One of the biggest stresses of high school is the idea that students must score well on the SAT exam if they want to ensure they can get into their preferred college.

There is a whole industry of companies that specialize in selling huge study guides and offering in-person prep courses and online study websites. These companies make thousands of dollars each year off of student anxieties about doing well on college entrance exams.

Many of these companies make bold claims about producing a “higher score guaranteed” or feeling “confident and prepared on test day.” Meanwhile, students are left asking the question, do they really work?

For years, Akins has offered its own assistance in helping students perform well on the SAT by providing all students with free access to the Pre-SAT exam in grades 9-11. This year, the school has added a new tool to students as it began offering the online Khan Academy SAT prep course to all students.

The Eagle’s Eye interviewed Christine Kesling, College Readiness Counselor, about her thoughts on how students can best prepare for the SAT. We also asked her about how students can link up their College Board and Khan Academy accounts together.

Eagle’s Eye: What would these benefits compared to an SAT prep book? Compared to other forms  of studying, khan academy promises a higher score after their lesson plans.

Christine Kesling: “Khan Academy has reported a study that shows that students who link their College Board and Khan Academy accounts, and spend an average of 20 hours in personalized practice, show a gain of 115 points on the SAT as compared to a student’s PSAT score.”

“With the Khan Academy offering specialized study plans for each individual student, it offers a higher chance each student will find a plan to help them the most with studying. Unlike a SAT study book, this allows you to really focus on the student’s weak areas. Using an SAT test prep book, you only have a certain amount of questions and exams, and then that expensive book is useless.”

EE: Students like me are a little skeptical if this will actually improve SAT scores, what do you say to students who are doubtful about linking their accounts?  

CK: “I can only encourage every student to try Khan Academy personalized practice for themselves. Give it a try and watch how your skills grow during practice and your scores increase on the Khan Academy practice exams and quizzes. Seeing is believing, and isn’t your future worth every bit of effort you can give?”

The only issues students would be facing would be forgetting their email they used to register when they took  the PSAT.

EE: Is there is a way to recover your email in order to log into College Board?

CK: “Both websites have information about forgotten usernames and passwords. If students need their College Board access code, they can see (me) in the Main Office.”