Top 5 Reasons Apex Tutorials are the College Entrance Exam Tool of Choice

When students are well prepared for high-stakes exams, it relieves pressure from them as well as from those educators and administrators expected to deliver results. Apex Learning Tutorials are an ideal solution to prepare students for college entrance exams because they provide targeted instruction, practice, and assessment aligned to concepts assessed by specific college entrance exams. Tutorials are delivered in an interactive and engaging learning environment that offers personalized feedback to help students understand and master concepts.

Let’s take a deeper look at the top five reasons Apex College Readiness Tutorials expertly support students as they prepare for college.

1. Aligned to Exam Standards

Tutorials are built specifically for each college entrance exam. SAT® Tutorials are built in alignment to the Redesigned SAT® (2016), and ACT® Tutorials are built from ACT® College and Career Readiness Standards. Accurate alignment provides students with more successful preparation to help them meet their college exam goals.

2. Proven Effectiveness

Apex Learning Tutorials have a proven track record of helping students improve exam scores. In study after study, Apex Learning Tutorials significantly improve student performance.  

ACT®

In a three-year study, Apex Learning ACT® Tutorials significantly improved student performance on Tutorials posttest assessments across English, reading, and mathematics for each of the three years. Results of paired-samples t-tests suggest that Apex ACT® Tutorials had a statistically significant impact on student gains from pretest to posttest achievement. Over the three school years, the average gain for English was 69%, reading at 75%, and mathematics at 49%. The magnitude of the effect was large across subjects and school years.

SAT®

In a three-year study, Apex Learning SAT® Tutorials significantly improved student performance on Tutorials posttest assessments across reading, writing and language, and mathematics for each of the three years. Results of paired-samples t-tests suggest that SAT® Tutorials had a statistically significant impact on student gains from pretest to posttest achievement for all school years by subject. Over all three school years, the average gain for reading was 62%, writing and language at 63%, and math at 54%. The magnitude of the effect varied between moderate to large across subjects and school years.

3. Student-Centered Active Learning

Tutorials also engage students in active learning, a participatory and active role in their education, rather than passively receiving information. This type of learning helps students understand the material more deeply, retain information longer, and develop critical thinking skills because it integrates the student into the learning experience. When students develop deeper understanding of concepts, it is reflected in their higher test scores.

College Readiness Tutorials provide instruction designed to meet today’s standards with a modular learning experience that builds students’ knowledge and skills through a highly interactive and research-based approach. Pretests determine specific skill deficits and create a personalized path for each student to direct instruction, practice, review, and assessment. Tutorials ensure that students get comprehensive exposure to the essential prerequisite skills they need and aligned to the exam.

4. Actionable Data

Tutorials work because they equip teachers, administrators, and students with actionable data to interpret progress and performance in real time and make informed instructional decisions. Dashboards organize and present information intuitively so educators and students can quickly access the information and reports they need, when they need it. Teachers can view progress and performance by classroom, student, and standard, while administrators can view aggregated data at the district, school, teacher, and classroom levels.

Real-time data allows students to understand where they are in their learning and what’s next. Unit-level pretests and posttests help identify areas for improvement and link students' performance to ACT® key idea details and SAT® content dimension descriptions. This allows students to see their progress and focus on areas that need improvement.

5. Comprehensive Preparation Experience

Apex College Readiness Tutorials provide a comprehensive solution for ACT® and SAT® exam preparation. Strong personalized and scaffolded curriculum encourages independent learning so students can build knowledge outside of the classroom setting. Plus, Tutorials are flexible so teachers can rearrange or remove modules based on need.

In addition to providing the tools for exam success, Apex Learning Tutorials help students build their depth of knowledge, confidence, and higher order skills. With a focus on empowering students and reducing stress, Tutorials aim to provide a less stressful and more successful exam preparation experience.

To learn more about preparing for college entrance exams, read Preparing for the ACT and SAT Tests: 5 Tips for Educators to Help Students Through College Entrance Exams.