I have a secret to tell you, a confession really. Something rather blasphemous given that I’m a tutor who has helped countless students prep for the SAT and ACT.
I didn’t study for the SAT.
Or the ACT.
I took both tests, but I didn’t prepare at all.
I was a very good test taker, and I felt confident I could just show up, wing it, and do well.
So I didn’t prepare at all. And I regret it.
But I don’t regret it because of my scores. I got a 1440 on the SAT and a 31 on the ACT, both very good scores. Together with my 3.8 GPA and seven successful AP exams, I was a strong candidate for many excellent universities. But I had my heart set on Montana State University (because they had a skier on the poster) which is not very selective. At the time, MSU was taking anyone with a checkbook and a pulse, so I didn’t need to have such good scores, let alone better ones.
No, I regret not studying for the SAT and ACT because it was a missed opportunity for brain training.
Ostensibly, these exams measure what you know. They also, to an extent, test how smart you are. But that’s only if you take them once, as I did. And that’s not how we should use them.
By preparing for these tests, their purpose changes from evaluating your abilities to improving them.
The activities that improve your score – learning strategies, patching holes in your knowledge, and doing loads of practice questions – all grow your brain muscles. Sure, you get better at the tests themselves, but you also improve broadly applicable abilities like logical reasoning, context switching, and mental endurance.
The reading passages and math story problems force you to practice filtering useful from extraneous information. The wide variety of content, mixed together at random, forces you to practice interleaving. The unfamiliar topics and technical writing develop your ability to engage with new and difficult concepts.
In other words, prepping for the SAT and ACT makes you smarter.
So rather than seeing these tests as gatekeepers, see them as coaches. Rather than viewing studying for the SAT and ACT as a chore, view it as an opportunity for growth.
This mindset not only makes exam prep feel better, but it also has the happy side effect of raising your score.
Chris Loper has been working as a tutor and academic coach since 2014, racking up over 13,000 hours of experience supporting students.
Along with Greg Smith, Chris is the co-creator of Parenting for Academic Success, a series of classes that create empowered parents, confident students, and harmonious families.
Chris writes the popular self-improvement blog Becoming Better, where he also offers habit coaching, helping busy adults with habit formation and productivity.
Chris’s most recent endeavor combines his academic and habit-formation expertise to help students thrive in college. Visit SmartCollegeHabits.com to learn more.
In 2021, he published a humorous memoir titled Wood Floats and Other Brilliant Observations, a book that blends crazy stories with practical life lessons.
He lives in Issaquah, WA, where he is the owner of South Cove Tutoring.