Official Updates About ACT/SAT Testing (March 2020)
The best source for official updates regarding ACT and SAT is the test publishers' own websites. For announcements about updates, postponements, and cancellations, visit:
SENIORS - See the special announcement on our COVID-19 College & Career Resources page. It's from the University System of Georgia, and describes allowances made on testing requirements for admission to Georgia public 4-year colleges. These allowances will be made in light of school closures and recent/near-future ACT/SAT cancellations due to the pandemic.
Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors - Carry on with your ACT/SAT plans as applicable to your college readiness plans. As of yet, testing will resume in the summer. Continue below for the test registration info, free customized test prep, and more!
SENIORS - See the special announcement on our COVID-19 College & Career Resources page. It's from the University System of Georgia, and describes allowances made on testing requirements for admission to Georgia public 4-year colleges. These allowances will be made in light of school closures and recent/near-future ACT/SAT cancellations due to the pandemic.
Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors - Carry on with your ACT/SAT plans as applicable to your college readiness plans. As of yet, testing will resume in the summer. Continue below for the test registration info, free customized test prep, and more!
General Info About College Entrance Exams
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This reference sheet contains much of what you see below, with the addition of ACT & SAT's test calendars and answers to common questions about these college entrance exams.
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ACT Resources
Visit www.actstudent.org to set up a student account and/or register for the ACT.
ACT test dates and registration deadlines can be found here.
Cost: $50.50 ACT without Writing, $67 ACT with Writing (contact counselor if eligible for fee waivers)
Closest test center: Southeast High School (test center code 190970)
Target scores for Dual Enrollment: GNTC – English 16, Reading 17, Math 19; DSC - English 19, Math 21, Comp. 20
Target score for Zell Miller Scholarship: Composite score of 26 (visit GA Futures or our College Financial Aid page for more Zell Scholarship info)
ACT Test Prep
General ACT prep resources can be found at ACT's Test Preparation page.
ACT's free, official, customized practice tool can be found at ACT Academy. Once registered, you can enter your scores from an ACT score report or take a diagnostic/practice test. Then, ACT Academy will do the heavy lifting to customize your study plan!
ACT test dates and registration deadlines can be found here.
Cost: $50.50 ACT without Writing, $67 ACT with Writing (contact counselor if eligible for fee waivers)
Closest test center: Southeast High School (test center code 190970)
Target scores for Dual Enrollment: GNTC – English 16, Reading 17, Math 19; DSC - English 19, Math 21, Comp. 20
Target score for Zell Miller Scholarship: Composite score of 26 (visit GA Futures or our College Financial Aid page for more Zell Scholarship info)
ACT Test Prep
General ACT prep resources can be found at ACT's Test Preparation page.
ACT's free, official, customized practice tool can be found at ACT Academy. Once registered, you can enter your scores from an ACT score report or take a diagnostic/practice test. Then, ACT Academy will do the heavy lifting to customize your study plan!
SAT Resources
Visit sat.collegeboard.org to set up a student account and/or register for the SAT.
SAT test dates and registration deadlines can be found here.
Cost: $47.50 SAT, $64.50 SAT with Essay (contact counselor if eligible for fee waivers)
Closest test center: North Murray High School (test center code 11607)
Target scores for Dual Enrollment: GNTC – Reading 25, Math 24; DSC – Reading 25, Math 530, Combined 970 after converting Reading and Math scores to old SAT scale and adding them
Target score for Zell Miller Scholarship: Combined score of 1200 (visit GA Futures or our College Financial Aid page for more Zell Scholarship info)
SAT Test Prep
General SAT prep resources can be found at the SAT Practice page.
SAT's free, official, customized practice tool can be found at the Khan Academy Official SAT Practice page. Once registered on Khan Academy, you can link your Khan Academy account to your College Board account. This will allow Khan Academy to use your previous PSAT/SAT test data to customize your study plan! If you do not already have PSAT/SAT test history, Khan Academy can instead give you a diagnostic quiz for the same purpose.
Also, the PSAT (or Practice SAT) is administered every fall for Murray County Schools' 10th graders free of charge. This provides an opportunity for all sophomores to get practice for a future, regular SAT, as well as gain insight into their college readiness and how to prep for future testing opportunities. Though the PSAT is free for all Murray County Schools sophomores, for a small fee there are usually a limited number of test slots open to 9th and 11th grade students who are interested in the early/extra practice. An added benefit for 11th graders taking the PSAT is that they are considered for the National Merit Scholarship program (more on that below!).
Juniors May Still Want to Take the PSAT--Here's Why:
The PSAT is best explained as the Practice SAT. It is not valid for college admissions consideration, but it is helpful practice for the regular SAT. Though junior year is a good time in the high school career to get started on regular SAT/ACT testing, high-achieving students can still benefit from taking the PSAT in their junior year. For juniors specifically, the PSAT doubles as the National Merit Scholarship Qualification Test (NMSQT). Murray County Schools administers the PSAT to high school sophomores free of charge each Fall. In the same test administration, a limited number of interested freshman and juniors may opt to take this test for a small fee.
The National Merit Scholarship program partners with the PSAT program to screen for candidates for their scholarship program. In order to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, a student must take the PSAT in a specified year of high school (junior year) and achieve among the top 50,000 of approximately 1.6 million junior examinees (see more eligibility info and related details here). Scoring among these 50,000 generally leads to fantastic scholarship opportunities from the program itself, its corporate partners, or colleges and universities.
SAT test dates and registration deadlines can be found here.
Cost: $47.50 SAT, $64.50 SAT with Essay (contact counselor if eligible for fee waivers)
Closest test center: North Murray High School (test center code 11607)
Target scores for Dual Enrollment: GNTC – Reading 25, Math 24; DSC – Reading 25, Math 530, Combined 970 after converting Reading and Math scores to old SAT scale and adding them
Target score for Zell Miller Scholarship: Combined score of 1200 (visit GA Futures or our College Financial Aid page for more Zell Scholarship info)
SAT Test Prep
General SAT prep resources can be found at the SAT Practice page.
SAT's free, official, customized practice tool can be found at the Khan Academy Official SAT Practice page. Once registered on Khan Academy, you can link your Khan Academy account to your College Board account. This will allow Khan Academy to use your previous PSAT/SAT test data to customize your study plan! If you do not already have PSAT/SAT test history, Khan Academy can instead give you a diagnostic quiz for the same purpose.
Also, the PSAT (or Practice SAT) is administered every fall for Murray County Schools' 10th graders free of charge. This provides an opportunity for all sophomores to get practice for a future, regular SAT, as well as gain insight into their college readiness and how to prep for future testing opportunities. Though the PSAT is free for all Murray County Schools sophomores, for a small fee there are usually a limited number of test slots open to 9th and 11th grade students who are interested in the early/extra practice. An added benefit for 11th graders taking the PSAT is that they are considered for the National Merit Scholarship program (more on that below!).
Juniors May Still Want to Take the PSAT--Here's Why:
The PSAT is best explained as the Practice SAT. It is not valid for college admissions consideration, but it is helpful practice for the regular SAT. Though junior year is a good time in the high school career to get started on regular SAT/ACT testing, high-achieving students can still benefit from taking the PSAT in their junior year. For juniors specifically, the PSAT doubles as the National Merit Scholarship Qualification Test (NMSQT). Murray County Schools administers the PSAT to high school sophomores free of charge each Fall. In the same test administration, a limited number of interested freshman and juniors may opt to take this test for a small fee.
The National Merit Scholarship program partners with the PSAT program to screen for candidates for their scholarship program. In order to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, a student must take the PSAT in a specified year of high school (junior year) and achieve among the top 50,000 of approximately 1.6 million junior examinees (see more eligibility info and related details here). Scoring among these 50,000 generally leads to fantastic scholarship opportunities from the program itself, its corporate partners, or colleges and universities.
