Episode 333 | Amy Seeley |Seeley Test Pros and LEAP| Part 2 | The EdisonOS Podcast

Key Topics Covered

The first question is always what is the goal. Amy says her core philosophy when a new student comes in is to identify where they want to be and what she can do to maximize that goal, and that sometimes this means not just improving a score but making sure everyone understands what the goal is and how to be efficient and effective in accomplishing what the student or family is looking for.

Strong readers belong on the SAT and students with strong verbal skills now belong on the ACT. Amy says that students who choose to read, like reading nonfiction, and have well-developed vocabularies have always been better SAT candidates, while the enhanced ACT is now two-thirds verbal and only one-third math, meaning a student who can really show up in a strong verbal way may now be an equally strong ACT candidate, and that ACT math, while slightly more advanced than before, is still easier than what students see on the SAT.

The science score is now essentially irrelevant for almost all schools. Amy says that when the ACT announced it was severing science from the composite, her prediction was it would be irrelevant within two to three years, and that we are already down to maybe two schools still requiring it, and that Ohio State's application readers are not even shown the science score on their dashboard, so even if a student submits it, the reader will never see it.

Take both a practice SAT and a practice ACT before committing. Amy says that some profiling questions can inform the decision, but the ideal is to have a student who has taken a practice SAT or PSAT and a practice ACT, and that if one score is clearly higher you have your answer, but if the scores are comparable then you look at where the strengths are and which test the student prefers, because the test they like better is going to drive them a lot less crazy over the course of six months to a year and a half.

Test optional does not exist for students with selective schools on their list. Amy says that for any student with a selective institution on their list, there is no such thing as test optional, and that even at non-selective schools a low math score can result in a student having to take a non-credit-bearing remedial math course as a college sophomore, and that some students come back and have to retake the ACT in college because their score was required for a particular major or program.

Three times is a reasonable number, and stack testing is the strategy. Amy says three times is her recommendation, ideally back to back to back once the student has done some preparation, because institutions accept super scoring and you can never lose by retesting except potentially at Georgetown, which is the only school she ever hears people say to be cautious about the number of times you test.

Referrals and reputation are the lifeblood of any boutique test prep company. Amy says that everything for the viability and future of a small business like hers comes down to people referring people and people coming back, that she has been in the industry for 32 years and has worked for three different companies including The Princeton Review early on, and that the thing a good boutique company can do that no big box national company can is curate the experience for a specific student rather than deliver a cookie-cutter program.

The NTPA was built because the industry was completely isolated. Amy says that before the National Test Preparation Association existed, test prep professionals could only learn as much as they could find on their own, and that connecting with peers who do what she does and do it differently has opened her eyes to things she would never have considered, including how some colleagues have built anxiety management directly into their curriculum, and that the community it created has given her some of her closest professional relationships.

The biggest myth is that tips and tricks are all students need. Amy says she cringes at the idea that families think a test can be cracked with simple tips and tricks, that it is far more than that, and that this is one of the most pervasive misconceptions she still hears from parents in 2026.
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Conclusion

This conversation is a deeply experienced and thoroughly honest look at what 32 years of test prep, two companies, and a professional association actually teach you about students, families, and a landscape that keeps changing. Listen to the full episode for the complete methodology and actionable strategies that could transform how any student or family approaches the SAT versus ACT decision, test optional reality, and the score that follows a student long after the test day is over.