Got an 1540/1600 on the SAT and a full score on the PSAT. I’m now in college on a National Merit Scholarship because of my PSAT score. Today, it’s even easier

Got an 1540/1600 on the SAT and a full score on the PSAT. I’m now in college on a National Merit Scholarship because of my PSAT score. Today, it’s even easier to study for the SAT. Khan Academy offers free, official prep to every single student and 8 official practice exams to take. I also used free practice tests made by other companies to study, too. The only purchase I made for SAT prep was a $20 book from Kaplan that had 1000 practice questions and helpful (guessing) strategies. The test nowadays seems to be a socioeconomic equalizer-those who can’t afford a book or a computer can always go to the public library and get the same resources. The only real reason anyone would pay for test prep classes is because it forces you to practice at regular intervals. Test prep classes also help students revise material that they may have been rusty on, which again you could do online nowadays. That’s why things like the Collegeboard adversity score seem absurd to me. Anyone, really, can afford to do well on the SAT. Now, of course, the actual educational value of the test is another question altogether.