The FLEX Blog
TheFLEX Weekly
The blog for researching parents and college-bound students looking for the most reliable information.
Every week, our experts bring you college insights and application principles to widen your future, inform your choices, and help you get into your dream school.

Will the recent changes to the ACT help or hurt you?
What is superscoring? For students who take the ACT or SAT more than once, many colleges and universities allow students to submit their best subject scores across multiple test dates. The recalculation of these subscores results in what is known as a “superscore.” A...



Have you missed any academic milestones during the pandemic?
The past year has brought tremendous upheaval for students, leaving many parents worried about “learning loss” and whether their children are hitting their academic milestones. Until this point, the reopening of schools had been the most urgent academic challenge of...



Minimize Learning Loss and Other Effects of the Pandemic Among Middle Schoolers
The 2020-2021 school year began amid tremendous uncertainty. The previous school year had ended in chaos and upheaval. Schools, teacher’s unions, and state and local governments were unable to negotiate a workable solution by the time the fall semester had started....



The College Admissions Test of Choice: Most Recent Updates to the AP Exams
File Edit Options Buffers Tools HTML SGML Text Help During this time of pandemic and institutional upheaval, the AP exams have become the college admissions test of choice, finally unseating the SAT and ACT from their prominent place in a student’s academic portfolio....



Most Recent Changes to the SAT & SAT Subject Tests
The College Board recently announced significant changes to the SAT as well as the SAT Subject Tests. First, after June 2021, the SAT will no longer have an optional essay component. There may also be additional changes to the test as the College Board makes a strong...



Are Summer Internships Helpful?
It’s time to start talking about summer plans. Every year, forward-thinking families begin to make plans for their students’ summer schedules many months in advance. This is essential to meeting deadlines for competitive programs, camps, and internships. In 2020-2021,...



Is Your AP Exam Prep Good Enough?
Many things have been changing in the college admissions landscapes. Notably, there has been a decreased emphasis on general standardized exams such as the SAT and ACT and a legal push to prevent such considerations. This was evidenced most dramatically in an Alameda...



COVID19 Updates from Stanford, Ivy Leagues, and Other Admission Offices
A collective statement signed by 350 colleges (including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, UChicago, Northwestern, and many others) aims to relieve students of additional pressure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as they prepare for college applications. The...