Do students with lower incoming reading scores *catch up* during an English-for-Academic-Purposes (EAP) bridging program—or does the gap stay the same? We tracked **405** Chinese-speaking students across a **28-week** program using **eye-tracking during passage reading** plus comprehension questions. Using incoming **IELTS Reading** scores as a baseline, we found clear overall improvement in reading efficiency and comprehension—but the growth trajectories were **parallel across ability levels**, meaning the gap neither widened nor closed (a **stable change** pattern). This project was published in [Bilingualism: Language & Cognition](https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728922000542)