Score improvement depends on your starting point and how consistently you apply the strategies you learn. Students typically see gains of 2-4 points on the ACT composite, with some seeing larger improvements in specific sections when they focus on targeted skill development. The key is identifying your weak areas—whether that's inference questions, vocabulary in context, or pacing—and practicing with real ACT materials. Working with a tutor helps you pinpoint exactly what's holding you back and develop a focused improvement plan.

Effective pacing starts with understanding your reading speed and deciding how much time to spend on each passage. Many students benefit from reading the questions first, then skimming the passage for relevant details—this saves time compared to reading every word carefully. Others do better with a quick initial read followed by targeted re-reading for specific questions. A tutor can help you experiment with different strategies and find the approach that works best for your reading style, then practice it repeatedly with real ACT passages so it becomes automatic on test day.

Practice tests are essential—they help you get comfortable with the format, identify patterns in your mistakes, and build stamina for the full test. Ideally, you should take full practice tests under timed conditions, then review every single question you missed to understand why. This reveals whether your errors come from misunderstanding the passage, misinterpreting the question, or simply running out of time. A tutor can guide you through this review process and help you spot trends in your performance, so your practice time leads to real improvement rather than just repetition.

Test anxiety often stems from feeling unprepared or losing confidence when you encounter a difficult passage. Building confidence comes from practicing with real materials, developing reliable strategies you trust, and experiencing success repeatedly before test day. Many students also benefit from techniques like taking deep breaths between passages, reminding themselves that one difficult passage doesn't determine their score, and having a clear game plan they've practiced. A tutor can help you build this confidence through targeted practice and teach you specific strategies for staying calm and focused when the pressure is on.

ACT Reading questions fall into several categories: detail questions (asking for specific information from the passage), inference questions (requiring you to read between the lines), vocabulary-in-context questions, and main idea questions. Each type requires a slightly different approach—detail questions reward careful re-reading of specific lines, while inference questions require you to combine information from different parts of the passage. Understanding these distinctions and practicing each type helps you answer more efficiently and accurately. A tutor can teach you the specific strategies for each question type and help you recognize which type you're facing so you can apply the right approach.

Start by taking a full-length practice test under timed conditions, then review every question—not just the ones you missed, but also the ones you guessed on or felt unsure about. Look for patterns: Do you struggle more with certain passage types (science, history, literature)? Do you miss more inference questions than detail questions? Are you running out of time? These patterns reveal where to focus your study efforts. A tutor can analyze your practice test results systematically, pinpoint your specific weak areas, and create a targeted study plan to address them before test day.

Most students benefit from 4-8 weeks of focused preparation, though this depends on your starting point and target score. If you're aiming for significant improvement, starting earlier gives you time to work through multiple practice tests and refine your strategies. A realistic study schedule typically includes 3-4 practice sessions per week, with at least one full practice test every 1-2 weeks. This gives you enough repetition to build automaticity with your strategies while allowing time to analyze and learn from your mistakes before test day.