That you are reading this FAQ speaks volumes to your commitment to your child's success. Our decades of experience and published research identify at least five, top strategies to help parents ensure their child continues to succeed at the highest level: Champion “productive struggle” and cognitive endurance Cultivate your child’s [...]
We strongly believe in practice and data at General Academic; therefore, we developed the Piqosity.com e-learning platform to measure student improvement in real time. On Piqosity, students will have access to General Academic's own 50+ practice tests for the ISEE, ACT, PSAT, and SAT plus 50k+ practice questions. These questions [...]
We actively recruit, train, and coach the most brilliant and charismatic would-be tutors. Less than 10% of the top 1% of US college undergraduates and graduates meet our rigorous tutor qualifications. We start by recruiting brilliant individuals with proven academic records—very high test scores and grades. Then we train them [...]
To help students conquer their test anxiety, the first step we take is to validate their concerns—the ISEE, ACT, and SAT are high stakes test after all—but then we walk them through the science of why they feel the way they do and implement research-backed mitigation strategies. Our more than [...]
Students should start their test prep by taking both a mock ACT and digital SAT. The student's performance and comfort on that diagnostic exam will then guide their choice of which test to ultimately prepare for the most—but preparing for one test also prepares them for the other. Whether your [...]
Taking a full-length mock test under timed conditions is one of the best ways to predict how your child will perform on the actual exam; it also helps them build the mental toughness necessary to perform reliably on test day. There's a big difference between working 10, untimed questions at [...]
Ideally, students will complete at least 3 full-length practice tests before they take the ISEE, SAT, or ACT exam. However, parents should be careful not to force students to take mock tests in quick succession without sufficient studying. We expect students to complete a minimum of 20 hours of tutoring [...]
General Academic recommends that rising high school juniors start preparing for the ACT and/or SAT in the summer (June/July) in the lead up to the fall test dates (August/ November). This timeline allows the student to work around particularly stressful periods like mid-term and final exams. It provides ample time [...]
In response to the new Digital SAT test rolled out in 2024, competitor ACT also announced that they would overhaul their exam beginning as early as spring 2025. The updated ACT test is shorter (2 hours) and makes the dreaded Science Test optional. Scoring remains on a scale of 1-36, [...]
Most General Academic high school juniors will take the ACT or SAT two or three times to ensure they earn the score they need. There is no penalty for taking the test multiple times, and colleges only care about the highest score. Note that most juniors will also take the [...]