Securing a spot at a prestigious American university requires scoring highly on the SAT, a standardised exam, that many international students who have had no exposure to this examination style regularly feel challenged by.

So how do you prepare correctly without going blank when faced with anxiety on the test day?

Well, Almost Essential can recommend Ed and his tutoring team, who have been specialising in guiding international students through the complex US university examination application process for over ten years. Ed’s firsthand experience and extensive knowledge of the UK and US educational systems enables him to provide a fully customised plan for every student. Here is some of the advice we’ve gathered from him:

1. Study Your Strengths and Weaknesses

It’s important to create an objective view of your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the typical questions that can occur on the SAT. Whether you need to grasp complicated maths formulas or improve aspects of your grammar, these areas can be revealed by taking practice tests.

2. Familiarise Yourself with Past Papers

The latter advice, brings us onto the requirement for students to take lots of practice tests. There is a wealth of material that learners can use, but it’s often difficult to find the most up-to-date exam questions and preparation materials online. By keeping their ears close to the ground, Ed’s agency sources the most up to date materials and send practice tests directly to students.  This will help to familiarise yourself with both the style and content of the SAT – and inform how you invest your study time.

3. Create A Study Plan

If your son or daughter is seeking seeking admission to an excellent US college, the chances are that they are juggling many responsibilities. This might be trying to stay on top of the various application timelines for Oxbridge and other universities in their home country.

Managing these responsibilities is difficult, but it is essential for your child to create a study plan to know when they’ll be studying, on what specific subject areas.

Ed’s tutor agency employs graduates from the best US institutions who are experts in specific fields of study. They really appreciate no two people are the same, so provide each student with a customised programme that is flexible to their commitments and built around their academic strengths and weaknesses. Lessons can even be planned for after the school day has finished, or over weekends.

4. Put in the hours 

In order to improve your score, Ed recommends a minimum of 25 hours total of tutoring on top of your child’s own studying. This amounts to one to two hours of lessons per week. Findings have shown that Ed’s previous students have improved their SAT score by two hundred or more points, against those not using the service.

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Before your child’s test date creeps any closer, consult with Ed’s team for quality and personalised SAT tutoring services in London.

If you simply want more information on applying to UK and US academic institutions, then you may be interested in reaching out to any of the Almost Essential advisers listed under our education section.