Let’s face it. Those students who have some sort of test prep prior to taking the SAT and/or ACT tend to do better. There are always those Type A parents that shell out hundreds and thousands of dollars to get their teens ready for test day. Those programs are available to anyone, but what about the rest of us who can’t afford that added expense because we’re scraping together all our extra pennies saving for college?

Since preparation ALWAYS pays off, here’s some good news on how your teen can do some summer test prep on a limited budget:

• Check out the SAT and ACT official websites. They have free resources that your teen can use from sample essays, to practice tests, and the SAT question of the day. Signing up for this free email is a great way for your teen to get acquainted with the types of questions on the SAT test.
• Use the resources available at the library. Many libraries offer FREE prep courses. In addition, you can check out practice tests books.
• Check out The Princeton Review online. They offer all kinds of FREE practice tools and are offering a NEW SAT Vocabulary challenge for $4.99 for the IPhone and the ITouch.
• Check out test prep companies in your area. Many of them offer FREE, no obligation tests for students.

If you encourage your teen to take advantage of these preparation tools during the summer, they will be less stressed and more prepared when test day rolls around in the fall.