Your practice test results are only useful if you understand what they’re telling you. Spend some time with them before jumping into studying. Where are you losing points? Are there specific question types that consistently trip you up, or whole content areas where your accuracy drops? Look for patterns.

If you’re using 91ÁÔÆæ, here’s how to get the most out of your practice test results:

Don’t leave this for the morning. Gather everything you need now.

For the SAT, make sure you have:

• Your photo ID
• Your SAT admission ticket from Bluebook (printed)
• Your fully charged testing device (laptop or tablet with the Bluebook app installed)
• Your College Board login information
• A charger for your testing device (bring it just in case)
• Pencils or pens
• A permitted calculator with fresh batteries
• Snacks and water for the break

See the College Board’s for the complete and current list of what to bring.

For the ACT, make sure you have:

• Your photo ID
• Your ACT admission ticket (printed)
• Several sharpened No. 2 pencils with erasers
• If you’re taking the computer-based ACT, your fully charged laptop, charger, and any required login information
• A permitted calculator with fresh batteries
• Snacks and water for the break
• A simple analog watch (no smartwatches, no watches with alarms)

See ACT’s for the complete and current list of what to bring.

Elite athletes often train less hard before a major competition to ensure they are well-rested and fresh. The final week of SAT preparation should look more like tapering before a competition than intensive training.

It’s normal to feel nervous, but avoid the temptation to dramatically increase your workload. Cramming in four full practice tests and completely reworking your pacing strategy is more likely to lead to burnout than real progress.

Instead, use this week for light, targeted review on the specific question types or content areas that still trip you up.

If it helps alleviate stress, take one more practice test early in the week. As you know by now, practice tests are the key to preparation, but they are also mentally draining. Avoid taking a practice test within 48 hours of test day so you feel energized and sharp.Ìý

Don’t panic if your score fluctuates. Small score differences between practice tests are common. This is especially true if you’re switching platforms, because each system is a little different. For example, if you take your first 91ÁÔÆæ practice this week and it feels harder than the Bluebook practice tests, that’s intentional. Our practice tests are designed to push your skills a little further so that the real SAT feels more manageable.

Bluebook is the official testing platform used for the SAT, and becoming familiar with it before test day can make a big difference. , make sure it works on your device, and take one of the practice tests.

The practice test will help you:

• Get comfortable with the digital format and interface
• See how the computer adaptive format works
• Practice using the built-in Desmos calculator
• Familiarize yourself with the question types

The practice test will show you where you’re most likely to lose points. That information will help you decide where to focus the rest of your limited study time.

You can’t fix what you haven’t measured. Before you try to speed up, you need to understand where and how you’re spending your time.

After every practice test, look past the number of correct and incorrect questions and pay attention to how long you spent on each question.

If you’re using the 91ÁÔÆæ platform, you can review the timing graph at the bottom of each section summary. You can also see how long you spent on each individual question compared to the average response time in the question-by-question results.

Here’s what to look for:

Test anxiety is a kind of performance anxiety: the same emotional and physical response an athlete might feel before a big game, a musician before a concert, or anyone before doing something that matters to them. Symptoms can include: increased heart rate, shallow breathing, shaky hands, upset stomach, and racing thoughts.

These reactions are a natural part of your body’s response to stress, useful when you need to respond to physical danger, but not helpful when you’re trying to score a winning goal, sing an exposed high note, or solve a complicated math problem.

Performance psychologist Dr. Don Greene, who has coached Olympic athletes and professional musicians, discusses this phenomenon in Performance Success: Performing Your Best Under Pressure. “Stress is a human condition, integral to the structure and functioning of our bodies and minds,� he writes. The problem, Greene notes, is that “our bodies and certain primitive parts of our brains really haven’t changed much� since the days when we needed that stress response to escape predators. In other words, “[your body] doesn’t know the difference between a tiger and the solo horn part to Richard Strauss’s �—or a high-stakes test.

When adrenaline kicks in during an exam, “you have no outlet… there’s nothing you can do but sit still.â€� That energy has nowhere to go, which means your stress may show up in unexpected ways: sweaty palms, shallow breathing, or doomsday thoughts.

Learning how to perform under pressure isn’t about eliminating stress but about redirecting the energy you get from it so that it works for you.

(Greene, Don. Performance Success: Performing Your Best Under Pressure. Routledge, 2002, pp. 16–19. Available on or )

Test-required colleges consider SAT or ACT scores a key part of your application. While your GPA, extracurriculars, essays, and recommendations are still critical components, these schools require test scores to be submitted and evaluated alongside these other factors. These colleges utilize a holistic admissions process in which the test scores are viewed in the context of your entire application. At the end of the day, if you’re applying to a test-required school, you’ll need to take either the SAT or ACT.

Summer gives you something that’s in short supply during the school year: time. Whether you’re heading into your junior year and want to get a head start on prep, or you’re starting your senior year and aiming to finish up testing early, summer is the ideal time to focus on the ACT and SAT without the usual school-year chaos.Ìý

With no classes, homework, or extracurriculars demanding your attention, you can commit to consistent, low-stress prep. That doesn’t mean long, exhausting study marathons. In fact, it’s best to prep in shorter sessions (45–60 minutes, two to four times a week) over a few months. This kind of steady pacing promotes better retention and helps you avoid burnout.

You’ll also have more flexibility to seek out additional resources, such as one-on-one tutoring or group prep classes, that might not fit into your schedule during a packed school term.

And here’s the best part: summer studying doesn’t mean giving up your break. A few focused study sessions each week still leave plenty of time for friends, travel, work, and relaxation. The key is consistency over intensity.