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Ever since the FBI announced the charges in their “Operation Varsity Blues” earlier this week, this scandal has been the most covered news story relating to college admissions in quite a while. This scandal merely shows how reckless and brazen some families are in expecting that a different set of rules apply to them. As I mentioned in the video (at about a minute and 58 seconds in), the students that are directly harmed are those who just missed gaining acceptance off a wait list due to an actual admissions spot being offered to an undeserving student whose family bribed their way in. I think most of us would like to know that we have worked hard to achieve what we have accomplished and that is what makes our accomplishments so worth it.

Sure, New York students have 5 ACT exams and 7 SAT exams (and none are harder/easier than any other) to choose from when planning out their testing schedule, which may seem like quite a few options. But when your scores don’t come back as high as you expected, or when you realize that there is no test during the time you have available to prepare, finding a test date that fits your schedule can just feel like one more stressor. Now a new state senate bill, which was signed into law on November 5th, allows for an exemption to the 1979 law, which means there will be an ACT offered in New York on February 9th, 2019. For those who want to crush their next test trivia night, the last time the College Board added an exam date was back in 2017, when they introduced the August SAT.

I’d spent my Saturday morning taking the SAT 72 times before, but this morning was different. Since the College Board redesigned the exam in March of 2016, they only allow non-high school students to take it three times a year: March, May, and October. This 1580 was the best total score I’ve achieved on the new version, but I hadn’t managed the perfect score I’d achieved several times on the old version of the SAT. And as I began preparing my students for the next exam, I could hear my teaching-voice in the back of my head, reminding me that for me, too, there’s always next time.

As students return to school for an important junior year, SAT and ACT preparation begin to come into focus. (you may also want to check out the SAT vs ACT Wars post) and “when should I begin preparing? This short video quickly runs through the main considerations to help you decide when to begin your SAT/ACT preparations. If you’re still unsure which SAT or ACT exam to aim for first, please reach out to us right away to maximize your opportunities.