He had used the Blue Book from the College Board to prepare for the SAT.  With so many SAT prep schools and classes, I felt almost obligated to send him to one of those classes or find him a tutor to help him prepare for the SAT and PSAT.  Not having enough financial resources, however, and feeling confident about my son’s self discipline to study on his own, I had him study the Blue Book.  So far, it seems to be working.  He still has many weaknesses that he needs to work on.  Both I and my son feel that preparing for the SAT is something that he can do alone at home.

What would you have done?  Or what are you doing to help your child prepare for SAT, PSAT or other standardized tests?

Some colleges require 2 or 3 SAT II subject tests.  I understand that these tests are something that high school students learn in their classes as well.

With the ACT, students have the option of not reporting the test results to colleges, but all SAT I scores are reported to colleges.  So, if your student takes SAT I insted of ACT, make sure that your student is prepared for the test.  I have not looked into preparing for ACT, so I can not say much about it.  Preparing for SAT requires a lot of hard work.  The most basic item you student needs to have is the “Blue Book” published by the College Board, The Official Guide.  Have your student go through all the questions in the book.  Have them study again all the questions that they miss or do not understand.  If your student has hard time going through the book on his/her own, you should consider helping him yourself or consider hiring a tutor.  That Blue Book is that important.