Link Private Tutoring

ACT English Intensive — Preparing for the October 17 ACT

Need to boost that English score for the October 17 ACT test? This small-group class is built for just that.

Tuesdays, 5:00–6:30 PM — September 22, 29, October 6, 15

4 sessions, English-only focus

English is one of the fastest sections to move on with the right approach — most students see solid gains when we combine rule review with strategy. In each session, we work through real ACT English passages together, catching which grammar rules need a refresh, learning to recognize question types at a glance, and building the habit of knowing exactly what to do once a type is identified. It’s not just memorizing rules — it’s learning to apply them under time pressure, the way the test actually demands.

I’ve been teaching the ACT for 16+ years and I’m AIM Certified in English through the ACT — this class is built directly from what I see moving scores fastest with limited time before test day.

Spots are limited to keep the group small. Message me to reserve one before September 20.

$200. Minimum 4 students. Maximum 8 students.

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Considering ACT prep tutoring?

There are foundational skills test-takers can start working on today while families are choosing a tutor.

Many of my students are starting tutoring mid July to prepare for the September 19 ACT, and this post is for y’all, too.

It’s also for freshman and sophomores who won’t begin tutoring until closer to the end of sophomore year.

While we wait to officially kick off tutoring, here's something simple but powerful you can start right now: reading a little every day.

Grab a book from the library — or even one already at home — that you genuinely enjoy. It doesn't need to be challenging or "grade-level."

If a slightly easier book is what gets you reading consistently, that's the right book. The goal right now isn't difficulty, it's building the habit.

One small addition that makes a big difference: after you finish reading for the day, have tell your family(or anyone) what you just read about — out loud, in your own words. This simple retelling habit strengthens reading comprehension, which is the foundation under every single section of the ACT, not just English and Reading.

Another great idea: as a family, read an article written for the general public — not something simplified for kids — and discuss it together over dinner. Think a feature from a newspaper or magazine rather than a children's resource. This kind of everyday, real-world reading is closer to what the ACT actually asks students to engage with, and the dinner conversation builds the same comprehension and discussion skills in a natural, low-pressure way.

In my 16 years of ACT tutoring, I've seen it again and again: the students who read regularly — even just casually — walk into test day with stronger instincts for pacing, vocabulary, and comprehension than those who only study test strategies. You’ll build the strategy together once you start tutoring. For now, let's build the foundation.

*Want this kind of personalized guidance for your own student?*

At Link Private Tutoring, 90% of my qualifying students have reached the TOPS scholarship threshold — through one-on-one Zoom sessions covering all ACT subjects. If you're ready to get started (or just have questions), send me a message — I'd love to help your student build both the skills and the confidence to succeed on test day.

Sessions to prepare for the September 19 test begin 10 weeks out: the week of July 10.

Slow and Steady Wins the ACT

Here’s an unpopular opinion in the test prep world: a lot of tutors will tell you not to start ACT prep until you’re a rising junior — once you’ve finished (or are at least deep into) Algebra II. At Link Private Tutoring, we respectfully, strongly disagree.

That advice ignores something every classroom teacher knows firsthand: learning loss is real. Just because a student sat through Algebra I in 8th or 9th grade and Geometry the year after doesn’t mean they remember it. As a high school teacher and ACT prep instructor, I can tell you with confidence that the average junior, even a strong one, has forgotten three-quarters of the geometry they learned the year before. Math is usually the exact reason tutors push prep later… but that logic actually argues for starting earlier, not later.

Here’s what those tutors are missing: college and career readiness standards — the same standards the ACT and SAT are built on — are aligned with what students are already learning in school, grade by grade. That means there’s already a roadmap. We know exactly what a freshman needs reinforced and exactly what a sophomore needs reinforced to set up junior year success.

Early prep isn’t a boot camp. It’s not weekly, it’s not intensive, and it’s not stressful. It looks like:

• Low-stakes, once-a-month sessions
• An introduction to test format and question types
• A running list of concepts to watch for so when it’s taught in class, students know to highlight it and hang onto it
• Light reinforcement of content that will resurface two years later on test day

The result? Students who start with us as freshmen scoring a 20 on the Pre-ACT have walked into their junior year ACT scoring a 30+.

Granted, this plan is absolutely not right for every freshman or sophomore. The student must be motivated and able to fit in some homework between monthly sessions. It’s usually best for honor students with a high score goal OR struggling students with a 13 or 14 on the pre-ACT striving to meet the college-ready benchmarks.

For the motivated student, slow steady, and strategic beats a last-minute scramble every time.

If this approach sounds like it might be something you would like to explore, give me a call or text at 985-260-2620. I’d love to explain my philosophy further. And if it’s not right for your family, you’ll still have a plan for when starting prep would be right.

Standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, you don’t see how it was carved — you just see the result.

Same with most ACT scores. Students grind through practice test after practice test, and if their score doesn’t move much, they assume they’ve hit their ceiling.

But here’s what I’ve learned in 16 years of tutoring: the ACT isn’t testing raw intelligence. It’s testing content you’ve retained but it’s testing that in a way that doesn’t look like the tests you take in school.

Here’s the secret: the TEST is standardized— not the student. In more than 16 years helping students reach their goal scores, I’ve learned the ACT’s patterns. The same question types, the same traps, the same logic show up test after test — and once you see “under the hood,” things click in a way self-study almost never gets you to on your own.

That’s the real value of working one-on-one. I’m not just reviewing what you missed. I’m showing you why the test is built that way, so you stop guessing and start recognizing.

And here’s the other thing I want every family to remember: your ACT score is one chapter, not the whole book. It can open doors — TOPS, scholarships, options — but it doesn’t define your kid’s intelligence, potential, or future. We work hard on this score because it matters for practical reasons, not because it’s the measure of who they are.

If your student feels stuck, it might not be a ceiling. It might just be a pattern they haven’t learned yet.

Now accepting students for the September and October tests. DM me to get started. — Link Private Tutoring

The Edge of Everything

Maya sat on the edge of the canyon, phone face-down beside her, ACT score still unrefreshed. Her dad had brought her here on a Grand Canyon vacation the day after she took her ACT test in June the summer after Sophomore year.

“Look at that,” he said, nodding at the layered cliffs stretching toward the horizon, rust-red and ash-gray, carved over millions of years by a river that, from up here, looked like a thin silver thread. “Two billion years of rock. Right there.”

Maya squinted. “Okay?”

“You’re about to look at a number that took a little bit of self-prep and came down to four hours to produce, and you’re going to treat it like it’s the whole canyon. It’s not. It’s barely the thread.”

She almost laughed. Almost.

“Every layer down there,” he went on, “is a different age. Different story. Some of them took ten million years to form. The Colorado took six million years just to carve through it. And from here, you can’t even see the bottom — not really. You just see what the light lets you see.”

Your score actually took your entire school career to form. And this score shows that, yes, but it also reflects a snapshot of one test experience. Just like this Grand Canyon is evolving every day, so are you.

Maya picked up her phone. Turned it over. The number was there. Not what she’d wanted.

She looked back at the canyon. Still vast. Still indifferent. Still standing exactly as it had an hour ago, a year ago, a thousand years ago.

“It doesn’t care,” she said quietly.

“No,” her dad agreed. “Which is sort of the point. You will have a hundred numbers like this in your life. Test scores, salaries, rankings. Each one will feel, for about a week, like the whole canyon. None of them ever are. They’re a single layer. Maybe not even that — maybe just a grain of sand somebody kicked off the rim.”

A breeze moved through the pine branch beside them. Somewhere far below, a hawk rode the thermals rising off the rock.

Maya put the phone in her pocket, screen down again, and didn’t look at it for the rest of the afternoon. The canyon was still there when she finally stood up to leave — patient, layered, unbothered, exactly as old as it had always been.

Looking forward to our students’ scores from the June 13 ACT!

Now taking students for the September ACT.