Questions? We have answers.

Q: Aren’t most colleges test optional? Why should my student take a test?

Today, more than 90% of colleges and universities in the U.S. are test optional and many applicants are taking advantage; only 47% of college applicants submitted test scores in the fall of 2023. in the wake of these new test optional policies, applications to many of the nation’s most popular colleges and universities are surging.

So rather than asking “should my student test?”, families should be asking “will testing increase his/her chances of acceptance or not, in light of the increases in applications and competition”? A few reasons testing makes sense:

  1. With just half of college applicants submitting test scores, students can distinguish themselves by including test scores with their applications. Schools, for the most part, still view tests as a known and trusted data point.
  2. Obtaining a “competitive” test score, which will vary from school to school, will be an asset to you in the application process.
  3. Test scores and GPA are key contributors to merit aid at many colleges and universities around the U.S., including many test-optional institutions. And you don’t need a 36!

Many colleges such as Auburn, Alabama, Brigham Young, Butler, College of St. Mary, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Santa Clara, TCU, Denver, and Missouri offer scholarships in the amounts of a few thousand dollars to full tuition for ACT scores ranging from 23 to 33. Some of these scholarships are only available with an ACT or SAT score.

Flying Colors believes that high school students should assess their position with testing and make informed, honest, and individualized decisions. If you decide to test, it is absolutely to your advantage to prepare. If you’re interested in learning more about prep for the ACT or SAT, please email us at [email protected] and an education director will reply within 24 hours.

Q: Is ACT or SAT test preparation worth it?

It’s true, excellent test prep is not inexpensive. But an investment in test prep for your student can yield several benefits:

  1. Improved test scores to enhance the student’s academic record and candidacy at the schools to which they will apply.
  2. Improved general test-taking skills to boost student confidence and potential achievement in the face of future high-stake tests.
  3. Improved access to merit scholarships, which can often become available to students with scores starting in the mid-20s on the ACT and mid-1200s on the SAT.

Many colleges offer scholarships in the amounts of a few thousand dollars to full tuition for ACT scores ranging from 23 to 33. Some of these scholarships are only available to those who provide an ACT or SAT score. Testing can really pay off!

Q: What is a typical score improvement with a Flying Colors’ ACT or SAT prep plan?

Students who complete 12-14 private lessons with us can generate an ACT composite improvement of 3-6+ points.

For the SAT, student improvement is typically 100-200+ points.

A prep plan includes, of course, doing the prescribed two hours of homework per lesson and completing one full-length practice test every 3-4 weeks while actively preparing for an exam.

Q: The ACT or the SAT: which test is best for my student?

Today, all colleges and universities that consider standardized test scores (approximately 2,000 such schools) will accept test scores from either the ACT or the SAT.

That said, today, the two tests are decidedly different. If your student is about to embark on the testing journey, taking practice tests for both exams is a smart move. Your Flying Colors team will review the results and help you determine which test makes the most sense for your student. You can learn more about how the two tests compare here: The ACT vs. The SAT.

Q: Is the new digital SAT easier?

In 2024, the College Board debuted a digitally adaptive SAT exam. The new SAT significantly shortens testing time by about an hour. In a nutshell, it’s shorter, but it’s also harder.

Like the paper SAT, the digital SAT is comprised of two sections: a combined reading/writing section and a math section. Each of these sections have two modules or stages. All students taking the digital SAT will receive the same first module. Once the student completes the first module, the test will determine which of two modules to administer next: a module that is more difficult or a module that is less difficult. That determination will be based on the student’s performance on module one – thus, it adapts its content to best fit the student’s capabilities.

In terms of overall content, the biggest change is a shorter reading/writing section featuring much shorter passages, with just one question each. The reading/writing section ask a series of reading questions as well as grammar questions.

Math is very similar to the current paper SAT, though a calculator can now be used on the entire test.

For students who have accommodations for testing, College Board will maintain accommodations and use the digital test for testing with extra time.

You can learn more about how the two tests compare here: The ACT vs. The SAT.

Q: What do we need to know about preparing for the ACT or SAT if our student has an accommodations (504) plan or is challenged by LD/ADHD?

If your student has a 504 plan at their school, they may qualify for extra time on the ACT and SAT if certain conditions are met.

For extra time on the SAT, students need to have been on a 504 plan for at least four months. Beyond that, the College Board/SAT is not terribly stringent about granting extra time. Approval for extra time on the SAT grants approval for extra time on the PSAT and all AP exams, as those tests are also published by the College Board.

For extra time on the ACT, the process can be a bit more complicated. In addition to having been on a 504 plan for at least one year prior to testing, students typically need to have a current diagnostic assessment, completed in the past three years. Instead of a blanket approval for extra time granted in advance of testing, the request for extra time on the ACT is triggered during the registration process for an actual ACT. The learning specialist at the student’s high school is typically involved and needs to provide to the ACT’s special testing site all the required documentation. Once the ACT has this information, a decision is typically communicated in 2-3 weeks.

Flying Colors is the only test prep organization in Minnesota with a team of instructors specifically devoted to supporting students with accommodations.

If you would like to learn more about our approach to supporting students with accommodations, please contact Rachel at [email protected].

Q: When should my student start to prepare for the ACT or SAT?

Flying Colors recommends that most students start to prep for the ACT or the SAT during the summer before their junior year and then take their first real ACT or SAT exam in the fall of their junior year.

Students who are just starting algebra II in their junior year may want to consider waiting until second semester to take a first real ACT or SAT as math will be challenging until they get more familiar with this curriculum.

Q: Are practice tests necessary?

Yes! Taking full-length proctored practice exams while actively preparing for a real ACT or SAT is the best way to measure student progress.

We suggest taking a practice test at the beginning of the test prep process. Taking both a practice ACT and a practice SAT can help your student determine if one test is a better fit for them.

Practice tests, when done regularly during test preparation, can help with the following:

  1. Build stamina for the 3+ hour exam. Practice tests can help the student prepare for the challenges of maintaining focus, concentration, and stamina for a multiple hour test.
  1. Effectively manage pressure. Practice exams give your student helpful experience dealing with the stress they will encounter in an actual exam environment and the opportunity to practice responding to that stress in a productive way.
  2. Improve comfort and confidence. There’s nothing quite like taking a practice test to understand how things will unfold on the real test day. The more familiar one is with a stressful situation, the less stressed that person will feel in the “live” situation.
  3. Find out how you’d do on a real ACT or SAT. Results on practice tests correlate very well to actual test performance, usually to within a point or two of the student’s actual ACT score and within 50 to 70 points on the SAT.
  4. Measure progress. By taking a practice test every 3-4 weeks, students and their instructors can make modifications to their prep program, continually adjusting to accommodate newfound areas of strength and/or lingering areas of weakness.

Register for a practice test now by clicking here.

Q: How many times should my student plan to take the ACT or SAT?

Through our 14 years of tutoring and test prep experience, Flying Colors has learned a lot. One thing we know: fewer than 10% of students can take an ACT or SAT just once and earn the score they want. Most students will need to test two to three times over the course of junior and early senior year.

A good rule of thumb for testing and test prep: begin the testing and test prep process in the summer before junior year. Most students have acquired all the academic knowledge they need by the end of sophomore year. The lone exception is math, where having completed algebra II is an important criterion to success on the ACT or SAT math section.

In short, if your student has completed algebra II and some trigonometry by the end of sophomore year, they are ready to prep for the ACT and SAT in the summer before junior year. If they will only be taking algebra II in their junior year, planning to take a first ACT or SAT in the second semester of junior year can be a wise consideration.

If students begin the prep process in the summer before their junior year, most are ready to test in the fall of their junior year.

FC recommends testing once in the first semester of junior year, a second time in the spring of junior year and then, as needed, in the early fall of senior year.

In our experience, testing 2-3 times over junior and senior years puts a student in the best position to maximize their test scores.

Q: My student is already busy and stressed. Will test preparation just make it worse?

Flying Colors recognizes that junior year, the time when most students need to prepare for their standardized tests, is also a critical year for academic success. We have always recommended that in addition to the school year, students should also take advantage of the summer to do prep.

During the summer, we typically offer 7-8 weeks of private instruction and meet with students two times per week. During the school year, however, we fall back to meeting just one time per week for 10-12 weeks as we honor the fact that great grades – along with strong test scores – will be key to student success when applying to colleges

Q: What is considered a “good” ACT or SAT test score?

In today’s day and age, perhaps a better question would be what is a helpful test score in the context of your student’s individual situation? To us, a helpful test score is a score that a student a) can use when she applies to the colleges of her choice and b) can help to distinguish the student from others who have a similar GPA.

If a test score can place the student in the top 25% of applicants at a given school, then the student should definitely use that score when applying. If the score can place the student in top 50% of applicants at a given school, then the student should seriously consider using her score.

If the student feels that her test score provides a good indication of how well she can test, then the student should submit that score!

Q: Does Flying Colors offer online or virtual instruction?

Yes, we do. At Flying Colors, we strongly believe in the benefits of in-person instruction, including fewer distractions, improved accountability, and a better opportunity to develop a warm, supportive relationship with the instructors. But we also understand families and students can be extraordinarily busy. For them, online instruction just makes the most sense. Therefore, our instructors are also available via Zoom or Google Meet for families who prefer online instruction.

For students outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro Area, Flying Colors’ 50+ instructors are available to meet online. Flying Colors has provided instruction to students all over the United States, as well as a variety of countries in Europe, Africa and South America. For more information, please contact Ron Michalak at 612-216-5133 or [email protected].

Q: How do I pay my bill?

We bill once a month, typically on the 3rd, for lessons completed the prior month. The first invoice will include details on each lesson completed, plus the one-time fee for testing and materials.

On the day we send invoices, you’ll receive an email from QuickBooks ([email protected]) that includes the total amount due along with a button that reads “Review and Pay”. You can click that button to see invoice detail and to make payments. All credit cards are accepted as are personal checks. Payment is due at the time the invoice is received.

In the event you do not receive your invoice, please email Jill Brown, Flying Colors’ controller, at [email protected].

Q: What makes Flying Colors’ academic tutoring different?

With a team of nearly 50 instructors across the Twin Cities Metro Area, Flying Colors offers academic support for all high school math and science classes, plus most literature, history and writing classes. Unlike other kinds of tutoring that are more prescriptively designed, academic tutoring with us offers families the flexibility to create an academic support program tailored to the student’s needs.

Whether your student needs an intensive short-term program to catch up on some key missed concepts or a longer-term program to help reinforce learnings on a regular basis, we have you covered.

Is your student’s goal to ace a class? To gain mastery over key material? To improve their GPA? Or does your student simply want to make their way through a class with less struggle and stress? We can help with one homework assignment, with prep for finals or support for the entire semester. Whatever your student needs, Flying Colors can make it happen!

Tell us what your student needs. We’ll take care of the rest.