Practicing For ACT/SAT (and Other) Test Success

In my last post about the role parents can play in supporting their teens in test preparation — and general academic success — I suggested that one way is to be proactive about reminding your child to practice. (And I like to refer to that role as Reminder-In-Chief!) Focused, consistent practice is so important to prepare for standardized tests and raise scores over time that I wanted to delve further into this issue. 

First, a testimonial to inspire you:

“I began at a 29 [on the ACT] and gradually moved to a 36 in one month of intense work. 16 practice tests. I got a 36 on my first test ever. ... There is ultimately no ‘one size fits all’ study plan to prepare for the ACT. I prepared rather rigorously, practicing far more than what I had expected. This detail is vital to understand, as I am arguably in the top ranks of students in my school. Let this fact instill you with hope: though background knowledge helps, the ACT is dependent on raw practice.”

This quote is from a Redditor (who was deservedly excited about personal progress and success on the exam), but it could have equally come from any of my former high-scoring ACT, SAT, AP students. And while it is entirely correct that practice can lead to big increases in standardized test scores, not all practice is created equal — and this Redditor is correct: it’s not one-size-fits-all in terms of when/how/how much.

So what type of practice will be most effective? 

Let’s break it down.

More Isn’t Always Better: Playing vs. Practicing

If you’ve ever played a sport or a musical instrument, you know that long practice sessions don’t necessarily equal better practice sessions.

For example, many of us have listened to our kids practicing a musical instrument. They might run those scales for hours but keep making the same mistake. This isn’t doing any good — in fact, it’s locking in the mental and muscle memory to be incorrect, making it harder to overcome the error in the future. 

It’s also possible to spend time “practicing” without really accomplishing much. To stick with the familiar issue of practicing a musical instrument, you’ve probably also heard plenty of sessions in which your child was just going through the motions, perhaps rushing through to get to something more fun. If you’re not concentrating on the effort and remaining focused on errors and their correction, you’re not really practicing. That time is wasted if your mind is elsewhere.

Finally, let’s consider practice from a sports angle. If you want to improve your tennis serve, you need to practice. But what, specifically, does that look like? Just hitting balls for an hour isn’t going to cut it. First, what are your goals? Are you trying to improve basic accuracy, just getting it in the box? Or are you ready to fine-tune placement to hit various locations within the box? Do you need to build speed? Power? If you don’t know what you need to practice, you’ll be wasting valuable time on the court. 

As Albert Einstein famously put it:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

I don’t know if I’d agree with the “insanity” part, but there is a lot of wisdom in what he says — and researchers agree. They have found that “deliberate practice” that includes a focus on methods, error diagnosis and feedback to be the most effective.

Effective Practice for Standardized Tests

So what does good practice look like when it comes to preparing for the SAT or ACT? 

While going from zero practice to some practice will, generally, yield some results, it won’t help you reach your full potential without a few other key steps: using the right materials, focused error evaluation, and error correction. Students who simply crank out lots of ACT or SAT sections without any insight into their mistakes, or without correcting those mistakes, are like the piano student running scales without stopping to check the fingering and get the notes right.

To get the most out of deliberate practice for test prep, follow these steps:

1. Take a practice test.

First, you need a baseline to see where you’re at. Just like the tennis player deciding which aspects of her serve to focus on, you need to understand your testing strengths and weaknesses up front. This will also give you a sense of how much work you need to do to reach your goal.  Watch this video on how to take a practice test 

2. Look for patterns of errors.

Practice tests are treasure troves of useful information — your total score is just the tiop of the iceberg. Once you have your score, look back over the test to find patterns in your mistakes. 

For example, did you get all the punctuation questions right, but miss ones about transition words? Did you ace algebra but forget geometry? Did you have more trouble with fiction or science inference in the reading? How’s your vocab knowledge?  

If you’re tempted to gloss over some mistakes as simply “careless errors,” STOP! Picking the wrong answer is never just a silly mistake. On the contrary, it represents a fundamental error in your thought process that you need to correct. Take all of your mistakes seriously.

Being able to identify weak spots will allow you to get laser-focused on the areas you need to practice, which in turn lets you get the most out of the time you devote to test prep time. 

3. Decide what you want to achieve.

 A good look at your errors will help you decide what to focus on, but it’s also important to think about your performance holistically. Do you need to improve accuracy overall, or only in certain areas? Do you need to improve speed? Master your anxiety? 

It’s simply not enough to say “I need to study math.” To shape effective practice, you must Identify exactly which concepts within the math section you struggle with. I recommend writing your goals down to keep you focused and remind you of your focus when you sit down to work. 

4. Structure your practice to meet your goals.

Once you know what you want to achieve, it’s time to get down to your actual practice. Here are my top tips to get the most out of your sessions:

• Commit: Consistency is key. You’ll need to carve out time to practice regularly, and well in advance of the test — cramming won’t work. Frequent, shorter practices are better than marathons with large gaps in between. Choose a several-week window of time before your test date during which you’ll time when’ll be able to you can fit in some practice time -a little every few days -, and stick to it.  Then you can reserve weekend time for longer, full-test practices, when needed, 

• Relearn: No amount of “tips and tricks” advice can help if you don't have the fundamentals. If you are struggling in a certain area, there's no substitute for rolling up your sleeves and relearning that material. Whether you work with a trusted teacher, tutor or rely on Khan Academy, you need to review until you get it. 

• Retest: I advise you to complete full sections every several days and to take a full-length practice tests at least twice a month— and preferably weekly — if you’re grinding this out during the summer. There are plenty of official tests available at Khan Academy, posted on Reddit as well as at CrackACT. 

• Time Yourself: Understanding the pacing of the test is essential to managing the exam’s barrage of questions. You’ll want to constantly keep tabs on your progress with timing through each section. So, use your phone’s stopwatch or a real a watch.

• Reflect & Correct: After each practice section or test, ask yourself a few questions. Are you improving? If not, what scores are you consistently getting? Why aren’t you you not doing better? What can you do about it? After answering these questions truthfully, you’ll likely be able to build a responsive study itinerary for the coming week.

Getting Started: Use The Right Materials

If this feels overwhelming, take a deep breath. You just need to go one step at a time, practice test by practice test. You will improve over time. 

And a final note about those practice tests: You need to use the right materials to get the most out of your work. A simplified Bach arrangement isn’t going to prepare you to play a real fugue in a recital, and lobbing a few balls to a friend isn’t going to prepare you to face Roger Federer at Wimbledon. 

It’s the same with the SAT and ACT. While there are many great books for learning concepts and doing some initial ACT-like and SAT-like practice, other companies’ tests (Princeton Review, Barrons, etc.) don’t effectively recreate the real thing. Some are a lot harder; others are too easy or just plain odd. Practicing with official SAT tests and ACT tests is key. Read about some of our favorite ACT/SAT math resources and ACT/SAT verbal resources (grammar and reading).

Need real practice tests or a plan? We’re always happy to create an ACT/SAT/AP practice program that’s tailored to your specific needs. Reach out any time! You may also want to check out our popular and successful customized self-guided plans.