Prepare for College Now
Steps you can take now to get you ready for college
Step One: Take Rigorous Courses
McCaskey Campus offers a wide variety of advanced courses that can prepare you for collegiate success. Consider enrolling in AP, IB, CTE, or dual enrollment courses. Talk with your counselor about available opportunities.
Step Two: Prepare for the SAT/ACT
While some colleges do not require them, the majority of colleges ask for students to provide SAT or ACT scores. Luckily, there are great tools to prepare for these exams. School District of Lancaster offers the School Day SAT and PSAT for students free of charge. Students can sign up for official SAT practice through Khan Academy to improve their skills and increase their scores. Questions are linked to performance on the PSAT and individualized to each student. ACT offers a free practice test for students which is linked below.
SAT Practice with Khan Academy
Step Three: Create a College List
Before you get to senior year, you want to create a college list. It’s best to identify schools that fall into each of these categories:
- Safety: 75% of acceptance of higher
- Match: 50-75% change of acceptance
- Reach: 25% chance of acceptance
Identify several colleges that fit each description. You can explore colleges using your Xello account.