Which High School Classes Prepare You for the SAT/ACT?
If you’ve ever read another page on our site, or thumbed through one of our test prep books, you know that standardized tests are coachable exams that you can crack through practice and mastering simple strategies.
The folks who make the tests would disagree with us, of course—their goal is to try to test what you’ve learned in high school and predict your potential for success in college. By the time you sit down to start learning those invaluable test-taking tips and tricks (likely your junior year), you’ve probably already taken the classes that you’ll need to ace the SAT or ACT. So, what are they, exactly
ACT
SECTION | TOPICS | COURSES |
English |
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English/language arts. You probably covered grammar basics in middle school, if not earlier! |
Math |
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Geometry, algebra II. Don’t sweat if you haven’t taken trig—most people don’t until senior year. |
Reading |
|
English/language arts. If you’ve ever written a book report, you’ve got this section on lock. |
Science | Understanding and inferring information from:
|
No scientific knowledge is necessary for this section, but you probably acquired the necessary analytical skills in biology and/or chemistry. |
Current SAT
SECTION | TOPICS | COURSES |
Critical Reading |
|
English/language arts. Think of it like an open-book pop quiz on last night's reading assignment. |
Writing Skills |
|
While the reading comprehension skills you’ve developed in your requiredEnglish/language arts can help you understand context clues for sentence completion, this section is famous for using obscure or uncommon words, so build on your basic competencies with a little flash card fun. |
Math |
|
Geometry, algebra II |
Essay |
|
By the time you finish 10th grade English, you’ve probably got the writing skills you need. You can often draw on major events covered in U.S. or World History for supporting evidence, and current events work too! |
New SAT
SECTION | TOPICS | COURSES |
Reading |
|
10th grade English. While the passages on the new SAT will require close attention and focus, you’ve been building your reading comprehension skills since you started school back in first grade. |
Writing and Language Test |
|
Like reading comprehension, you’ve been building vocabulary and grammar skills cumulatively in English/language arts and other classes. Practice questions will help you apply these skills in this context. |
Math |
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Geometry and algebra II are important prep for this section, and we strongly recommend brushing up on the basic principles ofalgebra as well—a strong handle on foundational concepts will make it easier to break down complex problems. |
Essay |
|
You most likely learned how to write this type of analysis in 10th grade English or social studies. |
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