Students routinely take the PSAT in their high schools as a precursor to taking the SAT in the junior and senior years. At Appelrouth Tutoring Services, we prefer for students to have the initial experience of the longer and more challenging SAT and/or ACT. These baseline scores allow students to compare test formats and together with our tutors to assess what is needed for improvement.

Some students prefer to try the SAT “cold” and wait several weeks for their scores to be returned and some would rather take our full length, proctored mock in a classroom setting and receive a full report within 48 hours. Either approach is fine as long as students view this as the first step in the process to improving scores over several months of study and practice.

After the baseline score, we recommend 8-12 weeks of tutoring and additional full length mocks tests before students take their next two SATs. There is often considerable improvement on the second SAT and usually a modest increase the third time. As long as a student does not tend to be anxious about testing without being fully prepared in advance, there is no harm in substituting the official test for a practice one. Colleges generally look at the highest scores in every section.