When I first started prepping for the SAT/ACT, I thought the formula was obvious: buy a giant prep book, highlight aggressively, and maybe take a practice test or two if I was feeling ambitious. Spoiler: that’s not actually how you improve. After surviving months of studying (and too many Saturday mornings spent with bubble sheets), here are the study secrets I wish someone had told me sooner.

Secret #1: It’s Not About Studying More, It’s About Studying Smarter

I used to think the people with 1500+ scores were grinding eight hours a day. Nope. They were just intentional. You don’t need to study for hours on end—you need to focus on what you’re bad at.

Example: I was solid on reading comprehension, but math? Different story. Instead of splitting my time evenly, I doubled down on the math sections. Every mistake became a pattern I tracked (“oh look, another careless algebra slip”). The score bumps didn’t come from working harder; they came from targeting weaknesses.

Secret #2: Practice Tests Are the Real MVP

The first time you sit down for a full practice test, you will be humbled. Your brain will feel like mush by hour three. And that’s the point. The SAT/ACT isn’t just testing knowledge—it’s testing stamina.

I tried to avoid practice tests because they’re long and miserable. But once I forced myself to do them, everything changed. You learn pacing, endurance, and when your brain starts to check out. Bonus: you get used to the format so test day feels less like a surprise attack.

Secret #3: Time Management is Half the Battle

Nobody told me that finishing sections is just as important as answering correctly. Getting stuck on one reading passage or one tricky math problem is basically score suicide.

What helped me was a simple rule: if I wasn’t confident in 60 seconds, I circled it and moved on. Guessing > running out of time. By the end, I could finish with a few minutes to spare and go back for round two.

Secret #4: The Answer is Literally in the Passage

For the reading section, I used to overthink every question like I was solving world peace. Then someone pointed out: the answer is always in the passage. Not “what you think,” not “what makes sense in real life”—it’s what’s actually written there. Once I stopped making it a philosophy class and just treated it like a scavenger hunt, my reading score shot up.

Secret #5: Memorize the Math Shortcuts

The SAT/ACT doesn’t care if you’re a math genius—it cares if you’re fast. There are formulas and tricks that shave off minutes. Quadratic formula? Must-know. Common Pythagorean triples? Save you from wasting time. Plugging in numbers for variables? Lifesaver. Once I had those down, I wasn’t panicking about running out of time.

Secret #6: Review Mistakes Like It’s a Sport

The worst thing you can do is take a practice test, see your score, and shove it in a drawer. Every wrong answer is free tutoring. I started keeping a “mistake log”—a running list of questions I got wrong and why. After a while, I could literally predict my weak spots before I even opened the test booklet.

Secret #7: It’s Mental, Too

Nobody talks about this, but the SAT/ACT is as much a mental game as it is academic. Test anxiety, lack of sleep, or even just nerves can tank your score. What helped me? Simulating test day. I’d wake up early, eat the same breakfast, and practice under real timed conditions. By the time the actual test rolled around, it felt like just another Saturday practice session.

Final Thoughts

The SAT/ACT isn’t about being a genius—it’s about strategy. Once I stopped treating it like an impossible monster and started treating it like a game of patterns, it became manageable.

So if you’re in the middle of prep, here’s my advice: don’t waste your time highlighting every line of a prep book. Focus on weaknesses, take full practice tests, review your mistakes, and remember that half the battle is just not psyching yourself out.

And hey—worst case, you walk out with a story about the Saturday morning you spent three hours arguing with a bubble sheet. Best case? You walk out with the score you wanted all along.