Most students think SAT® and ACT® success comes down to knowing more math formulas or grammar rules. That’s only half the story. Students can understand the content, finish the homework, and still underperform when anxiety hijacks their pacing, focus, and decision-making. The real difference-maker isn’t more effort — it’s a predictable sense of control. Across Prep Expert® reviews, students describe the same shift again and again: The test stops feeling…

As more colleges remain test optional, students often assume standardized test scores no longer matter for scholarships– but that’s a dangerous assumption to make. While fewer schools require the SAT for admission than in the past, many still use submitted scores to award merit aid. In 2026, a strong SAT score can continue to make a real difference in how much you pay for college. And that means a lot–…

In the USA, outstanding student loan debt totals almost $145 billion. To put that in perspective, if American student loan debt was a global economy, it would be the 62nd largest in the world. The average student loan debt varies based on how you estimate it, but for most people, it’s between $30,000 and $40,000. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather that number be as close to 0…

Confidence is one of the most underrated score boosters on the SAT, PSAT, and ACT. Students can know the content and still underperform if they walk into the exam tense, second-guessing, and expecting to fail. The reviews from Prep Expert® students tell a consistent story: as strategy becomes clear and practice becomes structured, confidence rises fast.This article focuses on one outcome that shows up again and again in student feedback:…

If you’ve ever opened up your College Board account to retrieve your scores and not liked what you found… well, you’re not alone. About half of all SAT takers retake the exam, and there are a lot of benefits to doing so. In fact, taking the exam multiple times correlates with improved admission rates and higher test scores.  But, just like taking the test itself, you should approach taking and…

The SAT was introduced 100 years ago, in 1926. By the 1960s, the G.I. Bill meant that more people were attending college than ever before, and the SAT was almost universally adopted by schools in the United States. But in 1969, we saw the first school to go test-optional, Bowdoin College, drop the test. Since then, test-optional admissions slowly gained ground– mostly at small liberal arts colleges. In 2019, there…

If you have a student preparing for the ACT, you have a lot of options for test prep. Some resources are genuinely useful, others are outdated, and many are designed for audiences very different from today’s ACT test takers. The most effective preparation comes from understanding what types of resources exist, how they are accessed, and what role each plays in building skills, confidence, and pacing. Strong ACT prep is…

The ACT is not a normal test. Let’s get that out of the way right now, because if you want to earn a high score, you need to keep the nature of the test at the front of your mind. In a normal, everyday academic subject test, you’re facing limited amounts of information about a specific subject. But the ACT is designed to assess how prepared students are for college…

Confidence is often talked about as a “nice-to-have” in test prep, but for many students, it becomes the dividing line between plateaued performance and real breakthroughs. Confidence isn’t just a feeling. It is a measurable shift in how students process questions, manage time, stay calm under pressure, and trust their training when the clock is ticking. In hundreds of Prep Expert® reviews, one theme consistently stands out: students do not…

The SAT is one of the most widely recognised college admissions exams in the United States and internationally. For students planning to apply to colleges and universities, understanding the SAT test dates and registration deadlines for 2026 is crucial. This guide provides a complete view of the official SAT dates and deadlines administered by the College Board for 2026, including deadlines for registration, late registration, and testing windows. The College…