. Most kids get started soon after diagnostic testing, though that depends on summer plans, goals, etc.
11th grade
For the most part, kids take their first official tests in 11th grade, though the specifics vary quite a bit. Some kids are pretty close to their goals and test in the fall. Others are still working on Algebra II in 11th grade and test later in the year. We love to avoid May official testing whenever possible since kids are busy with AP exams, research papers, and finals.
12th grade
Many of our students do their best early on in senior year. They’ve gotten strong scores in 11th grade, had a little break over the summer, and are confident test-takers. There are multiple pre-early decision official test dates in the fall, and our kids take full advantage of them!
We customize our tutoring programs because every child is different: they start at different places, and have different goals and schedules. We design our programs accordingly.
Let’s schedule diagnostics (10th graders!) or talk about the timeline that makes the most sense for your child.
