Improving your ACT composite score by 10 points is ambitious but realistic, especially if you’re starting in the low-to-mid 20s or below. Your composite is the average of four section scores (English, Math, Reading, Science), each on a 1-36 scale. That means raising your composite by 10 requires gaining roughly 10 scaled points per section, or making up the difference by improving dramatically in two or three sections while holding steady elsewhere. The key is diagnosing exactly where your points are hiding and building a study plan that targets those gaps.
Figure Out Where Your Points Are
Before you study anything, pull up your most recent ACT score report and look at your section breakdown. A student scoring a 19 composite might have a 22 in English, 16 in Math, 20 in Reading, and 18 in Science. That student doesn’t need a generic study plan. They need to focus heavily on Math and Science, where the largest gains are available.
The relationship between raw scores (number of correct answers) and scaled scores isn’t perfectly even. In Math, for example, going from 20 correct answers out of 60 to 30 correct answers moves your scaled score from about a 19 to a 28. That’s a 9-point jump from just 10 additional correct answers. In English, getting 10 more questions right out of 75 can raise your scaled score by 8 to 10 points depending on where you start. The gains are steepest in the middle of the scoring range, so students starting between 15 and 25 per section often see the most dramatic improvements.
Take a full-length practice test under timed conditions to establish your baseline. When you review it, don’t just count what you got wrong. Categorize your mistakes: did you run out of time? Misread the question? Not know the content? Make a careless error? Each type of mistake has a different fix.
Build a Realistic Study Timeline
A 10-point improvement typically takes 8 to 12 weeks of consistent, focused preparation. Students who try to cram everything into two or three weeks rarely see gains this large. Plan for at least 1 to 2 hours of focused study per day, 5 or 6 days a week. That’s roughly 60 to 120 total hours of prep, which aligns with what test prep research consistently shows is needed for double-digit gains.
Structure your weeks so you spend more time on your weakest sections. If Math and Science are dragging your composite down, spend 60% to 70% of your study time there. Take a full practice test every two weeks to measure progress and adjust your plan. Don’t wait until the week before test day to discover your Reading score hasn’t budged.
Raise Your English Score
The English section gives you 75 questions in 45 minutes, which means you have about 36 seconds per question. That sounds tight, but many English questions are quick once you know the grammar rules being tested. The section rewards pattern recognition more than deep analysis.
Focus your study on four high-frequency error types: subject-verb agreement, pronoun errors, sentence structure problems (fragments, run-ons, comma splices), and wordiness. These categories account for a large share of the questions. When a question asks you to choose the best version of a sentence, the shortest answer that’s grammatically correct is often right. The ACT penalizes unnecessary words.
For the rhetorical skills questions (ones that ask about organization, transitions, or the purpose of a passage), read the surrounding sentences carefully. The correct answer almost always connects logically to the sentence before and after the underlined portion. If an answer choice introduces an idea that comes out of nowhere, eliminate it.
Raise Your Math Score
The Math section has 60 questions in 60 minutes. The questions are roughly ordered by difficulty, so the first 30 are easier than the last 30. If you’re currently scoring in the teens or low 20s, your biggest opportunity is making sure you get every one of those first 30 questions right while picking up more of the medium-difficulty questions in the middle.
The content tested is predictable. About half the questions cover pre-algebra and elementary algebra: fractions, percentages, ratios, linear equations, and inequalities. Another quarter covers intermediate algebra and coordinate geometry: quadratics, systems of equations, slope, and graphing. The remaining quarter covers plane geometry and trigonometry. If trig is your weakest area but you’re losing more points to algebra mistakes, fix the algebra first. You’ll gain more points per hour of study.
When you miss a Math question, write down the specific skill it tested. After a few practice tests, you’ll see clusters. Maybe you keep getting tripped up by probability questions or by problems involving absolute value. Drill those specific topics until you can solve them quickly and confidently. Generic “do more math problems” studying is far less effective than targeted practice on your weak spots.
Raise Your Reading Score
The Reading section presents 4 passages (or sometimes 3 longer ones with paired excerpts) and asks 40 questions in 35 minutes. That gives you roughly 8 to 9 minutes per passage, including reading time. Pacing is the most common reason students leave points on the table here.
Use a three-stage approach: preview, read, then review. Before reading the full passage, glance at the questions to see what they ask about. Then read the passage with those questions in mind, focusing on the big ideas, the author’s tone, and how the argument is structured. Don’t try to memorize details on the first read. When you go to answer the questions, you’ll know roughly where to look.
For questions that ask about specific lines or details, go back to the passage and reread the relevant sentences. The correct answer is almost always supported by exact wording in the text. If you find yourself choosing an answer based on what “feels right” without pointing to a specific line, you’re guessing, and guessing on Reading costs you points. Wrong answers on the ACT often sound reasonable but introduce ideas the passage never actually states.
Raise Your Science Score
The Science section is the most misunderstood part of the ACT. It’s not really a test of science knowledge. It’s a test of your ability to read graphs, interpret data tables, and follow experimental descriptions. You don’t need to memorize the periodic table or know biology terminology. Most of the technical language in the passages is either defined for you or irrelevant to answering the questions.
There are three passage types: data representation (graphs and tables), research summaries (descriptions of experiments), and conflicting viewpoints (two scientists with different explanations). For data representation, focus on what’s being measured on each axis, identify trends (is the line going up or down?), and note relationships between variables. For research summaries, identify what changed between experiments and what stayed the same. For conflicting viewpoints, read each viewpoint separately and note where they agree and disagree before looking at the questions.
You have 35 minutes for 40 questions across 6 to 7 passages. That’s about 5 minutes per passage. Don’t spend time trying to deeply understand the science behind each experiment. Treat it like a reading comprehension exercise with charts. Students who practice this approach often see their Science score jump by 5 or more points simply by changing how they engage with the material.
Master Your Pacing
Running out of time is one of the biggest score killers on the ACT. Every unanswered question is a lost opportunity, and since there’s no penalty for wrong answers, you should never leave a bubble blank.
Practice under strict time limits from day one. Use a timer on every practice section. If you find yourself consistently running out of time on Reading or Science, practice a “two-pass” strategy: go through the passage once answering every question you can do quickly, then circle back to the harder ones. This ensures you collect all the easy points before spending time on questions that might not pay off.
If you’re taking the test online at a testing center, you’ll have access to built-in tools like an answer masker, an option eliminator, and the ability to mark questions for review. These tools make the two-pass strategy easier to execute. You can also use a built-in calculator, though you’re still allowed to bring your own permitted calculator regardless of format.
Use Official Practice Tests
The single most effective study material is real, retired ACT tests. These use the same question styles, difficulty curves, and scoring as the actual exam. Third-party practice books vary in quality, and some write questions that are noticeably easier or harder than the real thing, which can give you a false sense of your score.
After each practice test, spend as much time reviewing your mistakes as you spent taking the test. For every wrong answer, figure out why the correct answer is correct and why your chosen answer is wrong. Write this down. Over several practice tests, you’ll start noticing the same traps appearing repeatedly: answer choices that are technically true but don’t answer the question asked, or options that sound scientific but aren’t supported by the data presented.
Track your scores over time. If your composite is climbing by 2 to 3 points every couple of weeks, you’re on pace. If a particular section has plateaued, that’s a signal to change your approach for that section, whether that means drilling different content, adjusting your pacing, or practicing a different reading strategy.
Test Day Habits That Protect Your Score
A 10-point gain built over weeks of preparation can be undermined by poor test-day execution. Sleep matters more than last-minute studying. Get a full night’s rest the two nights before the test (not just the night before, since sleep debt from two nights prior affects performance).
Eat a meal with protein and complex carbs before the test. Bring a snack for the break. Dehydration and low blood sugar cause the kind of focus lapses that turn easy questions into missed points.
During the test, don’t dwell on any single question for more than 60 to 90 seconds. If you’re stuck, eliminate what you can, pick your best guess, mark it for review if testing online, and move on. The math question worth 1 point that takes you 3 minutes to solve is the same 1 point as the easy question you might miss at the end because you ran out of time.