Call or Text Today And Schedule Your Complimentary Consult: (773) 405-4775
Call or Text Today and Schedule Your Complimentary Consult: (773) 405-4775
ACT PREP
Why is The Krupnick Approach the best ACT prep choice for YOU?
Our Elite Track Record
We develop individualized ACT tutoring programs to unlock the elusive nature of these tests. On average, our students increase their scores by at least 7 points on the ACT –the best track record in the area.
Our Data-Driven Approach
We’ve analyzed 26,000 official questions, conducted probability analysis, and explored every question and answer pattern in existence. In backtesting every question since 1996, we’ve unlocked the rules that govern the ACT.
Our Team of Subject Specialists
Just as in school you wouldn’t want your English teacher teaching your science class, ACT tutors have strengths and weaknesses, too. While most other programs follow a jack-of-all-trades model that fails to meet your specific needs, our subject specialists help you achieve mastery across all sections. Some colleges will take your highest sections and superscore your ACT. With our method, you can superscore us!
Our Experience as an Integrated College Prep Service
In the “holistic” college admissions environment, the ACT is just one part of your profile that needs to be in sync with the rest of your application. Our tutors are experts in integrating test prep into the college application process. We help you identify your goals, reach them, and then soar above what you thought was possible. Let’s do this!
Our Approach to the ACT
The One-On-One Sessions
Sessions move between theory and practice, between our proprietary formulas and official ACT questions. We’ve distilled the ACT into systematic procedures and methods that are fun (fun!) and easy to learn.
The Strategy Files
Our strategy files are your rules of the road for the ACT. We present our proprietary test-specific and content-related rules in formats that are systematic and easily digestible. They come from ten years of research and our analysis of 26,000 official questions.
The Homework
You should expect to clock a 1:1 ratio of session time to outside homework time. If we do a one 1.5-hour session per week, you’ll do about 1.5 hours of homework. Not exactly a full-time job, but it’s absolutely essential.
The Mock Tests
Mock tests are full-length official ACTs that you should take at least every three weeks. These practice tests are checkpoints and essential for tracking stamina. Our program allows you to take unlimited mocks for no extra charge.
Our Process
Diagnostic Assessment
Your baseline ACT will highlight key strengths and opportunities for improvement. With over 200 official ACTs, we wil analyze your diagnostics using our scanning software and data tracking system. If you're deciding whether to take the ACT or SAT, we usually recommend baselines in both tests. In order to not split your gains in half, we strongly encourage students to choose *either* the ACT or SAT--and never look back.
Tutoring Plan
After reviewing your baseline and coordinating on a program, we will put together your comprehensive program specification document, including details on scheduling, test dates, and tutoring distributions. All programs come with full access to The Krupnick Approach’s proprietary database, including strategy files, curated question banks, content review, and outside resources. No matter where you are, we'll equip you to meet your test prep goals.
Ongoing Consultations
Like seasoned athletic coaches, we continue to adjust strategies and approaches throughout the program to meet your ongoing test-prep needs. As you begin to narrow down your college lists, we can help you determine how to integrate your ACT scores into your application for the best possible admissions outcomes.
Work With Our Experts
You'll work with our Harvard and Ivy-League-trained experts in one-on-one tutoring sessions, which are personalized to your individual strengths and weaknesses. Whether you work with us on Zoom or in-person at our offices in Chicago, our unique team approach ensures that we will optimize your results across all four sections of the test.
Navigating the ACT
ACTGet Results Now!
Bronze Program
Available Online and
In Person
In Person
- Expected program duration: 4-10 weeks
- Expected point improvement: 3-4 ACT, 70-100 SAT
Silver Program
Available Online and
In Person
In Person
- Expected program duration: 6-15 weeks
- Expected point improvement: 5-6 ACT, 120-150 SAT
Gold Program
Available Online and
In Person
In Person
- Expected program duration: 8-20 weeks
- Expected point improvement: 6-7 ACT, 150-200 SAT
Gold+ Program
Available Online and
In Person
In Person
- Expected program duration: 12-30 weeks
- Expected point improvement: 7-9 ACT, 200-250 SAT
Platinum Program
Available Online and
In Person
In Person
- Expected program duration: 15-40 weeks
- Expected point improvement: 10+ ACT, 250+ SAT
What's on the ACT?
Composed of 75 questions at a 45-minute hard stop, the English section is, first and foremost, about grammar and punctuation. More specifically, it’s about the specific forms of grammar and punctuation that the ACT deems important. This means you won’t be expected to know the difference between a period and a semicolon but will be expected to know four specific situations in which you can use a comma. It also means 30% of the English section of the ACT will be based on test-specific rules, or magic tricks, which you can automatically answer based on the internal structure of the exam.
Ultimately, if you learn the strategy files we’ve made and how to apply them, there’s nothing that should stop you from acing ACT English.
Math is the one section of the ACT that’s actually based on skills you’ve learned in school. With 60 increasingly difficult questions to complete in 60 minutes, your job is to work through problems from numbers & quantity, algebra, geometry, and advanced skills from Algebra II.
Since every math question has two kinds of answers (a right answer and a trap), your goal for Math is to either get the question correct or get it wrong in a way unanticipated by the test makers. The advanced skill questions cover themes ranging from matrices and imaginary numbers to logarithms and conics, but even if you haven’t covered some of these subjects in school, the ACT only expects about a C- level of understanding of advanced skills. Often the hardest questions require relatively little math but involve challenging conceptual moves that aren’t ordinarily taught in standard school math curricula.
The myth about the Reading section of the ACT is that it’s a test of a student's ability to comprehend and analyze written passages. This isn’t quite untrue inasmuch as reading comprehension skills will benefit you on the ACT, but the more fundamental skill for Reading is learning how to read quickly under enormous time pressure. A 70-minute test the ACT requires you to do in 35 minutes, Reading is a pride-swallowing siege of scanning, parsing, and locating words, synonyms, and ideas in passages in rapid-fire time and then triaging answer choices for traps and correct answers.
Our experts have deciphered algorithms for logical rules and correct answer locations and methods for reading quickly that will benefit you in both speed and accuracy on the ACT. And these skills will help you in college too; when your professor asks you to read 300 pages a week, you’ll know how to distill large amounts of information very effectively and quickly thanks to our work together.
The Science section, technically the Science Reasoning section, is ostensibly based on the biology, chemistry, and physics you learned in school, but there’s very little actual science on this test. With only 2-4 questions on science concepts you learned in high school, ACT science tests you on hard-to-pin-down skills like data analysis, chart reading, and the use of the principle of sufficient reason. Which is not to downplay its interdisciplinary rigor by any means, but we’ve discovered content-related rules, procedures, and methods to support even the most apprehensive students to jump 8, 9, and sometimes more than 10 points.
The ACT Writing section is not only optional but entirely unnecessary because colleges do not use it as a criterion in the admissions process. Legend has it that colleges once scrutinized the Writing score–alongside students’ personal statements to spot inconsistencies–but they soon found out that writing scores were more highly correlated with the length of students’ essays than with their quality. Generally, we advise students not to take the Writing (a “Pascal’s Wager” kind of thing), but we have resources to help students with the section should they so desire.
DSAT | ACT | |
Timing | 2 hours, 14 minutes | 2 hours, 55 minutes |
Number of questions | 98 questions | 215 questions |
Minutes/Question | 1.37 | 0.81 |
Test Format | Adaptive, Digital | Paper/Pencil, Linear |
Sections | Reading & Writing Math | English Math Reading Science |
Scoring | 400-1600 | 1-36 |
Student Strengths | Students better suited to the DSAT are typically those who: 1) Prefer a shorter format (DSAT is 2 hrs 14 mins, ACT is 2 hrs 55 mins) 2) Prefer a slower-paced test 3) Are looking to emphasize math skills (given that math is 50% of the DSAT) 4) Prefer shorter passages for reading and punctuation/grammar. 5) Feel more comfortable with challenging vocabulary questions (DSAT includes 8-10 vocabulary-in-context questions) | Students better suited to the ACT are typically those who: 1) Prefer a longer format 2) Can tolerate a faster paced test. 3) Are looking for more rules and formulas. (20% of the ACT questions are based on “magic tricks” vs. 14% of SAT questions.) 4) Feel more comfortable with charts, graphs, figures, and tables. (These are tested on the ACT Science section.) 5) Feel more comfortable with the meat-and-potatoes paper/pencil style of testing. |
The Structure of the ACT
| Section | Standard Time Duration | Number of Questions | Number of Passages | Time Per Question | Time per Passage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 45 minutes | 75 questions | 5 | 36 seconds | 9 minutes |
| Math | 60 minutes | 60 questions | N/A | 60 seconds | N/A |
| Reading | 35 minutes | 40 questions | 4 passages | 52 seconds | 8 minutes, 45 seconds |
| Science | 35 minutes | 40 questions | 6 passages | 52 seconds | 5 minutes, 50 seconds |
| Total | 2 hours and 55 minutes | 265 questions | 25 passages | 4 minutes and 57 seconds | 23 minutes and 35 seconds |