SAT-prep, etc.

About now, college-bound high school juniors (and their parents!) are thinking about making sure they're ready for taking the SAT or ACT or whatever other tests are required by the colleges and universities to which the students are thinking of applying. Seniors should be well into this whole process, but late-starters aren't too late. They'll just have to move a little faster!

One of the first websites to meander through is the College Board's site - since that is the company that heads up the SAT (as well as the Advanced Placement tests). Once at www.collegeboard.com/, click on Prepare for the SAT, and choose from several good practice options.

1. Official SAT Practice Questions, from which you can choose Critical Reading, Mathematics, and/or Writing.

2. The Official SAT Question of the Day - You can either go into this each day or you can sign up for the QOTD to be sent to you in email each day. The latter is obviously easier on you! In addition, once you've submitted your answer for each question, you have a choice to go on to further questions.

3. Official SAT Practice Test - You can take one of the released tests from past administrations: Print the test out, answer the questions online while reading your printout, get your score, and get explanations of answers and see sample essays.

All of these are excellent resources for students preparing for the SAT. I think all college-bound students should at least sign up for the Question of the Day AND go through the Practice Test process. Then, if the score isn't as high as is wanted, students and their parents can make decisions about whether to take a course at a local college or buy the online course ($70) or buy one of the prep books online or in a bookstore. (You can also go to a good search engine, search for SAT practice, and find other sources of prep materials. Just be careful of the junk that's out there!)

If a student is considering a college or university that requires the SAT Subject Tests (formerly known as SAT II or The Achievement Tests), then here is a good place for further information, practice, etc. - http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/lc_two.html

Another good resource at the College Board's website is for PSAT, AP, and other tests. Just click on For Students at the home page, and you'll find a link to these tests near the top left of the screen. There are many other uses of the For Students section, including Plan for College, Find a College, Apply to College, and Pay for College.

And finally, from the home page, there's a good section For Parents - excellent information in here and their new Parent Email Service.

If students are thinking about taking the ACT as well, just go to http://www.act.org/ for many of the same kinds of information the SAT website has.

And Texans should be sure to check out this website: http://www.collegefortexans.com/

Please post questions in the comments section.