The biggest hurdles are usually pacing through the reading passages and managing test anxiety under time pressure. Many students understand the concepts but rush through questions or second-guess themselves, leading to careless mistakes. Others struggle with vocabulary-in-context questions or identifying the author's tone and purpose. A tutor can help you develop a personalized pacing strategy and build confidence through targeted practice with the exact question formats you'll see on test day.

Your first session focuses on assessment and strategy. A tutor will review your practice test results to pinpoint your specific weak areas—whether it's reading comprehension, grammar, or vocabulary—and understand your timeline and goals. You'll discuss your test-taking habits, pacing challenges, and any test anxiety you're experiencing. From there, the tutor creates a personalized study plan with targeted practice and strategies designed specifically for how you learn best.

Practice tests are essential—they're the most accurate way to measure your progress and get comfortable with the actual test format and timing. Taking full-length practice tests under timed conditions helps you identify pacing issues and weak question types before test day. A tutor can review your practice test results with you, pinpoint patterns in your mistakes, and adjust your study plan accordingly. Most students benefit from taking 3-5 full practice tests throughout their prep period.

That depends on your individual strengths and weaknesses—which is exactly why personalized tutoring is valuable. Some students naturally excel at grammar but struggle with reading comprehension pacing, while others do well understanding passages but miss grammar questions. A tutor will analyze your practice test data to see where you're losing the most points, then allocate your study time accordingly. Often, the bigger issue isn't the content but the strategy—like reading too slowly or not using the process of elimination effectively.

Pacing is a learnable skill, not something you're born with. A tutor can teach you proven strategies like skimming passages for structure rather than reading every word, tackling questions in a strategic order, and knowing when to move on from a difficult question. You'll practice these techniques on actual SAT passages so they become automatic by test day. Many students find that improving their pacing actually reduces anxiety because they feel more in control of their time.

Absolutely. Much of test anxiety comes from feeling unprepared or unsure of your strategy—tutoring addresses both. By building a personalized study plan, practicing with real test questions, and developing confidence through targeted skill-building, you'll feel more ready on test day. A tutor can also teach you specific techniques to manage anxiety during the test, like breathing strategies and how to refocus when you hit a tough question. Knowing exactly what to expect removes a lot of the fear factor.

Look for tutors with strong SAT Verbal scores themselves and proven experience helping students improve their scores. Ideally, they understand the test format deeply and can explain why answers are correct or incorrect—not just that they are. They should be able to diagnose your specific challenges quickly and adjust their teaching style to match how you learn best. Varsity Tutors connects you with expert tutors who have the subject knowledge and teaching experience to help you reach your target score.