Digital SAT and Enhanced ACT Prep, Built Around Your Student

Both tests have changed. The SAT is now fully digital and adaptive, with a built-in Desmos graphing calculator and shorter reading passages. The ACT rolled out its Enhanced format in 2025 with fewer questions, more time per question, and science as an optional section. Most prep materials still on the market were written for the old tests. Ours were built for the new ones.

Hughes College Prep has prepared students for standardized tests for more than 20 years, through every version of the SAT and ACT along the way, one-on-one, in Missoula and over Zoom with students across the country and abroad. We have done the work on the new formats that many national test prep companies have not yet caught up on, and we personalize every student's plan so no hour is wasted.

Should your student test at all?

For most students today, testing is a choice, not a requirement. Outside of a small number of test-required colleges and programs like the MUS Honor Scholarship, your student can decide whether to put their time into test scores or into the parts of the application that show their strengths better: coursework, essays, projects, and the activities they care about. We help families make that call early and honestly, based on the student's baseline, their school list, and where their time will do the most good.

If testing is the right path, we make every hour count with the highly personalized process below. If it is not, we redirect that time, and we know the many test-optional and test-free routes that let a student's intellect and strengths come through in other ways.

How it works

  1. Baseline. Your student takes an official full-length practice test, Digital SAT in Bluebook or an Enhanced ACT practice form. We score it against the official key and look at every missed question, not just the total.
  2. Review package. Within days your student receives a set of HCP-branded materials built from that specific test: concept reviews for every missed topic, written to the exact wrong answer they chose; targeted practice sets with at least seven problems per missed concept, answers verified; a complete Desmos calculator guide for the test version of Desmos, with drills; and, after a second test, a highlight sheet of concepts missed on both so we know where to focus.
  3. One-on-one sessions. Weekly meetings over Zoom or in Missoula work through the review package, strategy, timing, and the next practice test.
  4. Repeat until the score does its job. Each new practice test produces a new package. Students see exactly what moved and what still needs work, and at each step we revisit together whether more testing is the best use of their time.

Why one-on-one beats a boot camp

A classroom course teaches the same lesson to twenty students with twenty different gaps. Your student's plan starts from their results and changes with each test. A student scoring a 27 who is aiming at highly selective schools needs a different path than a 3.8 student chasing the MUS Honor Scholarship cutoff, and we build for both.

For Montana families

Many Montana colleges are test-optional, but the MUS Honor Scholarship and some merit aid are not. For a student who is close to a cutoff, a stronger ACT or SAT score can be one of the highest-return investments they make. For others, that time belongs elsewhere. We know the cutoffs and will tell you honestly which situation your student is in.

For families outside Montana

Everything above happens over Zoom with a shared screen. Materials arrive as editable documents your student can print or annotate. We work with students in more than 20 states and overseas, including families at international schools, embassies, and military posts. Sessions are scheduled across U.S. and European time zones.

Also available

PSAT prep for sophomores and juniors (National Merit qualifying). GRE and LSAT prep for graduate school applicants. Comprehensive clients have test prep built into their full guidance program; Essentials clients can purchase a block of hours for test prep alone.

Not sure whether your student should take the SAT, the ACT, both, or neither?

Schedule a free conversation and we will help you decide.

Contact us