My daughter is a high school junior and attends a large public high school. She is a good student but I’m worried that with only two guidance counselors for the whole school, she won’t get the help she needs applying to college. How can I help her?

You have asked a great question at a perfect time! Junior year is one of the most hectic years of high school and there is a lot of planning and major test taking to attend to. If she hasn’t already started looking, get a good updated college guide to get a feel for different types of schools. If you’re planning any family vacations, try to fit in a college visit or two within the area. The more schools she looks at, the more comparisons between programs she’ll be able to make. If she can’t visit in person, look at schools’ websites together and view the online campus tours (the next best thing to being there). Also, help her navigate the school choices available to her by looking through descriptions of previously accepted students and their grades, test scores and class rank. This will help her determine which schools are a reach, easy to get into, or right on target for her ability. Get a two year planning calendar that will take you right into her senior year and have her begin marking important test and application dates.

On her calendar be sure she enters the SAT and subject area tests she may want to take, as well as ACT dates. It’s a good idea to encourage her to take these tests more than once as most colleges will accept her highest scores (or subject area scores within a test). I’d suggest taking these tests once in her junior year and again at the very beginning of senior year. If she needs extra help she’ll have the summer in between tests to take a course, get a tutor or just purchase or borrow study guides. This SAT guide covers everything she’ll need to know.

Check out more advice on helping your child study for the SAT

Help her create folders on the colleges that interest her and help her create a requirement’s checklist for each college. As she completes the various application requirements she can check them off. She should also add all the dates and requirements of individual college requirements to her master calendar as an additional safeguard so as to avoid missing crucial deadlines or requirements. Finally, make sure she spends the summer before senior year writing and perfecting three good essays to submit to colleges (make sure she gets ideas and resources from her school counselor in her junior year). Senior year is so busy with classes, events and applications that there won’t be time to write really well thought out essays. After visiting different types of schools she should have a feel for the type of applicant that stands out and is accepted there. A variety of essays will give her more of an edge in showing various faces of her personality to different admissions committees that may be looking for different traits.

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My high school sophomore bombed the PSAT. With this economy I can’t afford those fancy test prep classes. How can I help my teenager score higher on the SAT without spending a lot of money?

What many parents don’t realize is that you have a huge resource at home, YOURSELF!  I’ve seen parents help bring up scores by hundreds of points by working with their teen using the relatively inexpensive SAT practice books that the big name companies put out.  You may be able to find these books at a library or buy last year’s books cheaply from a recent graduate or on-line.  This is the best SAT practice book.

Get out a calendar and set up a study schedule.  I’d suggest at least 8 weeks before the actual SAT.  Put aside at least 2 hours a week to work with the test practice book.  Have your child take a sample test and then you correct it.  Highlight the incorrect answers and spend the rest of the time helping your student review each incorrect answer until he or she understands the error.  If math or grammar really isn’t your thing, consider hiring an older high school or college student that has done well on the test.  High school guidance offices should be helpful in helping you find a tutor who may work for free if the student is looking to earn community service hours to add to their own college resume.  This also works well for the SAT subject area tests when you may not know a lot about physics or a foreign language.  Before you start though, be aware that some colleges require or accept an ACT test instead, which is an entirely different test.

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