Test Prep Tips

Events Standardized Testing in a Test-Optional Landscape DATE AND TIME On Demand Free Watch Now ABOUT THIS EVENT The standardized testing landscape has dramatically transformed over the past few years. While the majority of colleges and universities operated under test-optional or test-blind policies for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle, some colleges, like Dartmouth and Yale, will be returning to requiring test scores for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle. On top of this, the Digital SAT is now being offered both in the U.

By Carl F., IvyWise Master Tutor We’ve all been there: staring at an “impossible” problem on the ACT or SAT, unsure how we will ever solve this test troll’s riddle and make it safely to the other side of the bridge. Worse, you’re absolutely positive that getting this question right is the difference between your goal score and the one that’ll have you miss the cut for your ideal college.

By Joey, IvyWise Tutor With students from around the world continuing to seek higher education in the US, determining applicants’ English proficiency has remained a top priority for colleges and universities. After decades of relative stability in the field of standardized English testing—ETS’s TOEFL is accepted by everyone, with the IELTS, the PTE, and others popular as well—the landscape shifted dramatically in 2015 with the introduction of the Duolingo English Test (DET). Users of the world’s most popular language-learning app asked the company to certify the knowledge they had gained, and Duolingo responded with an exclusively online exam that has since exploded in popularity.

For students studying a foreign language, learning doesn't have to stop just because class is no longer in session. In fact, summer break is the perfect opportunity to engage with a language more informally in order to continue to learn and develop language skills outside of the classroom. Often, after a lot of classroom learning, a language learner will start overthinking the language, or get lost in the weeds and lose touch with the fundamentals of basic comprehension and expression.

Summer can be a time for sleeping in, seeing friends and family, and almost forgetting you were a student for a bit. But it’s also an opportunity to work on projects you didn’t have time for during the school year. The real question is how to balance the summer with relaxing and being both personally and academically productive.

You’ve spent all year working hard and mastering the difficult topics covered in AP Calculus. The AP exam is just around the corner and you want to be as prepared as possible. The exam is broken into two sections: Multiple Choice and Free Response.

The spring semester is a popular testing time for college-bound students and is often the first time that high school juniors crack open an SAT or ACT prep book. What’s important for younger students to realize, however, is that starting test prep early — even in ninth or 10th grade — can help students have the best chance of reaching their goal scores and mitigate the stress caused by too much testing at once. In reality, when to start test prep depends on a lot of factors.

Preparing for mid-term or final exams this December can be a stressful process, as some students' grades can depend heavily on these comprehensive tests – and grades are the most important factor in the college admissions process. There are a number of ways, however, that students can approach their exam prep in order to alleviate anxiety and perform their best on test day. Students need to understand that preparing for final or mid-term exams is a marathon, not a sprint.

Making good grades as well as preparing for the SAT and ACT exams can be daunting, and often the last thing that students want to think about as fall and winter breaks approach. However, staying engaged can help you prevent burnout and meet your academic and score goals this fall. Homework and test prep don’t have to be boring.

By Priyam, IvyWise Master Tutor The secret recipe for AP exam success is simple: one part content knowledge and one part standardized test savvy. While many students take AP exams at the culmination of their AP course, others might self-study for an exam. Whether you’re prepping for the AP exam as part of your course curriculum, or you’re taking the exam on your own, it’s important to make sure that you not only know the content and how to review it, but know how to take the tests.

Sometimes, the college process feels like climbing a mountain — a little intimidating, with some obstacles you need to navigate along the way. But if you pick your milestones, break it down into smaller pieces, and remember to have some fun along the way, you will make it to the top. For juniors in the middle of college prep, the second part of the year can feel like you’re staring up a mountain — so what do you do next?

Fighting Summer Brain Drain: Tips From An Expert Tutor Summer “brain drain” or the “summer slide,” the theory that over the summer break students stop learning and even lose some of what they’ve learned during the school year, is a real phenomenon that’s been documented by researchers for the past several decades. However, there are a number of simple ways in which students can keep their brains active in order to prevent losing any of the gains they’ve made over the previous academic year. Continuing to learn during times of educational lulls can seem like a tall task: how can I simulate classroom learning outside of school?

The ACT is an important exam and your score will be used not only for college admission purposes, but also to determine qualification for scholarships and even course placement. Your performance on the ACT Math section may be particularly important for admission into a technical school or a quantitative major. So if you choose to take the ACT, how should you prepare for the math section?

It’s a question on every applicant’s mind: how much will test scores impact my chances of admission to my top-choice universities? For international students, this level of wonder and interest is often leveled up a notch. Many students from abroad have a few additional steps to complete when applying to US universities, including English proficiency exams such as the TOEFL.

The science section on the ACT can make many students nervous, especially those who dislike science, and can lead those students to falsely believe they should avoid the ACT altogether. However, the key is knowing how the ACT science section operates and coming to a firm understanding that the ACT does not necessarily test the depth of your scientific knowledge, but rather analytical skills in a scientific context. In the description of the ACT Science section it’s stated that “advanced knowledge is not required.

If you are planning to apply to a college or university in the US, chances are you’re going to have to take either the ACT or the SAT. At IvyWise we advise students to prep for test – not both. So how do you decide which one is the best fit for you?

The spring semester is the testing season! Whether you're a sophomore preparing to take your first standardized test or a junior retaking the SAT or ACT to achieve your goal score, test prep and performing well is on the minds of many students this month. There is one thing that remains consistent for students of all ages, however: test anxiety.

If you plan on attending graduate school, whether it’s business school, law school, medical school, or some other graduate program, you’ll most likely need to take one of several graduate admission exams as part of your application. Preparing to take graduate admission exams long after your initial undergraduate admissions process can seem daunting, but the sooner you get started the sooner you can be on your way to a rewarding graduate school experience. The entrance exam that you take will depend on the graduate degree you are seeking and, in some cases, the specific school or program to which you apply.

With an increasing number of new technologies and an expanding global population, self-studying is on the rise. Education is no longer confined to just the classroom, and some would argue that the classroom model is outdated and does not meet the intellectual needs of individuals in such an interconnected society.  Being an autodidact, or self-teacher, has become increasingly feasible due to MOOCs (massive open online courses), Internet encyclopedias, and more colleges and universities offering courses online.

Whether you’re a freshman still adjusting to your first year of high school, or a college-bound junior ready to hit the ground running, it’s important to set academic and college prep goals for the fall as soon as school starts back up. Goals not only help keep students on track with their college prep, they also help students learn more about who they are, what they’re interested in, and how they can better pursue those interests. Goals can also help students stay motivated during a particularly busy or stressful time.

For many high school students, spring semester means standardized test season. Like it or not, these tests are a factor for college admissions at most schools — even if they’re test optional. While a perfect score alone won’t get you into your dream college, it is important to do well on these tests to have the greatest chance of admission.