The most effective thing a high schooler can do to improve their college-ready profile isn’t grinding through more AP classes or padding their activities list. After analyzing the input-to-output ratio across all four categories of college admissions, one activity stands far above the rest: killing your standardized test score. With just 156 hours of focused effort (compared to 1,764 hours for high school grades), you can achieve the second most important factor in college admissions. That’s 2.21% of the input for a factor that’s nearly as important.
I’m going to give you the answer right now: the single most effective thing your high schooler can do to drastically improve their college-ready profile is to get a killer SAT or ACT score. Now that you have the end result, you can close this post if you want. But if you want to understand the math behind why this is true, and why I’m so confident about it after 16+ years helping thousands of families, stick around. I’m going to walk through the inputs-to-outputs ratio so you can see exactly why, from a pure efficiency standpoint, crushing your standardized test is the most high-leverage activity in all of college admissions.
Contents
The four categories of college admissions
Before I dive into the math, let’s establish what we’re working with. What are the four most important factors in college admissions in the United States? We preach this over and over to our students.
Number one: high school grades and rigor
Nothing will be more important than this. High school grades and the rigor of classes taken remain the number one factor. If you are striving for Ivy League or top 25 schools, you must have good high school grades and you need to take high rigor courses.
Number two: standardized testing
The SAT or ACT. In this country, there are no other standardized tests that matter for college admissions. Fun fact to dispel a myth: a lot of families think schools in different locations of the country prefer one test versus the other. That is a myth. We have concordance tables these days. Colleges know how to compare the two. It doesn’t matter which you take. However, you should definitely choose one and then go all in on that test.
Number three: the Common App and essays
This happens senior year when you actually put together your profile, meaning the last four years of your life. What were all your accomplishments, your successes? You put it into the application, which on average in this country will get reviewed for eight minutes. Eight minutes is what the average applicant reviewer will give your entire application, which is summarizing four years of your life.
Number four: your story
This has a lot of different terms depending on who you talk to, but at CollegeConsulting.us we call it your story. This is how you stand out from the pack and tell a high-leverage, authentic, differentiating story that says, “Hey, college admissions, here is who I want to be if you let me in your doors, and oh by the way, here’s what I did the last four years that aligned with that story.”
The math that changes everything
Let me get into the numbers. When it comes to high school grades, I did some research on what the typical high-performing high schooler, meaning the student taking APs and honors courses, spends on average.
The input for high school grades: 1,764 hours per year
The typical high-performing student spends on average 1,080 hours per year in the classroom. They spend on average 684 hours per year doing homework. That comes to a total of 1,764 hours per year.
I want you to think about that for a second. That is a lot of time.
Think about all the hours, the early mornings, waking up at 6:00 a.m. I remember it well. Day in and day out, a very rigorous schedule. You go through your whole day taking the most elite classes. Focus, focus, focus. Then after school, maybe you have activities, you have sports. You go to an away sporting game. You don’t get back until 7 p.m. You come home. You eat dinner. And then what do you do? You do homework for two, three, four hours in your bedroom until the wee hours of the night. Then you go to bed and wake up and do it all over again.
For the most regimented high schools in the country, that is the reality.
So yes, when it comes to high school grades, the input is ultra high and the output is the number one most important factor. High input, definitely high output.
The input for standardized testing: 156 hours total
Now here’s where the concept of high leverage comes into play.
I’ve done co-webinars with Larry Chung, the founder of Tiger Way Prep, and a common question that gets asked is: how long does it take to achieve an elite SAT or ACT score? Larry has thousands of data points. He says consistently four to nine months of concerted effort.
What is concerted effort? Based on his teachings, concerted effort is four hours per week of allocated study time. If we take the high range and say it takes nine months at four hours per week, you’ve got 156 hours. That’s the high end of the amount of time that, if you’re a thoughtful, high-performing student, you need in order to get an elite test score.
And by the way, Jack Beecher, one of our former students and interns, studied himself, got a perfect 36 on his ACT, and if you ask him, my guess is he would say he spent less than 156 hours and got a perfect score. He’s now at Dartmouth, crushing it.
The ratio that should blow your mind
Look at the vast difference between the inputs of number one and number two:
- High school grades: 1,764 hours per year
- Standardized testing: 156 hours total
Here’s the calculation: 156 hours is 2.21% of 1,764 hours.
Let me say that again. 2.21% of the input, and you only drop one spot on the output scale.
Why this matters for admissions
In college admissions departments, you can go read “Who Gets In and Why” and a plethora of other books that do deep dives inside the top admissions departments in the country. They have thresholds.
The threshold reality
They have thresholds when it comes to college admissions where if you don’t meet their high school grades and standardized test scores in their first read, they will throw out your application.
Meaning we now live in a world where some schools are test optional. If that’s the case, you can put an asterisk on this. But if you apply to a test-mandatory school, they will have thresholds and standards that if you don’t meet their standardized test score, your application will be thrown out.
Categories one, three, and four can be exceptional and it won’t matter.
Ask any top admissions rep
Ask any top admissions rep: what are the two most important factors in college admissions? It’s high school grades and the rigor of classes taken, and your standardized test score.
156 hours of work versus 1,764 hours of work.
This video is not to say that high school grades are not important. I want that to be very clear. In fact, if you do not have the grades and test scores at many schools across the country, the top ones, your application will be thrown out in the first review. You will not get a real read. Both of these are critically important.
The purpose of this analysis is to allow parents and high schoolers to take one step back instead of blindly charging forward with their actions. Think: is this effective, or am I just doing this because everyone else is?
The mistake most families make
A lot of families out there think if it’s harder, more difficult, and takes more time, it must be more impressive.
Please stop this thinking.
That is not the case. College admissions departments are full of humans, and humans are not robots. It does not work like that. If it did work like that, these input-to-output ratios would be identical. But they’re not.
What we teach at CollegeConsulting.us
We unanimously teach effective systems. That is why we are so adamant that all of our students do everything they possibly can to get an elite SAT or ACT score.
It is 2.21% of the input of high school grades, and it only drops one spot on the hierarchy.
If you’re standing here today and you have a ninth or 10th or even 11th grader and you’re saying, “What one thing can my student focus on that will give them the best chance of admission?” my immediate assessment will be: standardized test. No-brainer.
It is the smallest input for the greatest output in college admissions.
What about the other categories?
Let me briefly address categories three and four.
The Common App and essays
Absolutely critically important. However, for the sake of this analysis, there is a very finite amount of time where this applies. It really is the summer between junior and senior year into senior fall. You cannot be working on your Common App or your essays throughout high school. It does not work like that. There is a finite window.
Your story
This is where it gets interesting. Your story, building an authentic differentiating story with things you really enjoy doing that as a byproduct might align with the path of what you want to do in college, has a huge variable in terms of input.
I’ve seen stories where probably less than 156 hours worth of total time over four years was the story that got them into college. I’ve also seen stories that were double, triple, quadruple that amount.
But the bigger theme is being able to call that out ahead of time. Saying, “This story that I’m trying to build involves this project, this unique activity. I spend about this much time a week. I multiply that out by how much a month, how much a year, over four years, that’s this many hours.”
If your student is struggling to figure out what story they want to tell, start with my free Saturday Morning Test. It helps students discover their authentic interests, which then becomes the foundation for everything else.
The categories you can work on anytime
Here’s the key insight. Categories one, two, and four, a student can work on in 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade. Category three, the Common App and essays, has a finite window.
So if you take anything from this analysis, it’s this: if you have a high schooler in any grade and you’re asking what they should focus on, the three areas they can always be working on are grades, test scores, and their story. And of those three, test scores have by far the best input-to-output ratio.
Jack Beecher: proof this works
I mentioned Jack Beecher earlier. He’s worth talking about because he embodies this principle.
Jack was one of our students who went through our program and is now a sophomore at Dartmouth. He studied himself, got a perfect 36 on his ACT without paid standardized test prep, all on his own.
When I interviewed him about what he did well to get into Dartmouth, he said that once he started working with us, his ability to focus on what actually mattered for college admissions became one of his strengths.
And here’s the thing. Jack didn’t just get into an Ivy League school. He went in with genuine confidence. As he describes it, where his peers at Dartmouth are saying, “I don’t really know how I’m going to do on this test,” he’s like, “I’m going to get an A on every test because I know study skills. I know how to use the 50-10 method. I know how to isolate myself in the library.”
It’s not “I’m hoping it’s going to work out.” It’s “I know, because I had a plan to get into here and I did it and it worked. So let me just apply the same teachings.”
That kind of confidence is what happens when students focus on high-leverage activities instead of grinding endlessly on low-leverage ones.
The bottom line: work smarter, not just harder
If you’ve taken anything from this post, it’s this: assess inputs to outputs properly.
And just so you know, if you want to get really granular: if your high schooler is taking the SAT or ACT and does not yet have an elite score, please encourage them to study hard and get that score.
That will be the single most effective input-to-output ratio when it comes to their college application.
A lot of families charge forward blindly, doing things because everyone else is doing them. Taking that ninth AP class. Adding that fifth extracurricular. Grinding until 2 a.m. on homework.
But if you take one step back and look at the math, you’ll see that some activities have dramatically better returns than others. And standardized testing is at the top of that list.
It is possible to have an ultra-successful college planning journey while also sleeping eight hours a night, having fun, and having time to eat dinner with your family each night. It is possible. And understanding high-leverage activities is how you get there.
Ready to take the next step?
If you’re interested in learning more about our approach, you can book a 100% free college planning strategy session with a member of my team. We will assess your situation. We have an all-inclusive start-to-finish College Confidence program. We only accept 23% of families, so it will be a back and forth where we assess what you need in your college planning solution.
If you are a ninth or 10th grader particularly, I absolutely encourage you as a parent to book that call so that if we can help over the next four years, we can start putting your student into processes that will help them complete high-leverage activities to eventually reach their full collegiate potential.
And if you want to start right now with understanding your student’s current profile, take my free College Story Audit. It’s a 15-minute assessment that shows you exactly where you’re strong and where you have gaps, so you can focus your limited time on what actually matters.
Frequently asked questions about improving your college-ready profile
But isn’t test prep expensive? It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. Jack Beecher got a perfect ACT score without paid test prep. There are free resources available. The point is the time investment, not necessarily the financial investment. 156 hours of focused effort is achievable for any motivated student.
What about test-optional schools? If you’re applying test-optional, that’s an asterisk on this analysis. But here’s the thing: having a strong test score still helps at test-optional schools. It’s another data point in your favor. And if you’re applying to any test-mandatory schools, this math absolutely applies.
Should my student study for both SAT and ACT? No. Choose one and go all in. It doesn’t matter which one. We have concordance tables, and colleges know how to compare them. Take a practice test of each, see which one feels better, and then commit all your prep hours to that test.
What’s an “elite” test score? It varies by student and by target schools. But in general, for the top schools in the country, 1500+ on the SAT or 34+ on the ACT puts you in a solid position. Below that becomes a bit of a detriment. But your specific target depends on where you’re applying.
My student’s grades are already set. Is it too late? No. That’s exactly why this analysis matters. You can’t go back and change freshman year grades. But you can absolutely invest 156 hours into test prep over the next several months and significantly improve your profile. This is one area where it’s never too late.
How do I know if my student is spending time on high-leverage activities? Start with my free High School Time Audit. It shows exactly where time is going and helps students identify whether they’re grinding on low-leverage activities or focusing on what actually moves the needle.
