Score improvement depends on your starting point and effort level, but students typically see meaningful gains within 8-12 weeks of consistent practice. Research on 1-on-1 instruction shows personalized tutoring can significantly accelerate progress compared to self-study alone. Your tutor will help you identify weak areas, create a focused study plan, and track progress through practice tests to keep you on track.

Many students struggle with pacing—the Reading and Writing section requires balancing speed with accuracy across multiple passages. Others find vocabulary-in-context questions tricky because they require understanding how words function in specific sentences, not just memorizing definitions. Grammar questions can feel overwhelming due to the number of rules tested. A tutor helps you develop efficient strategies for each question type and builds confidence through targeted practice.

Your first session typically includes a diagnostic assessment to understand your current strengths and weaknesses—often through a practice test or targeted questions. Your tutor will ask about your goals, timeline, and any specific areas causing frustration. From there, you'll create a personalized study plan that focuses on the skills most likely to boost your score before test day.

Practice tests are essential—they help you get comfortable with the test format, build stamina for the full section, and reveal patterns in your mistakes. Taking full-length practice tests under timed conditions is much more valuable than drilling individual questions, as it trains you for the real test experience. Your tutor will use practice test results to identify whether your challenges are conceptual, strategic, or timing-related, then adjust your prep accordingly.

Test anxiety often stems from feeling unprepared or unsure of your strategy. Working with a tutor builds confidence through repeated exposure to question types and proven strategies for tackling tricky passages. Your tutor can also teach you pacing techniques and mental strategies to stay calm under pressure, so you enter test day feeling ready and in control.

The Reading and Writing section gives you 64 minutes for 52 questions, which means you need an efficient strategy. Most students benefit from reading the passage first, then answering questions—but some do better with a different approach. Your tutor will help you experiment with different pacing strategies during practice tests to find what works best for your reading speed and comprehension style.

Look for tutors with strong SAT scores themselves, proven experience teaching test prep, and familiarity with current SAT format and question types. Ideally, they should have a track record of helping students improve their scores and be able to explain *why* answers are correct, not just which one to pick. Varsity Tutors connects you with expert tutors who specialize in SAT prep and can show you their approach during an initial consultation.