AI is an increasingly prevalent tool, popping up in more and more places, and integrated into more and more features. Some of these are revolutionary, such as new methods for diagnosing diseases, while others are somewhat less immediately useful, like YouTube videos that lie about history. It is unsurprising then that the field of test prep has had its own influx of AI-based tools.
This, of course, raises the question of how useful any of these tools actually are, and whether or not they are useful for you in preparing for the SAT and ACT. After all, these are very important tests in the admissions process, with somewhat high stakes, and you only want to spend your time studying in ways that will actually help you, rather than wasting it on gimmicks.
In this article, we’re going to examine whether or not AI test prep tools are useful. We aren’t going to examine specific tools, but rather look at how these systems operate as a whole, where they fit into the flow of preparing for these tests, and whether they might be useful for you. Let’s jump in!
How AI Test Prep Works
Each platform is somewhat unique in its exact mechanics, and none have made their code open source. They do, however, all share some similarities in approach. In general, here’s how it goes:
First, you create an account, then begin taking practice tests. Based on these, the AI gives you a score, then points at areas to work on; questions you missed or material you might have struggled with. Then, generally, it gives you practice problems based on these.
Many of these tools have built-in plan builders, where you can set certain goals for the amount you want to study each week, or scores you want to achieve. These are more scheduling tools than actual test-prep, but some students do find them useful for keeping track of how much they’ve studied, or in building habits of studying each day.
These tools often include an AI chatbot that students can ask questions of. These are often somewhat limited, but are fully versed in the material covered by these tests. The limitations are also useful, to prevent them from going too far off track, though how well these are implemented does often vary by platform. This is generally the case with all AI tools however.
These are generally subscription services. Most have free trials so you can try them out, but their goal is to make money. This is going to be true of all test prep services of course, but is worth being aware of. As with many services, the price point of these can vary widely between providers.
Pros and Cons of AI Test Prep
As with anything else, there are pros and cons to using AI in your test prep compared to working on your own or working with a human mentor. We’re going to go through these, to help you fully evaluate the options.
Cost
The biggest pro of AI test prep compared to working with a mentor is cost. AI subscription services can be costly, but are still generally much cheaper than a person. That said, AI tools do cost much more than free services and resources like Khan Academy. Thus their value must be compared not just to working with a human mentor, but whether or not they offer value over and above what you would encounter working just on your own with free resources.
Personalization
What particular questions you struggle with on an SAT or ACT test are going to be unique to you, and a major part of study programs is determining what these questions are and what exactly is going wrong. Now, a pro of these AI programs is that they do offer this, being able to track exactly which questions you get wrong and offering you related ones for targeted studying, much the same way a mentor would.
A weakness of AI, however, is that it is nonsentient; it can create patterns of data, but it is unable to do a deeper analysis of that. It can point to what questions you got wrong, but is unable to analyze why; whether or not there’s a particular subject matter you struggle with, a bit of phrasing that’s confusing you, or simply an issue of time crunch. This is one area where there really is no substitute for a human mentor to discuss your mistakes and to cover exactly what’s been going wrong.
Timing
AI chatbots do not have working hours; they do not need to eat or sleep or have other responsibilities. If you have a particularly messy schedule then, they can be a good way to fit studying in around it, getting it done as and when you can, or going for very long study sessions. That said, this is also true if you are doing self-study; the only limits there are you and your own time.
A human mentor is often more helpful for keeping you accountable however. AI chatbots are designed to be agreeable, and will not always push you to reach the levels you are capable of. This can be more relaxed and more comfortable, but is not always what you want when every point matters for college admissions.
Hallucinations
A final, but important point, is that AI can and does just hallucinate information. Now, this is often less of an issue for test prep, as it tends to operate in a very narrow field. That said, there is no way yet of preventing generative AI tools from hallucinating, occasionally returning results which have no connection with reality. While these test prep tools should have safeguards to prevent this, it can still be a significant issue, and one unique to them.
Should You Use AI Test Prep Tools?
These tools are just that, tools, and like all tools have a time and place where they are applicable, and a time and place where they aren’t. Currently, these services are working to carve out a niche between self study and test prep tutoring, costly perhaps, but a more reasonable cost for many to afford.
Due to how new these tools are, it is too early yet to say exactly how successful they are, and what results students who use them attain. It is therefore difficult to say with certainty how useful these tools are, but based on the pros and cons, we can make certain predictions about their utility. Each situation is different of course, but standardized tests are standardized, and so the same techniques often work well to prepare for them.
We generally believe you should start with self-studying; just familiarizing yourself with the test format and material can make a major difference when it comes to preparing properly, and can often boost a score by a respectable amount on its own. This may not get you to exactly where you want, but it can give you a sense of how much work remains to be done.
After this, a consultation with a test prep tutor can often be quite helpful. They are generally quite good at diagnosing where specifically you need to study, and what particular issues you need to address to increase your score. An automated tool can assess which questions you get wrong, but a human is required to help you understand why these are such a challenge for you.
Just as hyper-detailed test reports with a dozen graphed metrics and subscores within subscores do more to distract and confuse than they do to help students, an AI that can take one missed question and give you back 30 that are similar to it will only waste a student’s time if the 30 questions aren’t similar in the way that’s relevant to the student’s struggle point.
From here, additional self study or working with a human mentor is going to be most beneficial for most students. There are some ways an AI can be helpful in scheduling or helping to keep you on track, but in general, the extra cost doesn’t provide much better returns than simply studying on your own, or with the help of free resources like Khan Academy.
Other AI Tools and Test Prep
There are some AI tools which are not explicitly designed for test prep, but which students may still try to use for help preparing for tests. We generally advise against this; while AI does make finding answers fast and simple, the information it provides is often suspect and out of date, two things you do not want when preparing for high stakes standardized tests.
Final Thoughts
Standardized tests are a major part of college admissions, and look set to remain that way for a long time to come. As AI tools become ever more prevalent, we expect more and more of them to be turned to use in test prep and other aspects of the college admissions process. This is normal, and interesting, and we do look forward to seeing what innovations await.
As we have seen in this article, however, AI tools are still a long way off from being able to replace human mentorship when it comes to preparing for standardized tests. If you are looking for human help with your own test prep, then our test prep mentors are exactly what you need. Students we work with see an average increase of 180 points on their SAT scores; schedule a free consultation today to learn more about how we can help you get the scores you need for your admissions journey.
