A test prep plan that costs nothing and fits into 20 minutes a night

Test prep is a big industry, and it can make a parent feel like everyone else bought something you missed. Some paid prep helps some kids. But the most useful parts of preparing don't require a purchase, and you can start them tonight.

First, find out what you're actually dealing with

Before anything else, get four facts. Your kid's teacher or school counselor can usually answer them in a short email.

• What is the test called, and when is it?
• How long is it, and what subjects does it cover?
• Is it timed, on paper or on a computer, and is a calculator allowed?
• What is the score used for?

That last question matters more than it seems. Some tests affect course placement or college applications. Others mostly measure how a school is doing. Your kid's stress level should match the real stakes, and kids often guess the stakes are higher than they are.

Get real practice questions

A big part of doing well on a standardized test is being familiar with its format: how questions are worded, how answer choices are built, how fast you have to move. Practice material written by the test makers is the closest thing to the real test.

The organizations behind the SAT and ACT publish free practice materials. For state tests, try searching your state's name plus "released test items" or "practice test." Many states post old questions. If you can't find any, ask the teacher. Skip random worksheets of unknown quality.

Do one section, timed, as a starting point

This week, have your kid do a single section under realistic conditions: a timer, no phone, no help. It doesn't need to be the whole test. The point isn't the score. It's finding out where things stand while there's still time to do something about it.

Tell your kid that ahead of time: "This is just to see what to practice. It doesn't count." That takes some pressure off, and honest mistakes show you more than nervous ones.

Sort the mistakes into three piles

This is the most valuable step, and it's free. Go through every wrong answer together and decide which pile it belongs in:

1. Didn't know it. The skill itself is missing or shaky.

2. Knew it, but slipped. They misread the question, skipped a word like "not," or made an arithmetic error.

3. Ran out of time. They understood the problems but couldn't finish.

Each pile needs a different fix. Pile one needs actual learning of that skill. Pile two needs slowing down, underlining what the question asks, and checking the answer. Pile three needs practice pacing, such as skipping a hard question and coming back to it. Without sorting, kids tend to just "do more practice tests," which fixes none of these reliably.

Parents often find that most of the lost points are in pile two or three, which is good news because those are quicker to fix.

Short and often beats long and rare

Spreading practice over several weeks generally works better than cramming, and that is one of the better-supported ideas in learning research. A workable rhythm is 20 minutes a night, four nights a week. Pick a time that's easy to protect, like right after dinner.

A simple routine for each session:

• Spend 10 minutes on a few problems from the "didn't know it" pile.
• Spend 10 minutes redoing problems your kid missed a few days ago, without looking at the answers.

That second part matters. Seeing a problem again after a gap is what helps it stay learned. Re-reading the explanation just feels like learning.

The week before

By now the heavy lifting is done. Focus on the basics:

• Aim for normal, consistent sleep for several nights, not just the last one.
• Plan the logistics: ID, pencils, calculator and batteries if allowed, how you're getting there, and what's for breakfast.
• Stop new material a day or two before. Light review is fine.
• Say out loud what the score does and doesn't mean. It's one snapshot on one morning, not a verdict on your kid.

If your kid gets very anxious, one thing worth trying is a practice section in a slightly unfamiliar place, like the library, so the real room feels less strange. It won't help every kid, but it costs nothing.

What prep can't do

It's worth being honest here. If your kid has big gaps in foundational skills, like reading comprehension or fractions, a few weeks of test prep won't close them. Those take longer, and the test is only one reason to work on them. Some kids also do fine with minimal prep, and some are stressed by too much of it. You know yours better than any plan does.

If the mistake sort shows lots of "didn't know it" problems, that's where a tool can help. With LeftStart, a free app funded by donations, you can snap a photo of a missed problem and it generates practice on that skill until your kid gets it right consistently. That's one option among several, and a patient adult with an answer key can do similar work.

Whatever you use, the plan is the same: find out what the test is, practice with real questions, sort the mistakes, and keep sessions short. Tonight, the only step is the first one: send the teacher that email.