Soon, your child might be taking one of the most important tests of their lives. As a parent, you naturally want to help them ace the SAT (or at least get a passing grade) so they can enter into a good college. You might spend the entire day thinking about what you can do to help but have ended up being unproductive.

Take a deep breath! In this post, we share with you the ways you can find the best SAT material to help your child ace the test.

1. Check the Internet

The Internet is a gold mine of online programs for SAT takers, but always remember that your child does not have all the time in the world to go through all of them. It’s best to be picky and to choose an SAT program like PrepScholar SAT courses, which will pinpoint your child’s strengths, and the weaknesses they have to work on. Choose a program that motivates your child, not one that coddles them. Inspire them and not make them lazy. In short, sign them up for that one program that already covers everything and has been proven to be effective.

2. Spend Time in a Bookstore or Go to a Public Library

If there’s anywhere you have to be to score good SAT material, it’s the bookstore or the public library. This is where you are bound to find prep books that will assess what your child already knows and doesn’t.

These tests are important because they will give your child an idea of what the SAT makers actually want them to learn. Your child can also get a feel of how taking the SAT would be, allowing them to precondition their mind before actually going to “war.” Remember that the SAT is not only about your child knowing their world history or Math; it’s also about them knowing how to cope with the mental stress of having to answer difficult questions for hours on end.

Check out the reference books section, and spend some time going through the books you think your child will easily understand. You can go to other specialized sections and browse through those, too.

Here is a list of subjects you should cover with the books you purchase and borrow:

• Literature
• US History
• World History
• Mathematics
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Foreign Language: Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Spanish, Italian, German or Modern Hebrew

This is not to say that you have to limit yourself to these subjects alone. The more subjects you can cover, the better.

3. Talk to Other Parents

There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking for tips from other parents who have already gone through the grueling process of helping their child prepare for the SAT. If we go by the saying that experience is the best teacher, these types of parents, then, are the best teachers for you. Go ahead and call your friend whose daughter passed the SAT with flying colors, and ask for titles of books she got to help her prepare. Or maybe host a lunch meeting for the “experienced” and “not-so-experienced” parents so you can get each other’s recommendations for other SAT material. You may have to invest a little time and even money to organize this last one, but once you have that list for your child, you’ll feel like everything was worth it.

Below is a list of questions you can ask fellow parents:

• What SAT materials did you get your child? Where can I get them?
• Did you enroll your child in an SAT prep course? If so, where?
• How did you help your child study? Did you implement a strict study plan, or simply allowed them to go at their own pace?

Conclusion

The SAT is arguably one of the most important tests your child will take. It will, after all, determine which colleges they can go to. But the process of preparing does not have to be as cumbersome for your child. As a parent, you can do your part by making it as easy for them as possible. Get the best materials and courses so they don’t have to spend precious time they could to studying instead. Also, make their environment as conducive to learning as possible. If they want a change of scenery while studying, you can help them design the perfect outdoor reading nook.

Those are only some of the many ways you can help as a parent. If you do your part and your child does theirs, there’s no reason they won’t ace that test.