College Planning

Hitting the submit button on your college applications typically leads to feelings of great accomplishment and relief. However, before you put your feet up and relax, you need to make sure you’ve taken care of a few key items to solidify the process. It’s crucial to review each college’s website so that you know exactly what else needs to be submitted to complete your “application file”. Here’s an overview of what to do after you submit a college application to ensure you’re on the right track. Step 1 – Send Your Official Transcripts Official transcripts must be sent from your high school to each college you are applying to.  This may be done electronically through a transcript service such as parchment or manually through your school’s counseling office.  Check with your high school co...

The free-response section is the hardest part of any AP test. Although AP Human Geography is much more straightforward than some other humanities AP exams, if you don't have your stuff down, the free-response section can still hit you where it hurts. In this article, we'll go through the structure of the free-response section, some helpful tips for answering AP Human Geography FRQs, examples of what these free-response questions look like, and a few places where you can find the best practice materials.   AP Human Geography Free Response Section Format There are three questions on the free-response section, each worth 7 raw points. You'll get one hour and 15 minutes to answer all three questions, or about 25 minutes per question. Your free-response score accounts for half your AP Hum...

When you're studying for your AP Literature Exam, you're going to want to use practice tests and questions to hone your skills. But where can you find AP literature practice tests? And are all practice exams equally useful for you?  The real exam has 55 multiple-choice questions and three free-response questions, but there are practice tests with every conceivable number and combination of question types. In this article, you'll learn where to find every official College Board AP English Literature and Composition practice exam, free unofficial tests, and paid practice test resources. You'll also find out which tests are high-quality and how you can best use different practice exams to fulfill your studying needs.   Official Free AP Literature Practice Tests The gold standard of AP E...

After canceling their summer residential programs in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, Duke has officially announced that they’ve permanently canceled the Duke TIP program. Instead, they’ve replaced it with the new Duke high school pre-college program for high school students! With all the changes to the Duke TIP program, there’s a lot to know about how Duke’s Pre-College programs have (and haven’t!) changed. We’ll go over everything you need to know, including:  The differences between the new Duke Pre-College Programs and the Duke TIP Things to consider if you’re thinking about participating in Duke’s Pre-College Programs for high schoolers  The details of the Duke Pre-College Program for 2022, including how to apply  Tips for creating an awesome Pre-College Program application ...

The wait for PSAT results can be nerve-wracking. It's likely your first time taking an SAT-like test, and the PSAT can give you a sense of what range your final SAT score is likely to be. Plus, if you score high enough, there's a lot of potential scholarship money available. So when is the wait over? When are PSAT scores released? In this guide, we explain when you'll get your PSAT results, walk you through the complete PSAT timeline, and offer some suggestions on what to do once you have your scores. (more…)

My last several articles have been all about the lovely families and students that we have the pleasure of working with side by side during their college planning journey. I would strongly suggest checking those out to learn more about what our professionals here at College Planning Experts offer to our clients. You can read those, here, on our blog. This week, I wanted to highlight a different kind of special guest. A little bit ago, I was able to sit down with a local college counselor who has been in practice for nearly 20 years. Her name is Lynda McGee. She has worked as a college counselor in a local magnet school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. If you would like to watch the full 60 minutes with Lynda, you ca...

Are you taking AP classes in high school and want to know if you'll be able to get college credit for them? It's not always possible to get college credit from AP classes, but many high school students do. How can you be one of them? Read this guide to find out! We'll walk you through the process and answer all the key questions such as, "How many college credits is an AP class worth?" "Are AP classes college credit?" and "How many college credits is AP world history?" Let's get started! Do AP Classes Count as College Credit? If you take one or more AP classes in high school and do well on the exam, can you get college credit? Yes! The possibility of earning college credit is a major benefit of taking AP classes. Advanced Placement is a program run by the College Board (the makers of the...

The #1 question I get from the parents that I work with is this: How on earth are we going to pay for college? Here’s what most parents know about the cost of college: It has become way more expensive now compared to back in the day when they were applying to schools. It has become similar to buying a house, really.   However, not a lot of parents fully understand how colleges determine that huge sticker number. Even fewer parents know how to successfully plan for college and strategize correctly to receive the best financial aid package for their specific needs.   So, today let’s break down what families are really paying when we send our kids to college and how to start planning to increase your chances of making college a...

Need some free resources to help you prepare for the AP World History exam? This complete collection of AP World History practice tests offers tons of links to free multiple-choice questions, free-response questions, and even a full-length practice test. Read on to learn how to use these resources and get links to hundreds of AP World History practice questions.   Important Note on the Recent AP World History Revision Since the AP World History exam has undergone extensive revisions in recent years, most notably for the 2019-2020 school year (it's now called World History: Modern and focuses exclusively on a much shorter period of time: 1200 CE to the present), there unfortunately are not many updated practice resources—official or unofficial—available for it. Other than the scope of co...

Don't you wish you could find out how you scored on the SAT right after you finish taking the test? Or maybe you'd like to forget all about it and pretend it never happened (better luck next time)! Either way, your wait time for your SAT scores will be the same: somewhere between two and six weeks. This article fills you in on all the details of SAT score reporting and offers some advice for what to do once you get your scores.   When Do You Get Your SAT Scores? How long does it take to get SAT scores back? It's a good question, and one that's on everybody's minds after the exam. SAT multiple-choice scores are released 13 days after you take the SAT. (One exception is the June test date, which typically has a score release date about five weeks after the test.) After years of having ...

  I have a story for you. Two of my close friends recently sent their kids to college back in the 2018 fall semester. This was the first kid either of them was about to put through college so it was an important milestone for both parent and child.   They dropped off their teenager’s suitcase, helped set up the dorm room and then waved goodbye to their little kid, all grown up now and at the very beginning of their new adult life.   Now, both of my friends are well aware of what I do for a living so they each told me about their experience with the whole college process.   One of my friends, let’s call him John for the sake of privacy, is very happy with where his child is going to school. His kid got into her dream school and...

One of the best ways to prepare for the DBQ (the "document-based question" on the AP European History, AP US History, and AP World History exams) is to look over sample questions and example essays. Doing this will help you to get a sense of what makes a good (and what makes a bad) DBQ response. That said, not all DBQ essay examples are created equal. We'll briefly cover what makes a good DBQ example and then provide a list of example essays by course. Lastly, we'll give you some helpful tips on how to best use sample essays in your own preparation process. What's a Good DBQ Example? Without a doubt, the best sample resources come from the College Board. This is because they are the ones who design and administer the AP exams. This means the following: Any DBQ essay example that th...

A critical part of the college search process is creating an excellent list of colleges, which often includes reach, target and safety schools. Families often slip badly on this extremely important yet tricky task of pulling together a solid college list. If a teenager creates a problematic list, parents can easily pay too much money for college. One of the key issues when creating a solid college list is to understand the definition of these terms: High school counselors commonly recommend that students apply to all three types of schools. This, however, can be a more costly move in many cases. First, let’s break down what each is. Reach schools Definition: Reach schools represent colleges and universities where students have a low chance of gaining admission. The most well-known of the ...

The SAT is offered seven times a year, but which SAT test dates will work best for you and your schedule? What essential factors should you consider before creating an SAT schedule? What are the best SAT dates for juniors? For seniors? In this comprehensive guide, we offer you the most current info on SAT test dates (domestic and international) for 2022-2023. We also give you our top tips for choosing the best SAT test dates for you as well as tons of resources to help you navigate the complicated web of SAT/ACT test dates.   SAT Dates and Deadlines 2022-2023 In general, the College Board administers the SAT on Saturdays, with more tests offered in the fall. If you can't take the test on a Saturday for religious or other reasons, Sunday alternate dates are usually available. Below, we gi...

getty One needs simply to turn on the news to realize that we are a world divided. But what if, instead of a battlefield, the world was a schoolhouse? This is Khan Academy founder Sal Khan’s vision, and his latest education endeavor seeks to “connect the world through learning.” When a high school student in Oklahoma can offer free tutoring to an adult from Guatemala in calculus, or a professor in India can tutor a middle school student in Alabama in statistics, an enduring bond is formed that pushes aside politics and forgoes fences. The universality and interrelatedness of collaborative learning transcend the myriad of issues that polarize us. It is what Khan describes as an “unambiguous good.” Oh, and an added bonus is that it just might help you get into college. W...