Standardized testing continues to be a large part of the way that colleges evaluate applications. However, there are often huge disparities in the resources that students have when preparing for the SAT, ACT, and AP exams. Wealthy students can pay for test prep books, tutors, and other study materials. Breaking Book Barriers aims to address these disparities by providing free SAT, ACT, and AP prep books and online resources to students who need them.
Breaking Book Barriers is an online platform for students in the US to donate and request used prep books. SAT, ACT, and AP books are incredibly expensive, particularly when students need several of these books throughout their high school careers. Libraries often don’t have enough of these books, and even if they do, students cannot keep the books for longer than a few weeks.
What we do
To donate, users can go to breakingbookbarriers.org and fill out the "Donate a Book" form. Within a few days, a member of the team will reach out with an address to ship the books directly to students who need them.
To request a book, fill out the form under "Request a Book." Users can keep books for as long as they need, and then re-list them when they are done with their test.
The other component of Breaking Book Barriers is the content that the Breaking Book Barriers team creates. Many students do not have access to expensive test prep tutors, so we create blog posts and videos explaining various concepts related to SAT and ACT and high school life. We often partner with other student run organizations to provide our students with free services like tutoring or college application advising.
How you can help
There are so many things that you can do to help! For instance, tutoring students of all levels, but especially on the SAT and ACT is really helpful. Additionally, you could reach out to local nonprofits and tutoring centers to ask if you can volunteer there. Finally, reach out to lawmakers on all levels to petition for better support for low-income students. Increased funding to programs that mitigate the education gap is the key to eliminating this issue. We are currently looking for team members, both to work on the initiative virtually (marketing, content creation, etc.) and to start a chapter of Breaking Book Barriers in their community. Please email breakingbookbarriers@gmail.com if you are interested!