10,000+ hours
working with high-achievers

If you are already a high-scorer (80th+ percentile), your score gain depends more on improving your performance--that is, depends more on techniques, strategies, focus, attitude, and execution--and less on attaining more knowledge--that is, on vocab, math facts, and grammar. Consequently, high-scorers should be looking for an SAT coach, not a mere tutor. Moreover, you require a coach who has mastered the specialized skill of teaching the SAT to high-scorers, not merely one who has mastered the test itself. In such a transient industry, it's almost impossible to find a master SAT coach (10,000+ hours of SAT teaching experience). I've been in this business for almost 20 years, and I can count us on one hand.

A company's guarantee
is a window to its soul

Most guarantees merely allow you to retake the same class with the same materials. But cheap guarantees are no suprise in an industry whose average gains are only 30-40 points (WSJ; Washington Post; USA Today).

My extensive experience translates into an impressive track record that in turn allows me to offer a real guarantee: your SAT score will improve by at least 200 points (ACT 5), or I will offer free, private follow-up sessions until it does.

Maximizing Performance

For the same reason you wouldn't let a mechanic at the 76 station tinker with the performance of a Ferrari, you shouldn't let anybody but a master tutor maximize the performance of an already high-scoring student. It takes an SAT coach with a lot of experience to improve the study habits of already successful students--habits like:

1. Bringing your best self to each practice--mentally, physically and emotionally. Practice makes permanent!

2. Digging deep into the learning opportunities created by mistakes, and using what you learn to modify your habits in order to avoid the avoidable ones.

3. Looking beyond the specifics of the problem to evaluate and strengthen your problem-solving skills.

4. Finding patterns in your errors in order to identify your assumptions, weaknesses, blind spots and biases. Don't think that carelessness will magically resolve itself!

Learning such self-scrutiny is not only necessary for attaining consistently high SAT scores; this holistic approach also helps you learn how to improve your performance in any future endeavour.

When to prep for &
take the SAT/ACT

Ideally, prep should begin two or three months prior to the first test date, and that first test should normally not be taken before the fall of your junior year.

Most students choose the March test. If you are considering an earlier date, a word of caution: sometimes the reading score will not peak as high in the first semester of your junior year as it will in the second semester simply because your reading comprehension and vocabulary continue to improve by being in school.

If you are considering beginning prep as early as the summer of your junior year, my suggestion is to take a diagnostic test. If your reading score is below 550, you would be better off spending the summer reading and memorizing vocabulary and then waiting until January to begin prep.

Whatever you do, avoid the end of the junior year: layering prep over finals, APs, and subject tests is would be a nightmare.

ESL students, or native speaking students whose parents are ESL often don't peak until their senior year.

ACT vs. SAT:
how fast can you read?

The ACT is accepted as an alternative to the SAT by all colleges, and could be a better choice for some students. Below are important differences to consider:

The ACT reading section is difficult to finish on time for students who cannot read and think quickly, but the questions are more straight-forward. The SAT reading section, on the other hand, is tricky and inference-based, but not as hard to finish on time.

The SAT reading section tests vocabulary, the ACT does not.

The ACT has a science section, though it really doesn't test your knowledge of science—all the information is in the passages. For many students, it is difficult to finish this section on time.

The ACT math section includes about five trig questions, while the SAT has none.

Call to set up a consultation if you need help to determine whether to prep for the SAT, ACT, or both.

Can't seem to get that SAT reading score up?

ESL students, native speakers whose parents are ESL, and non-readers in general suffer from a vocabulary and idiom deficit. The solution? Consider switching to the ACT if you are a fast reader. Or, if you have the time, spend a summer reading and memorizing vocabulary. Try to average memorizing around 50-100 words a week and reading three hundred pages per week (I recommend freshman composition textbooks with readings, like The Bedford Reader, as well as high quality newspapers like the NY Times). Remember, the SAT/ACT is a predictor of how well you will succeed in college, and as such you should see a lopsided score diagnostically: you will most likely suffer from this deficit in college! Therefore, it is well worth addressing in a serious way, and not just for a higher test score.

Click here to see my college prep reading and writing site.

The SAT & ACT essay

My background teaching composition classes at UC Berkeley makes me the perfect choice for teaching the SAT or ACT essay (which, incidentally, is made available to colleges so that they can compare it to students' application essays and English grades).

Attention Deficit

Because I grew up with ADD, I know the importance of making things as structured and as interesting as possible. To that end, I have designed colourful charts and worksheets which I now use for the benefit all of my students, ADD or otherwise. (Though, when it comes to the SAT/ACT, don't we all have at least a bit of attention deficit?)

What parents owe their kids

I can't tell you how many times I have had the following conversation:

Me: So your reading score this week is much lower than last week's. Can you tell me if anything was different?

Student: I can't think of anything.

Were you tired? Was it the end of the day? When did you eat last?

Student: I did it in the morning, like you told me, and ate a balanced breakfast beforehand.

Me: Was there anything that distracted you while you were reading the passages that kept you from being one hundred percent aware of the text?

Student: Not really. Well, actually, my mother was singing in the kitchen (or, my little brother was playing loud video games, or, my father was watching the football game and I could hear it in the living room, or, we got a new puppy and he barks a lot, or, our bathrooms are being remodeled, or, my sister is back from college and was talking loudly on the phone, or, the gardeners were blowing the leaves...)

Parents need to understand that the SAT and ACT passages can be about as boring a read as you can imagine. Moreover, the reading is timed. If the student has to deal with distractions, his or her performance will be compromised.

But it gets worse:

Think of this analogy: an athlete sustains an injury which compromises her technique. She has a big game coming, so she practices regardless. What happens? She is unlearning good technique, and learning an inferior technique in its place. The practicing has actually hurt, not helped. The moral is, make sure your kid has a quiet place to train, especially for the reading passages, which require sustained, one hundred percent focus. If it can't be done at home, find a place where it can.

Should I take the SAT again?

It depends on which schools interest you. All UCs currently have a policy of taking the highest score in one sitting, which greatly decreases the likelihood that retaking the test would be in your best interest unless you feel you can significantly improve your overall score. Now that there are three sections on the test, however, more schools are rethinking this policy. What is the probability that a student taking a four hour, three-section test will fumble on at least one part? This recent change in the SAT would have some unlucky students retaking the test again and again to achieve the right balance of reading, writing, essay and math scores. Consequently, most schools now combine the highest score on each section even if that means drawing from multiple sittings, so those students who believe that they can increase at least one part of the SAT should take it again. Click here for a near-comprehensive list of schools and their testing policies.