As everyone prepares for the end of the year, juniors begin to face the reality of the often dreaded SAT. A year’s worth of preparation finally came to a close as everyone took the test on April 9th. However, individual preparation varied drastically. Despite the common belief that more prep makes you more successful, some people are just good at standardized testing. This does not mean that prep doesn’t help, though. Khan Academy, Jeanius Prep, and countless prep books are all things that students have used this year and in many past years to help improve their SAT and ACT scores.

       Lincoln-Way Central student Alexis Carlino took the Jeanius prep classes this year in preparation for her SAT. She says that the classes were “extremely helpful” because of their good details and explanations, along with the strong motivation given by the teachers. This prep helped her and many other students to improve their scores.

       Another popular way to prep is Khan Academy. This method is well known throughout Lincoln-Way because of the annual Khan-petition, where social science classes compete for the most completed hours on Khan Academy. Student Isabel Braico says that Khan Academy was great! She enjoys that it gave her the specialized help she needed, because of its connections with past tests. She even loved the videos, and says that she finds Sal Khan’s voice very soothing.

Lincoln-Way teachers and administration also go above and beyond throughout the school year to offer before- and after-school preparation sessions for students.  Teachers from all departments put together SAT lessons specific to their content area and what students will see on the SAT.  In addition to practice tests run by the school, these sessions allow students to receive instruction for the particular sections with which they need help.  Students that don’t take an outside course for test prep. are able to gain the same knowledge at a more convenient location and time.

       Although these students, along with many others, did well on the tests with their prep, it is not necessary to be successful. Student Jordan Carter claims he did very little to nothing to prep for his tests, but still was proud of his score.

       The SATs are a stressful time for students, but with all of the opportunities students are afforded for preparation, there is really no excuse for not simply doing one’s best on the test!