ACT PREP

Why is The Krupnick Approach the best ACT prep choice for YOU?

The Krupnick Approach

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Based on 56 reviews

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colin cody

19:49 11 Dec 23

My son did great on the selective enrollment high school test. Most importantly he got assistance where he needed the most help and did really well on that part. Huge thanks to Joe and the crew!Colin

Kenya Williams

03:33 21 Sep 23

I am extremely grateful for Joe and his team who are passionate about improving the chances for acceptance into the top tier colleges. I appreciate his personal attention, follow-up and ease of scheduling sessions. With the Krupnick Approach our son raised his score to just 10 points shy of his goal. He also decided to take the test one final time because with assistance from Joe's team he feels even more confident that he can surpass his initial goal. Bringing out the best in teens and motivating them to demonstrate their abilities is truly a gift. And TBH it is a gift that keeps on giving since it has the potential to create a life changing opportunity! Thank.You.Joe.

Bonnie Micheli

14:17 25 May 23

Highly recommend The Krupnick Approach to anyone studying for the SAT/ACT test! The Krupnick Approach tutoring helped raise my son's SAT test score 300 points. Joe Krupnick himself is very hands on and knowledgable about both tests. All of the tutors were great to work with and my son really learned so much from all of them including Joe. Andrew Kletzien, the math tutor, was exceptional. My son received a perfect score on the math SAT section and absolutely loved working with Andrew.

Rania Jones

03:15 11 May 23

I cannot thank Joe Krupnick and the Krupnick Approach enough for their exceptional guidance, support, and expertise throughout my college application process.From the beginning, Joe Krupnick took the time to understand my academic strengths, extracurricular activities, and who I was to help shape my college process around what would be the best fit for me.Thanks to their guidance, I was accepted into my top-choice school, Harvard University. I know that without their help, I would not have been able to achieve this dream.

Ivana Nikolic

00:03 21 Apr 23

Joe and the Krupnick tutoring team blew us away! My son Marko raised his ACT score by 11 points! Quite amazing! The focus on practice, time management, and test-taking strategies really helped Marko feel confident and prepared on test day. The team was always punctual, proactive and had a fantastic response time with any question we had. My glowing recommendation and much gratitude goes to Joe and his team. You have made a significant impact on Marko's future, and we are forever grateful.

rumki GuhaDutta

16:15 14 Apr 23

Dr. Krupnick is an extremely skillful mentor, coach and tutor. Himself a PHD from Harvard, he is extremely focus, dedicated and committed to each student.We found his method and approach to be extremely helpful for my daughter. I have not seen such one on one and hands on approach with any other college prep counselor/classes. We have been extremely happy with Joe( Dr.Krupnik) and his personal involvement always made us feel at ease.My daughter has got accepted in one of her top three choice of college and to a big extent we attribute her success to Joe's commitment. We could not have been more happy with everything!

Zach Sharp

23:43 20 Feb 23

Writing college applications is an incredibly challenging and intimidating process. It requires a unique form of writing that requires you to show off all your accomplishments while remaining relatable and humble. This can be really tricky to understand but Joe and the whole team at the Krupnick approach make it very easy. Joe’s coaching helped bring out my voice so that my essays stood out from the crowd. Joe also helped me through navigating the ACT. His test prep practice helped me raise my score by 6 points putting me in the range for more competitive schools. I am now studying at the University of Chicago, my dream school, and I would not been able to get here without Joe’s help.

Veemon 22

02:08 23 Feb 22

My name is Anthony Leon and currently in my senior year of highschool. Being a a first generation immigrant, I'm the first going to college and with that comes a lot of new challenges seeing as I had little information to work with. However, the Krupnick Approach has helped me through a lot in navigating through the SAT and college process. I honestly can't think of how I would've managed without their assistance. Dr. Joe Krupnick, Joe Burton, and Kalea Ponce have been both kind and informative on the secrets of mastering the SAT and tackling the challenge of writing college essays. Thanks to our efforts, I've managed to secure a full ride to Amherst. I cannot recommend this program enough for any student with little knowledge on the SAT or college process.

Maddie Gardner

16:44 09 May 21

Krupnick approach is a great way to boost your test scores. I went from a 21 to a 26/27 superscore just from this company. He also helped me look at colleges and my college essays. Overall very helpful and I would definitely recommend!

Sydney Himes

16:29 08 May 21

I have been so impressed with Joe and his team or tutors. They are patient, and able to make the most difficult concepts easy to digest. Most impressive is the confidence they install in your student! It was a real pleasure for my student to work with the Krupnick approach! I would use them again in a heartbeat.

Ava Nelligan

20:44 07 May 21

Helped me raise my ACT score and ultimately get into 8 top universities! Lots of great strategies and tips, very informed. Thank you for your help!

Cooper Haislip

18:29 07 May 21

Phenomenal service! It helped me achieve academic success in a course I genuinely thought I would fail. All tutors, especially founder Dr. Krupnick, greatly surpass any current on-campus assistance. Each tutor is brilliant, personable, relate to pressures that come with higher education, dedicated to helping students reach academic excellence, and help you realize your full potential both as a student and an individual. I highly recommend The Krupnick Approach for anyone who needs/ wants the highest quality after-school assistance, and if I could give them six stars, I would.

Our Approach to the ACT

Our Process

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Navigating the ACT

ACT

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15 hours

Expected program duration: 4-10 weeks
Expected point improvement: 3-4 ACT, 70-100 SAT

22.5 hours

Expected program duration: 6-15 weeks
Expected point improvement: 5-6 ACT, 120-150 SAT

30 hours

Expected program duration: 8-20 weeks
Expected point improvement: 6-7 ACT, 150-200 SAT

45 hours

Expected program duration: 12-30 weeks
Expected point improvement: 7-9 ACT, 200-250 SAT

60 hours

Expected program duration: 15-40 weeks
Expected point improvement: 10+ ACT, 250+ SAT

What's on the ACT?

English Section

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 Section

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.

Reading Section

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.

Science Section

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.

Writing Section

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.

Digital SAT vs. ACT

	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	215 questions	15 passages	49 seconds	7 minutes and 40 seconds

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ACT Prep FAQs

Q: When should I take the ACT?

A: Just as they say about voting, the best time to take the ACT/SAT is early and often. This is the case especially inasmuch as these tests do not generally reflect what you learn in school. This means that, with the exception of Math—which does require rudimentary understanding of advanced algebra concepts—there’s really no time that’s too early to start prepping.

With that said, we usually encourage students to begin incorporating ACT/SAT prep into their life routines the summer after sophomore year. The advantage of starting over the summer is that it’s not competing with the full-time jobs of high school and extracurricular activities. The advantage of starting after sophomore year is that students have generally had enough math to get them through 95-98 percent of the ACT/SAT and are by then in a great position to get ahead of the curve. Think of it this way: if you start early, you’ll be done with these tests by junior fall or winter. And while everyone else is still suffering the tortures of the damned, you’ll be able to spend your after school time on something else… like college prep!

The other advantage of starting early is that most colleges (our analysis suggests 65-70 percent) superscore ACT and SAT, which means that having more opportunities to take these exams will likely redound to your credit.

Finally, and the test companies try to keep this off the record, the ACT grants students the right to delete/cancel any/all test scores that would otherwise be on their record. It appears to be part of some kind of first amendment constitutional protection; we’re not quite sure. So if you bomb the ACT you’re first time around, colleges—including the few colleges like Georgetown that require submission of all scores—will not even know you took that exam.

Q: What's a good ACT score?

A: A good score, like curved space time, is relative. It’s relative to your personal standards and relative to the standards of the schools to which you’re applying. (To a certain extent, one might say that good scores are also relative to the standards of your parents and peers, but, as independent thinkers ourselves, we discourage all students from having such narrowly defined conceptions of success.)

More concretely, we encourage our students to aim for outcomes that put them above the 25th percentile for the schools to which they are applying. If you’re dead set on Princeton or MIT, this means that a 33 or a 34 is a good score. If you’re looking at other schools, that 25th percentile might start at 25 or 26. For more information on percentile scores at specific schools, see College Super-Scoring, Test Optional Status & Admissions Data.

If you don’t know where you’re applying, a good rule of thumb is to aim for a percentile that is roughly commensurate with your GPA percentile at your local high school. If you get mostly As and are in the top 10% of your class, you’ll probably want to aim for a 30 or higher. If you’re in the middle of the class, you’d probably benefit from an ACT that’s 25 or higher.

If you don’t know where you stand in relation to your local high school class, we’d suggest looking at Naviance/Scoir/Maya Learning scattergrams and perhaps doing some light reconnaissance during free periods and downtime. Also, it’s usually not terribly difficult to get a ballpark sense based on conversations with friends and classmates.

Q: What does the ACT actually measure?

A: The ACT doesn’t reflect what you’ve learned in school. It certainly is not an intelligence test. What it is is a test of how effectively and efficiently you can attend to details, ignore distractions, and translate unfamiliar words and concepts into ideas that make sense to you.

Q: If the ACT doesn’t reflect academic skills, why do colleges care about it?

A: The ACT is important because it requires a different but equally important set of skills that you do need in college and later in life. In college, you will take courses that assign 300-400 pages of reading a week. It is practically impossible to read 300-400 pages a week per class and also sleep and get to know your roommates,. The training we offer on the Reading section of the ACT teaches you how to distill massive amounts of prose into a few core ideas.

Colleges also care about the ACT because, along with the SAT, it is the single universally available and objectively measurable standard that colleges have to compare one applicant with another. It is imperfect, to be sure, but it’s a shortcut colleges can use to assess their applicant pool and that you can use to help yourself stand out.

Q: But what is this I keep hearing about test-optional policies? Are ACTs and SATs really optional?

A: Yes, but let’s back up and lay some groundwork here. It is important to recognize that test optional policies are real and they’re not going away. Colleges mean it when they say that you don’t have to submit an ACT or SAT. They also mean it when they say that they won’t explicitly hold it against you.

There are three important caveats, however. First, while colleges do offer you latitude on whether to submit your scores, they do take the ACT/SAT seriously. Second, while they may not explicitly penalize you for not submitting, they cannot very well reward you unless you do. Third, the pendulum is swinging back towards the test. As colleges continue to digest new evidence that the ACT & SAT are better predictors than GPA of college and career outcomes, they’re increasingly reinstating requirements. Even holdouts that maintain test-optional policies are likely to take the ACT/SAT more seriously than they did in 2021-2023.

From our perspective, the function of success on the ACT/SAT is to give you as many options as possible. When you’re working with us, our goal is not merely to “keep up” with the other students at your school; we want to give you an advantage over applicant pools whose profiles are, superficially at least, essentially the same as yours. Like terrific grades, a well-crafted essay, and flattering recommendations, a great score on the ACT or SAT will appreciably improve your odds of acceptance at universities across the world.

Q: How do I get started with prep?

A: After the complimentary consultation with a team member at The Krupnick Approach, students take a full-length baseline exam: either the ACT, SAT, or both. After these are graded, we will design a recommended program around each student’s particular strengths, weaknesses, and score or school goals. We may request an additional consultation at this stage to discuss baseline results and agree upon a recommended program length. When a program package is selected, a tutor team will be assembled to cover all subject sections of the exam. We will send students and parents a Program Specification Document outlining all of the details of the program: total hours, baseline scores, official test dates, mock test dates, the assigned tutor team, recommended pacing for each section, scheduling instructions for each tutor, and the policies and procedures of the respective program. This document will also provide access to the student’s Drive folder, The Krupnick Approach ACT/SAT Database, virtual whiteboards, and student portal login instructions. Students will then schedule sessions with each tutor in accordance with the agreed-upon plan outlined in the specification document.

Q: How do I know whether to take the ACT/SAT?

A: If families are unsure of which test is more suitable for a student’s strengths and goals , we will administer, score, and analyze an ACT and SAT baseline exam, on different days. We will then collect feedback from the student about their experience with each exam, and advise on the best approach moving forward. We discourage students from preparing for both exams.

Q: How do I schedule tutoring sessions?

A: For students’ convenience, each of our tutors and consultants uses an automated scheduling system. This system allows students to choose from all remaining available time slots for that individual tutor. If students prefer, we can also schedule directly with students via email, text, or phone. When scheduling through our automated system, students will receive an email confirmation for each time reserved and a calendar event will automatically be created on the account they are signed in with. If the session is virtual, the link to join the Zoom meeting will be included in the calendar event and email confirmation, or the tutor will send you a unique join link before your scheduled session.

We highly encourage students to schedule their own sessions so that they appear on the student’s calendar. We find that students who take over the execution and management of their programs fare far better both in our program and in the inevitable chaos of college life and classwork. When using our automated system, parents can be added to the calendar events after the initial scheduling so that they know when students are scheduled to meet.

Q: When are sessions held?

A: Students work out their schedules individually with each subject-specialist, depending on the student’s and the tutor’s schedule. Tutors do their best to be flexible, and each tutoring team will take into consideration any scheduling restrictions students might have.

Q: How long are the sessions?

A: ACT students generally meet with tutors for 1.5 hour sessions, with exceptions made for students with accommodations or other extenuating circumstances.

Q: How much homework should I expect?

A: Students should expect a 1:1 ratio of session time to homework. If a student meets with a tutor for 1.5 hours per week, he or she should expect to complete about 1.5 hours of homework per week. Failure to complete assigned homework can significantly impact a student’s ability to reach his or her score goals. Students are required to complete and submit all homework assignments on a ZipGrade answer sheet to ensure comprehensive data collection and analysis. This ensures that a student’s tutor team and The Krupnick Approach administrative team can track student progress and adjust priorities among and between subjects over time. Students can submit ZipGrade answer sheets via email to their respective tutors at any time. Tutors will scan these into our comprehensive grading system so that tutors and students can review overall performance and missed questions the next time they meet.

Q: What are mock tests and when do I take them?

A: Mock tests are designed to evaluate student progress across the subject sections throughout the entire duration of the program. Most students will take a full-length mock test every 2-4 weeks, depending on the length of the program and the student’s goals. Regular mock testing ensures that students are able to integrate the lessons of all of the subject sections in one full exam, rather than merely as individual subject-level homework assignments. Mock test results are used to recalibrate the remainder of the program and reorient the student’s priorities in accordance with any progress made. The results of each mock test and each homework section will be accessible via the student’s unique portal, and The Krupnick Approach administrative and tutor teams keep a close eye on all results to ensure students are progressing at a reasonable pace.

Students may take their mock tests at home or in The Krupnick Approach’s downtown Chicago offices at 401 N. Michigan Ave. If students test at home, they should print the entire exam and all answer sheets to mimic test day conditions as closely as possible. We recommend students take mock tests on a weekend morning, or at least not testing after a full day of school. Students should reach out to a member of The Krupnick Approach team to schedule mock tests in the office, and students will need to show a photo ID in the first floor lobby to access our 5th floor offices.

Q: What materials and resources are available for ACT prep programs?

A: ACT Students will be given full access to The Krupnick Approach’s ACT Database, which includes many dozen official, full-length practice tests, score and percentile information, individual subject-specific practice sections, strategy and systems study guides, third-party resources, and ZipGrade answer sheets for all homework. Students will have a dedicated Student Drive, accessible by the entire tutor team, for easy sharing of score reports, study guides, schedules, or other related program information. All students will be provided a personalized ZipGrade Student Portal, where they can view all past results for baseline exams and homework sections. This portal will show each individual question results and the associated concept tags for each question. These tags are diligently assigned by The Krupnick Approach’s subject specialists and allow students and tutors to consistently and dynamically address each student’s particular weaknesses as they progress over time. Some students will be given access to a virtual whiteboard for some subject sections, which they will be able to access independently for further review and independent study.

The Krupnick Approach tutors and administrative staff are available to assist students and parents throughout the test prep process via email, text, and phone call. We are happy to advise on applying for testing accommodations, when to register, how to prepare for test day, and all other aspects of the process that families should be thinking about. We provide wraparound services that can keep all interested parties on the same page and focused on the same goals.

Q: How many tutors will I be working with?

A: Most students work with 2-3 subject specialists. Often, a single tutor will be assigned to cover more than one subject given the similarities in the sections themselves and the best strategies for approaching them. This will always depend upon the student’s unique strengths and weaknesses.

Q: What is our late cancellation policy?

A: Students are expected to maintain a professional and punctual attitude towards their time with our subject-specialists. All sessions must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, and scheduled sessions must be canceled with at least 24 hours notice. Tutors will retain discretion to accommodate less than 24-hour notice, but reserve the right to charge the entirety of the reserved time to the student’s program totals.