Setting a Goal Score (And a Plan to Achieve It!)

When looking at SAT/ACT preparation options, it is important to first determine your goal score. Once you have this number, one of our advisors can help you break down a plan and timeline for achieving it. Because every situation is different, Revolution Prep academic advisors work with students to determine what they hope to accomplish by improving their scores. They will then help set up a plan that makes sense for their budget and timeframe.

How Is a Goal Score Determined?

Most students set a goal score based on one of two reasons:

• The score they need to get into their top choice school or
• The score they need to be considered for merit based scholarship money at that school

Looking at college interquartile ranges can give you an idea on the type of score you need on your SAT/ACT. These ranges represent the median scores of the most recent freshman class. While there are a lot of factors that go into college admission, this gives you a good idea of the score certain schools expect. If your goal is to attend New York University for example, you should look to score between 1,245 and 1,460 on the SAT based on the interquartile ranges. Scoring towards the higher end (or above) of these scores means a greater likelihood of acceptance and more potential for merit based scholarship. Colleges actually “buy” higher SAT scores in order to increase their ranking. Students who take advantage of this can access more than $40,000 during their college career!

How Do You Best Achieve Your Goal Score?

Once you determine your goal score, the next step is forming a plan to help you achieve it. Taking a mock exam, if you have not already done so, is a great way to see how many points you may need to improve. These practice tests allow you to go through the SAT/ACT in a lower-stress environment to see the types of questions you can expect to see on the actual test. From these, your advisor can help you determine trends in questions you missed and what to look for so you don’t make the same mistakes in the future.

When it comes to preparing for standardized tests, there are a variety of options. There is a ton of great information online at places like College Board or the Revolution Prep website. Obviously, these are free and can be very valuable if you dedicate time and effort into using them. Most students find more benefit in group or one-on-one tutoring which offers that personal touch. Let’s face it, test preparation is boring! Having an actual human there to help push you can certainly make it less painful.

Remember, no matter what form of test preparation you choose, it takes a commitment of time and hard work to achieve your goal score. We have seen typical increases of 300 – 400 points with students we work with individually but this comes with hard work! Most students enroll in about 40 hours of comprehensive tutoring to achieve this type of increase. But, remember, time+effort=results! If you spend less time, you will need to double your effort! It is important that you set a realistic timeline for achieving the score you need. It doesn’t happen overnight but getting to that goal score can certainly help you get into the school of your dreams or put money in your pocket!