A Real Guarantee

My experience allows me to help you achieve big gains effeciently. If you have not increased your score by at least 200 points, I will offer free private sessions until you obtain the promised increase. Compare that to a typical SAT offering, whose guarantee is that you can simply retake the same failed class! Big companies' guarantees have to be meaningless, because their average gains are only 30-40 points (WSJ; Washington Post; USA Today).

Kaplan, Princeton Review, Ivy West: kids teaching kids

Such companies charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for their programs but only pay their tutors about twenty bucks an hour, so the tutor turnover is considerable (Ivy West alone draws from over 700 tutors). When your product is a bunch of underpaid, under-experienced kids, it is no wonder that these companies have to spend so much capital on marketing, managing and training, which in turn leaves only enough money to hire more kids, not full-time professional educators.

SAT-experience matters!

A good math teacher can explain how to solve math problems you have missed. An excellent math teacher can clearly explain the math concepts behind the problems you miss so that you can apply the lesson more widely to future problems. An excellent SAT math tutor can show you multiple ways to solve each problem, the "mathy" way, the "tricky" way, etc., and, more important, can reveal what in each problem is indicative of the test—that is, can teach you "SAT math." A tutor with intimate knowledge of the test will reduce the amount of work you will need to do to prepare for the test!

Performance-based test

Because the SAT is just as much performance-based as curriculum-based, I train my students how to:

1. Bring their best selves to each practice-- mentally, physically and emotionally. Practice makes permanent!
2. Dig deep into the learning opportunities created by honest mistakes, and modify problem-solving processes in order to avoid the avoidable ones.
3. Look beyond the specifics of the problem to evaluate and strengthen your problem-solving skills.
4. Find patterns in their errors in order to identify their 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, but it also helps students learn how to improve in any future endeavours.

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 only goes to algebra II first semester.

One more thing to consider: most colleges (UC's excepted) will combine your highest scores for the math, reading and writing sections on the SAT if you take the test more than once, but they do not combine the highest ACT scores.

I can help you determine whether to prep for the SAT, the ACT, or both—usually by the first session.

When to prep for &
take the SAT/ACT

The goal is to take the test when your fundamentals and grasp of SAT/ACT strategies have peaked. Many students take the SAT or ACT in March of their junior year, then again in either May or June (depending on whether or not you are taking APs), and then once more, if they need to, in October, November or December of their senior year (only the October can be considered for early admission). Ideally, prep should two or three months prior to the first test, and that first test should normally not be taken before the fall of a student's junior year.

Early prep gives you more options. If you are not happy with your reading score, for example, you can form a long term plan to address gaps in vocabulary or reading comprehension that cannot be solved in a matter of weeks. BUT, if you are considering an early date, a word of caution: sometimes the reading score will not peak as high 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 might be better off spending the summer reading and memorizing vocabulary and then waiting until January to begin prep. Otherwise, if you prep over the summer but then are unhappy with your reading score and consequently have to wait until March or June to improve your score, you may suffer from major SAT/ACT burn out. Moreover, too much focus will have been placed on the test for too long a time, interfering with class work and extracurriculars.

Prepping for and taking your first test in May or June of your junior year can be tough; students can be spread thin with AP tests, SAT II's, and finals.

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

Non-native speakers, kids with parents of non-native speakers, and non-readers in general suffer from a vocabulary and idiom deficit. The solution? Consider switching to the ACT. Or, if you have the time, spend a summer reading and memorizing vocabulary. Try to average memorizing around fifty 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 your 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 and 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, they will obviously compromise that student's performance.

But it does even 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.

Math & grammar scores plateaued?

Different students absorb different material at different rates. Since the math and grammar sections require students to learn a certain amount of content, students whose scores in those sections have plateaued need to stop doing new material and start studying previously missed test questions. When this fails to raise their scores, what then? Flashcards! Just the very act of returning to those missed test questions, isolating the obstacles, and making flashcards to best represent and test the solutions to those weakness is an invaluable process all by itself. The added benefit, of course, is that you now have a personalized set of flash cards to repetitively drill those fundamentals into your brain.