Parents: Cheap Ways to Prepare Your Child for the SAT

If you are a parent, you want your child to do well in school. You want them to attend a good college, get a decent education, and get a job in a profitable career field. There are many ways that your child can do this, but the SAT test plays an important role. Colleges use these scores to determine eligibility and some employers review scores when a good applicant does not have any relevant job experience.

So, as a parent you sign your child up for the SAT and pay for the test. Unfortunately, if you are operating on a budget, that may be the only expense you can afford. What if your child wants to prepare for the SAT with an expensive tutor or study class? Of course, you want them to do well on the test, but what if you cannot afford these expensive forms of preparation? There is good news. There are many cheap ways that you can help your child prepare for the SAT. How?

Be their tutor. Right about now, you may be thinking “but it has been years since I have been in school.” Yes, it has been, but it is much easier than you think to help. You have a wide range of information at your fingertips, much of which is 100% free. For starters, turn to the internet. You can find many free study tips, practice test questions, vocabulary lists, and more. Moreover, the information your child is tested on is information they learned in school. The SAT Reasoning Test focuses on English and math. Review your child’s schoolbooks and notes. You are now up-to-date on the subjects. You can help them study at home and for free.

Speaking of helping your child study for the SAT, what can you do? You can print practice SAT tests. These practice tests are easy to find. In fact, you can find them right on the Official SAT website, operated by the College Board. Print the practice tests and let your child do them. You can score the tests together. Most websites not only give you the answers to these tests, but detailed reasoning behind the answers too. Each question your child gets wrong, mark it to return. Focus on that question and other similar ones for improvement.

Another good idea is to make homemade study flashcards. All you need is a pack of index cards, which are available for sale at most dollar stores. Comb through your child’s school notes or use the internet to find vocabulary words and grammar questions. These questions are easy to put on a blank flash card. Write the question or word on the front and the answer on the back. The math portion of the test is a little bit harder to study this way. What you can do is review a practice SAT test. In the book, you will find common math formulas. These formulas will be written in your child’s test book. Although they gain access to these formulas, they still need to know when and how to use them. Create flashcards asking these questions.

With the troubling economy right now, many parents are wondering how they can cheaply prepare their child for the SAT. For that reason, some schools have free or cheap test prep classes, which usually take place after school. If your school district does not offer these review classes, ask. In fact, you may find a teacher who is willing to help your child study for the SAT on his or her own time, before or after school. Honestly, it won’t hurt to ask.

In short, there are many easy and cheap ways that you can help your child prepare for the SAT. Remember this test is an important one for your child. If you cannot afford an expensive study guide or paid tutor, use the above mentioned approaches. By taking the time to help your child prepare for the SAT, you spend less money while still ensuring they do well.