As of October 2026. Every number below is sourced; the list is at the end.
As of October 2026, students who finish our program average +5.7 ACT points (22 to 28) or +190 SAT points (1210 to 1400). Published research puts the typical gain from a retest with prep far lower: about +1.4 ACT points and roughly +30 SAT points. Both sets of numbers are honest. What separates them is how much work got done, and who got counted.
The comfortable belief
Prep adds a few points. A book, a weekend class, a practice test or two, and the number nudges up.
That belief has real evidence behind it. ACT's own 2019 research report found that students who took and prepared for a second ACT gained about 1.4 points on the Composite. The same report cites a review of SAT prep studies that put the average gain near 30 points. One study found that students who prepared more than 20 hours scored just 0.7 ACT points above students who prepared only three to six hours.
Read that last line twice. More hours, almost no change.
What those studies are measuring
They measure whatever prep happened to mean for those students. Hours do not teach anyone. Work does. If nobody checks that the homework came back, extra hours add very little, and the research says so plainly.
So we measured a narrower group.
What our students average
Our results page breaks the gains out by where a student started, and so does the Reach version:
| Starting point | Average start | Average finish | Average gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACT 27 or below | 22 (69th percentile) | 28 (90th) | +5.7 |
| ACT 28 or higher | 30 (94th) | 34 (99th) | +3.4 |
| SAT 1350 or below | 1210 (77th) | 1400 (93rd) | +190 |
| SAT 1350 or higher | 1400 (93rd) | 1520 | +120 |
Starting and finishing scores are rounded averages; the gain column is the average gain itself, so the columns do not always subtract to the cent.
Among SAT students who started at 1350 or below, 93% improved by 100 points or more, 63% by 200 or more, and 20% by 300 or more. Among ACT students who started at 27 or below, 97% improved by 3 points or more, 68% by 5 or more, and 21% by 8 or more.
Who got counted
These are students who completed the Test Prep Gurus program: 12 or more hours of instruction and at least 80% of the homework turned in. The window covers several years and runs through 2026. The averages describe completers, and individual results vary.
That is a real limit, and I would rather say it than bury it. This is not every teenager who signs up. It is what happens when the work actually gets done.
What an average hides
An average is the middle of the pack. It says nothing about the top. Ella came to us at a 22 on the ACT and left at a 34. That is a 12-point jump, the same as about 480 points on the SAT, and it put her in the top 1% of ACT takers. Her top choices, Williams and Amherst, both said yes. Watch her tell it. She is not the average. She is what the work looks like when a kid goes all in.
What the work looks like
Our most popular program is 24 hours, one on one: one 2-hour session a week for 12 weeks, 2 to 3 hours of homework a week, and at least five full-length practice SAT or ACT exams. Six to twelve weeks is the window we aim for. Students prepare for the whole SAT or ACT every sitting, never one section.
A score moves because a student does the work. There is no other lever.
The move
This month, before you spend a dollar, get a real starting line. Every program here opens with two free diagnostic tests, one ACT and one SAT, so you can see which exam suits your kid and what the honest baseline is. Book the free mock SAT and ACT at prepgurus.com/frequently-asked-questions, or call 949.229.5359 and we will set it up.
Sources
- Ella's story, Test Prep Gurus on YouTube (22 to 34 on the ACT) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkPCrKWeIGQ
- Test Prep Gurus blog, "How Ella Jumped 12 Points on the ACT" (Williams and Amherst) — https://www.prepgurus.com/blog/2024/8/13/eh5i4zd2jlssk1gyoehdor0lg5g6y8
- Test Prep Gurus score-improvement results — https://www.prepgurus.com/results-at-test-prep-gurus
- Test Prep Gurus results (High School Reach) — https://highschoolreach.com/test-prep-results
- Test Prep Gurus program and diagnostics (FAQ) — https://www.prepgurus.com/frequently-asked-questions
- ACT Research Report 2019-2 — Raeal Moore, Edgar Sanchez and Sweet San Pedro, "College Entrance Exams: How Does Test Preparation Affect Retest Scores?" (the report that reviews Schiel & Valiga 2014a and 2014b and Briggs 2001 and 2009) — https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/R1743-test-prep-retest-scores-2019-07.pdf
Questions parents ask
Is a 200-point SAT jump realistic for my kid?
Among our SAT students who started at 1350 or below, 63% improved by 200 points or more and 93% improved by at least 100. Those averages describe students who completed the program, so individual results vary.
Why are your gains so much bigger than the numbers I read online?
ACT's own 2019 research report puts the typical retest-with-prep gain at about 1.4 ACT points, and the SAT review it cites at roughly 30 points, measured across whatever prep those students happened to do. Our figures count only completers: 12 or more instruction hours and at least 80% of the homework turned in.
How long does prep take before we see the score move?
We aim for six to twelve weeks. The most popular program is 24 hours one on one, which is one 2-hour session a week for 12 weeks plus 2 to 3 hours of homework a week and at least five full-length practice exams.
Written by Nick Standlea, founder of Test Prep Gurus. Updated October 2026.