SAT reading and writing tutoring at Caddell Prep is 1-on-1 instruction focused on the Reading & Writing section, available online or in person at our Staten Island office. Sessions are built around a diagnostic test, which identifies which of the 15 Digital SAT Reading & Writing topics a student is losing the most points on. Tutoring packages are not section-specific, so a student can use the sessions for reading and writing only or split them across both sections as his results change.
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What Improves Quickly and What Takes Longer
Parents are often told that reading scores are slow to move. That’s half right, and the half that’s wrong is the more useful half.
A quarter of the Reading & Writing section is grammar rules. Punctuation is 13.6% of the questions, verb tense is 8.2%, pronouns are 1.7%, and modifiers are 1.5%. That comes to 25% of the section, which lines up with the 26% the College Board reports for Standard English Conventions.
Those are rules. A student who doesn’t know when to use a semicolon can be taught it in a session and can then answer those questions. That’s the same kind of learning as a math topic, and it moves at the same speed.
Words in context is another 16.5% of the section, and it improves with practice faster than most students expect, because the questions test reasoning from a paragraph rather than memorized definitions.
What genuinely takes longer is reading comprehension. Function and purpose, supporting and undermining, main idea, and inference rest on reading habits built over years. Those improve, but slowly, and a student who needs a large gain there needs more time than a student who needs the same gain in grammar.
That distinction is what a diagnostic settles. Two students with identical Reading & Writing scores can need completely different amounts of work.
What SAT Reading & Writing Tutoring Covers
The Digital SAT Reading & Writing section has 54 questions across two modules, and we’ve categorized every question on the released College Board practice tests into 15 specific topics.
The topics are not evenly distributed. Words in context is 16.5% of the questions. Punctuation is 13.6%. Inference is 0.8%.
There’s a second thing about this section that math doesn’t have. The topics appear in a predictable order. Each module opens with words in context questions, the reading questions end with text completions, and summary notes questions come last. A student who knows the order knows where he is in the module without checking the question counter, and can budget his time by block instead of trying to hold a fixed pace on every question.
That’s a pacing skill, and it’s one of the things a tutor can teach in a session that a book can’t easily deliver.
See the full breakdown of the 15 Digital SAT Reading & Writing topics, including the order they appear in and how often each is tested.
What Happens in a Reading & Writing Tutoring Session
Tutoring starts with a diagnostic test, so the topic list exists before the first session does.
Grammar sessions work like math sessions. The rule gets explained, then applied to real SAT questions, then practiced until the student recognizes the pattern without thinking about it. Punctuation in particular comes down to identifying independent clauses, and a student who can do that reliably picks up most of those 13.6% of questions.
Reading sessions work differently. The tutor and the student work through passages together, and most of the work is on two things. The first is recognizing what type of question is being asked, since a function and purpose question and a supporting and undermining question need different approaches even when the passage looks the same. The second is knowing what to look for in the passage once the question type is clear. Most students who struggle with reading questions improve by learning those two skills rather than by reading more carefully.
That is another reason the 15 topics matter. They are the question types. A student who can name what he’s looking at knows what to do next.
Homework is assigned between sessions from the topics being covered. Practice tests are given throughout, both to show whether the score is moving and to check whether the sessions are still on the right topics.
“I learned how to use specific strategies when it came to answering certain types of questions. For example, my trouble spot was the reading section due to the fact that I found it hard to read the passage quickly and pull out the important information; however, by doing what Glyn taught me I was able to improve my reading score by 200 points, which improved my overall SAT score a lot. “
- Pamela Pulla (student)
Should a Student Take Reading and Writing Only Tutoring?
For some students, yes. For most, no.
Reading and writing only makes sense when a student’s math score is already where he wants it, or when a previous SAT or diagnostic shows the math side is solid and the points are all on the other side.
It doesn’t make sense for most students. A reading and writing only plan caps the total improvement at 400 points, and a student who hasn’t looked at his math results is normally leaving points there. A diagnostic settles the question in about an hour.
Keep in mind that a student who stops practicing math for months will normally see that score slip. Even a student focusing entirely on reading and writing should keep taking full-length practice tests and reviewing his math mistakes.
Packages are not section-specific, so this isn’t a decision a student is locked into. Sessions can move to SAT math tutoring at any point.
How Do You Know Which Topics to Work On?
The 15 topics are the same for every student. The five or six that matter are not.
This section is harder to guess at than math. A student can normally tell you which math topics confuse him. Very few students can tell you whether they’re losing points on function and purpose or on transitions, because both feel like reading questions while you’re taking the test.
Start With a Free Diagnostic SAT
A free diagnostic SAT gives a student an accurate Reading & Writing section score based on College Board scoring, plus a ranked list showing which of the 15 topics are costing him the most points.
That list becomes the session plan. It also shows whether the points are going on the grammar side or the reading side, which determines how many hours the work is likely to take.
The diagnostic can be taken online or in person at our Staten Island office, and there’s no charge.
Aiming for an 800 on SAT Reading & Writing
A student going for a perfect score in this section is a different case. He isn’t learning rules for the first time. He’s closing a small number of specific gaps and eliminating the careless errors that come from reading too fast.
That normally takes fewer hours than a broader improvement, and more of those hours go to timed practice and error review. See how to get an 800 on SAT reading and writing.
Tutoring Packages and Pricing
Packages run from 12 to 48 hours, $1,380 to $4,800, with three-installment payment plans. They are not section-specific, so the same package covers reading and writing, math, or both.
See SAT tutoring packages and pricing for the full table and for guidance on how many hours a given score improvement normally takes.
Call (917) 722-0677 to get more information or to get started.
Other Ways to Prepare for SAT Reading & Writing
An SAT prep class covers reading and writing and math together at a lower cost per hour, in classes capped at eight students.
Our on-demand SAT course covers all 15 Reading & Writing topics with a video explanation for every practice question, at the student’s own pace.
We also publish free SAT vocabulary practice, which is worth using between sessions given that words in context is the most common topic on the section.