New Practice Test, Peer Tutoring, Scholarships, and Why the SAT Matters More Than Ever

Happy February, MJTP families!

We've got a packed update this week — new official practice material, an exciting opportunity for high scorers, a scholarship opportunity, and some important news that underscores just how much the SAT continues to matter in college admissions. Let's get into it.

A Brand New Bluebook Practice Test Is Here

College Board has just released a new full-length SAT practice test in Bluebook — Practice Test 11. That brings our total library of official adaptive practice tests to eight (Practice Tests 4 through 11), and every single one of them is free.

If you haven't already, download or update the Bluebook app, choose a "Full-length Practice Test," and you'll find the new test waiting for you.

Here's my advice on how to actually use it: take it under real conditions. Full sitting, timed, no phone, no interruptions. As I wrote about in this week's blog post, the hidden variable that separates good scores from great ones isn't just content knowledge — it's sustained focus. Your score on test day is largely determined by how well you perform when you're tired, distracted, or anxious, and you can only train that by simulating the real experience. So don't waste this fresh test by doing it in pieces on your couch. Treat it like the real thing.

Schoolhouse Peer Tutoring: An Opportunity for High Scorers

College Board and Schoolhouse.world — the peer tutoring platform founded by Sal Khan of Khan Academy — have officially launched their free peer-to-peer SAT tutoring program. While the pilot has been running for about a year, it's now a fully official partnership.

Many of my students have already received invitations to tutor, and I've received several invites myself. If you got one, it generally means you scored in the top 5–10% on the SAT. To be eligible as a tutor, you need a 700+ in Math or Reading & Writing.

Here's why I'd encourage you to seriously consider it if you have the time:

If you're planning to take the SAT again, there's no better way to solidify your understanding of the material than to teach it to someone else. I always tell my students that the best way to learn something is to teach it. When you have to explain why an answer is correct to a peer, you're forced to understand the concepts at a level that simply doing more practice problems can't replicate.

Beyond test prep, it's real-world tutoring experience. You earn verified volunteer hours, build a Schoolhouse Portfolio that's recognized by more than 50 colleges and universities in their admissions process (including MIT and UChicago), and you develop communication and leadership skills that look great on applications.

The bootcamps are structured as four-week programs with two sessions per week, led over Zoom with small groups of up to 10 students. Schoolhouse provides the curriculum and training — no prior tutoring experience required. If you've got the score and the time, give it a shot. You can sign up at schoolhouse.world.

The SAT Matters More Than Ever

If you've been following the college admissions landscape, you know the trend: universities are bringing standardized testing requirements back. The University of Miami is the latest, announcing that starting with Fall 2026 applicants, SAT or ACT scores will once again be required. UM joins Brown, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Penn, UT Austin, and a growing list of schools that have moved away from test-optional policies.

As UM's interim provost put it, their data show that standardized test scores are a predictor of academic success, and the university wants that additional data point as part of its holistic review.

But perhaps the most striking argument for why standardized testing matters came from the LA Times, reporting on what's happened at the University of California system — which went test-blind and refuses to reinstate score requirements. At UC San Diego, the sixth-ranked public university in the country, a remedial math course originally designed for fewer than 1% of freshmen has seen enrollment explode from 32 students five years ago to nearly a thousand. One in eight freshmen now perform below middle school math proficiency. The report found that a quarter of students in that remedial placement exam couldn't solve for x in the equation 7 + 2 = x + 6. A third couldn't subtract basic fractions.

Every UC campus is seeing the same trend. And as the LA Times editorial noted, even UCSD's own internal workgroup suggested the university should examine restoring standardized testing requirements.

The takeaway for families? The SAT isn't going away — it's coming back stronger. Schools that dropped testing requirements during COVID are realizing those tests provided genuinely valuable information about student preparedness. If your student is college-bound, a strong SAT score is one of the most controllable, high-impact components of their application.

Scholarship Opportunity: The Jeanne Lucas Memorial Scholarship

I'm a proud member of the National Test Prep Association, and I want to make sure every MJTP family knows about this opportunity. The NTPA is offering one-time $500 scholarships to multiple students through the Jeanne Lucas Memorial Scholarship, named in honor of Jeanne Lucas — a founding NTPA member, gifted educator, and beloved tutor who lost her battle with cancer in 2022. Jeanne was known for her passion for literature, vocabulary, and the English language, and this scholarship honors that legacy.

The scholarship is open to all students in the high school graduating class of 2026. To apply, you'll write a 300–500 word response to this prompt:

"Our dear friend Jeanne Lucas frequently referred to herself as a word nerd. She reveled in using lesser-known vocabulary in everyday settings. Jeanne's love of vocabulary and grammar gave her a distinct writing style and connected her to people she never met in person. Do you consider yourself a word nerd, and how does that affect your life?"

The application is here, and the deadline is May 1, 2026. Winners will be announced June 15th.

And here's a little extra incentive from me: if any MJTP student wins the Jeanne Lucas Scholarship, I'm adding $500 on top of it. If one student wins, you get the full $500. If multiple MJTP students win, we'll split it evenly among you. So if you're a class of 2026 senior who loves words — and if you've been studying SAT vocab with me, I know you're out there — take 30 minutes and write something great. You have nothing to lose and potentially $1,000 to gain.

March 14th Is Coming Fast

The March SAT is just around the corner, and February is a short month. If you're registered for March 14th, now is the time to sharpen your strategy, take that new Practice Test 11 under real conditions, and dial in your focus.

And if March isn't your date, remember: the SAT School Day follows in April, with additional weekend test dates in May and June. The spring testing season is wide open, but it moves quickly.

If you need help preparing, let's talk. Let's make the most of February.

— Mr. John

Mr. John's Test Prep