SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

In planning your ACT prep, you probably want to know how long you need to study. Is it weeks or months? Is it dozens of hours or hundreds?

The answer to these questions depends on a variety of factors, including your target score and how comfortable you already are with the test material. There’s no reason to torture yourself with endless studying if your scores are already in the right range for your top choice schools. On the other hand, if you're still pretty far away from the scores you want, you may have to work harder than you think.

In this guide, I'll show you how to figure out how much you need to improve, how many hours you need to spend to get there, and how you should build a study schedule before your next real ACT.

You got your SAT/ACT score back, and it isn't what you'd hoped it'd be. Even though the SAT and ACT are each just a few hours long, the score you get often counts for a third or more of college admissions and can therefore have a big impact on your future.

The fact that you're looking for solutions is a good first step. It's important, now more than ever, not to freak out and to instead calmly plan the best steps forward. In this article, we go over our top four tips for what to do with a low SAT or ACT score.

You do great in school, but you just can’t get that score you want on the ACT. If you're a great student but not as great a standardized test taker, don't worry: you aren't alone.

In this post, I'll let you know what ACT scores qualify as low, what message those scores send to admissions officers, and what you can do to improve your chances of getting into a good school.

Looking for some quick fixes to improve your ACT scores? Look no further. In this article, we give you several tips and tricks for the ACT so that you can get your best possible scores on every section.

If you’ve found this article, I assume it’s crunch time, and your ACT test date is in the next couple weeks. If you do not fall into this category (you have a bit of time—one month or more—before your test date), you can still read this guide for some study strategies, but I recommend you take advantage of all the time you have by spreading your ACT preparation out. Don't wait until the last 10 days to cram.

Though quality matters in your ACT prep, quantity is also important: you have to invest a lot of time if you want to see big improvements. You can make a lot of progress in 10 days, but you need to dedicate the necessary time to improve your ACT score. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to raise your score by up to four points in just 10 days.

Are you scoring in the 26-34 range on ACT Math? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible—to a perfect 36?

Getting to a 36 ACT Math score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've scored 36 on Math on all my ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score—or get very close.

Are you scoring between 26-34 on ACT Science? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible - to a perfect 36?

Getting to a 36 ACT Science score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on Science on my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score - or very close.

Are you scoring in the 26–34 range on ACT English? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible—to a perfect 36?

Getting to a 36 ACT English score isn't easy. It'll require near perfection and mastery of both grammar rules and rhetorical skills. But with hard work and my ACT English strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on English on my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score—or get very close.

Are you struggling with ACT Reading scores between 14 and 24? You're not alone—hundreds of thousands of students are scoring in this range. But many don't know the best ways to break out of this score range and score 26 or higher.

Here, we'll discuss how to improve your ACT Reading score effectively, and why it's so important to do so. Unlike other fluffy articles out there, I'm focusing on actionable strategies. Put these eight strategies to work, and I'm confident you'll be able to improve your ACT score.

Are you scoring in the 26–34 range on ACT Critical Reading? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible—to a perfect 36?

Getting to a 36 ACT Reading score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on Reading on my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score—or get very close.

A 30 ACT score is a solid goal to have for test day. But how difficult is it to get a 30? How many questions can you miss? And what kinds of schools can you get into with a 30?

In this guide, we teach you how to get a 30 on the ACT with our nine top tips, covering everything from starting your prep through picking answers on test day. In fact, the tips in this article will help you even if you're shooting for a higher or lower score, like a 32 or a 29.

If you want to do well on the SAT or ACT, keeping track of time and how many questions you have left is extremely important. 

Sections are 35-60 minutes long on the ACT and 25-65 minutes long on the SAT. One of the leading reasons students perform poorly on either test is that they run out of time. And one of the leading reasons students run out of time is not because they're not aware of how much time is left.

We'll go over the best way to keep track of time on the SAT/ACT in this article, including what timekeeping devices are and are not permitted on test day.

Only got a month until the ACT? No worries! In this guide, we offer you our best tips and advice on how to study for the ACT in a month. First, we’ll discuss the feasibility of a one-month ACT prep plan and the four critical steps you must take to get started. Then, we’ll provide you with our best high-impact tips to help you get the ACT score you need for college.

NOTE: This article largely assumes you’ll be studying for the ACT on your own. For additional help, contact our expert ACT tutors or get started with our customizable online ACT prep course!

You're serious about studying for the SAT. You have a year or more to study, and you want to put a real effort into it.

Is studying this much worth it? What are the payoffs? And most importantly, what's the best way to study for the SAT / ACT on the year-or-more level? This post answers those questions!

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."

While Alexander Graham Bell may not have been referring specifically to the SAT or ACT, his words ring as true for these tests as for anything else. Scoring highly on the SAT/ACT is all about preparation, and luckily you have plenty of time to prepare if you start early. If you haven't started already, let's discuss some reasons why it's useful to start prepping as a freshman and the best ways for doing so.