Introducing FreeTestPrep.com

We have been working hard behind the scenes over the past several months, and we are excited to finally introduce freetestprep.com — a completely free test prep site for students preparing for the SAT, ACT, and AP exams.

One of the most common questions we hear from families is what students should be doing between tutoring sessions. Along with prep books like the Barron’s SAT and ACT guides, freetestprep.com is a resource we are happy to point students toward. It is especially useful for students who want free, targeted online practice without having to dig through a full prep book. No login, no subscription — just free practice.

SAT Practice Drills

The SAT is now fully digital, and our SAT drill hub is built around the current format. We have 80 SAT drills covering both the Math and Reading & Writing sections. The idea behind the drills is simple: students improve faster by targeting specific weak areas than by taking full-length practice tests over and over. Browse our SAT Math drills and SAT Reading & Writing drills from the hub pages.

ACT Practice Drills

The ACT remains especially popular in Ohio and across the Midwest, and our ACT drill hub reflects that. We have 79 ACT drills spanning all four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Students who are losing points on ACT Science data interpretation or ACT English grammar questions will find a lot of useful targeted practice here. Check out our dedicated pages for ACT English, ACT Math, ACT Reading, and ACT Science.

AP Exam Practice Drills

One thing that sets freetestprep.com apart is its AP exam content. We currently offer 127 AP drills across four subjects: 30 each for AP U.S. History, AP World History, and AP English Language, plus 37 drills for AP Biology. AP prep is an area where many of our students need extra practice outside of class, and we plan to keep adding more subjects in the months ahead.

Flashcards and Grammar Tools

In addition to drills, freetestprep.com features several interactive study tools. Our SAT Vocabulary Flashcards are a convenient way for students to build the academic vocabulary that shows up repeatedly on the digital SAT. We also have comprehensive SAT Grammar Rules and ACT Grammar Rules pages that lay out the most commonly tested grammar concepts in a clear, student-friendly format. These are great resources to review before tackling the English and Writing sections.

The freetestprep.com Blog

We are also regularly publishing new articles on the freetestprep.com blog covering SAT and ACT strategy, test dates, score reporting, and more. If you have found the BWS blog helpful over the years, you will want to bookmark the freetestprep.com blog as well — it covers similar topics with a stronger focus on drill-based skill building.

Free Practice, Premium Tutoring

freetestprep.com is designed to complement — not replace — the personalized instruction that BWS students receive. Drills and reference tools are great for reinforcing what you have already learned in a session. But the biggest score gains we see come from one-on-one tutoring, where we can pinpoint exactly where a student is losing points and build a plan around that. If you are interested in working with one of our tutors, please register on the homepage.

We will be adding new content to freetestprep.com on a regular basis, so it is worth bookmarking. Head over and take a look — everything on the site is completely free, and no login is required.

Desmos Calculator Now Available on the Online ACT Test

The ACT just announced that the powerful Desmos Calculator will be embedded into the online version of the ACT test starting with the December online ACT. Please check out our Online ACT Desmos Guide for several tips and tricks that will help you make the most of this resource.

In addition to the built-in calculator, be sure to use a hand-held graphing calculator when you take the ACT. It remains to be seen how much having the built-in Desmos calculator will make a difference for students who do the online version of the test. Until we have more conclusive information from test-takers and released tests, it is best to be prepared!

Free ACT & SAT Help Sessions

BWS Education Consulting President Brian Stewart will be presenting several free ACT and SAT help sessions in partnership with the Columbus Public Library. This is an excellent learning opportunity for students who cannot afford private SAT and ACT tutoring. The dates/times and Zoom links are as follows:

 Tuesday, 9/9/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88548883607

Wednesday, 9/24/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87266704850

Tuesday, 10/7/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86104536582

Wednesday, 10/22/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87266704850

Tuesday, 11/4/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86104536582

Wednesday, 11/19/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81892662775

Tuesday, 12/2/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86104536582

Wednesday, 12/10/25 4-4:45 p.m. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81677503799

Preparation Material for the New, Enhanced ACT

The ACT has just released a free “Preparing for the ACT” booklet that models the new format that students taking the paper ACT in September will see. Here is a link to it:

Preparing for the ACT 2025-26 Booklet

Students will notice that the English questions all have prompts, the Math section no longer has sets of questions on a common table or chart, the Reading section has four fewer questions, and the Science consistently has seven passages. In addition to this free preparation book, the ACT has made four tests available in the new paper-based format in their new Official ACT Prep Guide. Note that one of the tests in the Official ACT Prep Guide is the same as the one in the Preparing for the ACT booklet.

We have also created four tests that you can use to practice the enhanced ACT format:

Practice ACT English Test
 
Practice ACT Math Test
 
Practice ACT Reading Test
 
Practice ACT Science Test

More preparation material from other authors will be forthcoming now that the ACT has publicized their practice tests. I have been hard at work on the new Barron’s ACT book that will have six practice tests modeled on the enhanced ACT test format–this book will be released in January of 2026.

–Brian Stewart

Ohio State University will require ACT and SAT Scores

In a major announcement, The Ohio State University has decided to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirements for applicants to the main Columbus campus in the 2026 application cycle. In addition, Ohio State will now “superscore” the ACT and SAT–they will take the best section score over multiple test attempts. Ohio State had been one of the major schools that many of our students had to plan on submitting a single test score. It appears that students applying to the Ohio State branch campuses will still have the option to submit their SAT or ACT scores.

As Ohio State has become more and more selective, this shift to test-required should not come as a surprise. It will be interesting to see if other Big Ten schools like Michigan, Indiana, Penn State, and other follow Ohio State’s lead.

New Practice SAT Tests from College Board Coming in February

The College Board just announced that they will be changing three of their SAT practice tests and adding a full new SAT practice test.

  • SAT Tests 1-3 on Bluebook will be removed.
  • SAT Tests 4-6 will remain.
  • A brand new SAT Test 7 practice test will be available.
  • Tests 8-10 will incorporate material from the previous tests 1-3 along with new material.

Further details about this change are available here:

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/practice/practice-tests/bluebook

Over the course of 2024, the content of the SAT tests on Bluebook has changed as the College Board has had opportunities to refine the tests based on actual student performance. Once these changes are in place, students can have more confidence that the scores they receive on their Bluebook tests will be fair representations of how they will perform on the actual SAT.

These “growing pains” are to be expected with a major test revision. The last time the College Board made a major change to the SAT in 2016, a couple of the first practice tests they released were far more difficult than the actual tests. They updated their materials accordingly and removed tests 2 and 4 from their website and book.

Students preparing for the March SAT should use tests 4-6 for practice for now. Rather than using tests 1-3 at this time, students should wait until tests 7-10 are available so that they don’t practice with questions that will be incorporated into the updated tests.

Changes to the ACT in 2025

In response to the shorter, digital version of the SAT, the ACT announced that they too will be modifying their test.  The two major problems students have with the ACT are (1) it takes too long to complete a full test and (2) they often do not have enough time to answer all the questions.  These changes will tackle these concerns, making the ACT much more competitive with the SAT. 

Here is what we know for sure about the new ACT:

  • The ACT will be about an hour shorter (2 hours of testing instead of 3) thanks to making the sections shorter and making the Science section optional.
  • Composite scores (still given from 1-36 points) will be an average of just the English, Math, and Reading sections.
  • Students will have more time per question.
  • The ACT will continue to offer both paper and digital versions of the test.
  • According to ACT, the changes “will roll out starting with National online testing in spring 2025 and then for school-day testing in spring 2026.”

What do we need to find out about the new ACT?

  • What is the precise design of the updated ACT test?  If it is consistent with the format of the test used in a research study in June of this year, it will likely have these parameters:
    • English:  35 minutes, 50 questions, 5 or 10 questions on each passage
    • Math:  50 minutes, 45 questions
    • Reading:  40 minutes, 36 questions, 9 questions on each passage
    • Optional Science:  45 minutes, 36 questions
  • What sort of ACT practice materials will be provided?  When the SAT changed its format, it made four brand new SAT practice tests available to students prior to the first administered test.  Since the ACT does not routinely make significant updates to its structure, it is unclear how much material they will make available prior to the first test. 
  • When will the switch for the national paper ACTs take place?  The announcement from ACT does not make this clear, only referring to the national online testing.  The switch to the newer format on the national paper tests won’t happen before February of 2025, but it could happen sometime during 2025 or even early 2026.  We will have to wait and see. 
  • How will colleges use ACT scores?  Our best guess is that the ACT composite score with just the English, Math, and Reading sections will be sufficient.  However, students who want to demonstrate their competency for science-related majors may be well-served by doing the ACT science. 

What should students do about the new ACT? 

  • Rising seniors in the class of 2025 do not need to do anything.  These changes will go into effect after college applications have been submitted. 
  • Rising juniors in the class of 2026 may want to try the paper ACT before it goes away; they can also try the updated ACT when it is convenient do so.  When the SAT changed to its digital format, many students took advantage of trying both the paper SAT before it went away and the newer digital SAT.  It is highly likely that colleges will accept scores from either the newer ACT or the current ACT.  When students prepare for the new ACT, they will likely be able to use existing practice materials; they can try working through them at a slightly slower pace to reflect the more generous time constraints on the new ACT. 
  • Underclassmen—classes of 2027 and later—may want to wait to begin focused preparation on the ACT until there is more information available.  If a highly motivated sophomore wants to take the longer ACT before it goes away, they might go ahead and give it a try. 

Please reach out to us with questions you may have about these major changes to the ACT and how they affect your testing plans.    

In a Major Reversal, Harvard Will Again Require ACT and SAT Scores

Following a wave of other prestigious colleges–Brown, Dartmouth, Yale– that have changed from test optional to test required, Harvard University announced today that they will again require standardized test scores for undergraduate admissions:

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/4/11/harvard-sat-act-admissions-requirement/

This shift is especially notable because Harvard had previously stated that they would remain test optional up through applicants for the Harvard graduating class of 2030.

Why this change? First, “Harvard has found that SAT and ACT scores are  the best predictors of Harvard grades.” This comes as no surprise in light of increasing grade inflation at U.S. high schools. According to Inside Higher Ed, “the proportion of students with A averages (including A-minus and A-plus) increased from 38.9 percent of the graduating class of 1998 to 47 percent of the graduating class of 2016.” If most applicants are getting A’s, colleges need another way to differentiate among applicants–hence, the need for standardized test scores.

Second, many students have mistakenly been told that unless they get ACT scores in the high 30s or SAT scores above 1500, they have no business applying to selective schools. Harvard wants to encourage students to submit scores who fall below this range, sharing that “in the last year that Harvard required testing, the range (10th percentile to 90th percentile) of SAT scores for enrolling students was 670 to 790 for Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and 680 to 800 for Math.  The range (10th percentile to 90th percentile) of ACT Composite scores was 31 to 36.” Harvard applicants who score in the in the high 1300s on the SAT and low 30s on the ACT should definitely considering submitting their scores based on this data.

Most college admissions officials to whom I have spoken have said that students are typically well-advised to submit their test scores if they are at least at the 25th percentile for admitted students. Now that standardized testing is widely available, unlike during the Covid pandemic, applicants should be aware that if they decline to submit their test scores to a college, they are effectively signaling that their scores are less than the 25th percentile for admitted students. Students can find the 25th percentile scores for colleges by searching the Big Future website.

The bottom line–in order to differentiate yourself in an increasingly competitive admissions environment, ACT and SAT scores should not longer be considered optional.

–Brian W. Stewart

General ACT and SAT Test-Taking Tips

  1. Schedule your test well in advance, and try to select a site that is connected to a high school. Sites that are not connected to high schools have less accountability to the students and tend to be more likely to cancel tests at the last moment. Taking the test at your high school is generally best. If your school isn’t a testing center, consider asking the administration why that is.
  2. Make sure to read your emails! The ACT and SAT will both email you occasionally with important information. It might be a reminder to upload your picture (which you can’t take the ACT without). It might be an update to your testing location (so you show up at the right place). It might be the notification to set up your SAT prior to arriving at your test center (you can’t do it once you arrive). Many students ignore these emails and then have big problems on test day.
  3. Have a regular schedule for practice and tutoring. Having a scheduled time in your week to practice or meet with a tutor will provide better results than intermittent or random practice squeezed into any free spot.
  4. Practice like you play. When doing practice at home, make sure you are giving it your all and treating it like test day. Practicing while lounging on the couch, eating a snack, and intermittently texting a friend will be far less effective than sitting at a desk or table, timing yourself, and focusing without interruption.
  5. Practice what you’re good at too. A lot of students make the mistake of only focusing on their weaknesses. It is often easy to improve what you’re already good at, so don’t forget to put effort into each section of your test.
  6. Don’t cut yourself slack. It’s very tempting to ignore small mistakes. “Oh, it was just a silly slip up” is easy to say. Small mistakes lead to wrong answers, just like big mistakes do, so treat a small mistake just as seriously as a big one. Identify why that small mistake happened and work towards eliminating what caused it.
  7. Sleep. High school students generally need over 8 hours of sleep each night. Just because you can exist on less doesn’t mean that is ideal. Best brain function occurs when students are well rested the week or two prior to the test. Start practicing healthy sleep habits today.