SAT Prep & ACT Prep with Top 1% Tutors

No, we cannot register students for the SAT or ACT. You can register for the SAT through College Board or register for the ACT through ACT, Inc.

Yes, the vast majority of colleges still care. Test optional and test blind aren't the same thing. Few schools are test blind, and the ones that have gone test optional can (and do) use test scores as an admissions factor. There are some cases where students might be better off applying through a test optional route, but data thus far show that students who can submit competitive SAT and ACT scores are more likely to get in and are more likely to be competitive for scholarships.

We pride ourselves on making scheduling happen even when it seems impossible. We work on evenings and weekends, and when you register we'll send you over an intake form that will give you a chance to tell us what your scheduling preferences are. We'll then use that when assigning your tutor. We've had kids with some really crazy schedules before, but we can almost always make it work.

A good test score is the score that gets your kid into college makes them competitive for scholarships(if necessary). This varies massively between students. For a kid who is set on Harvard, a 1350 on the SAT (ACT equivalent: 29) is probably not a good score. For most students, however, a 1350/29 is a great score. The national average for all SAT test takers is around 1000 (ACT average: 20), the 75th percentile is 1200 (ACT: 24), the 90th percentile is 1350 (ACT: 29) and the 99th percentile is 1500 (ACT: 34). A perfect score is a 1600 (ACT: 36).

For a lot of kids, it doesn't matter. Most students do comparably well on the two exams, and that's not an accident. Both tests are designed to test students on the academic content they've learned during middle school and high school. There are some differences in terms of style and timing, though, and for some kids this can be a real difference maker. Rather than guess, we like to use real data. Request a free SAT vs. ACT diagnostic test to see if your kid is better at one or the other.

Generally, yes. The first question is whether the college your student is considering allows Score Choice, which is the opportunity to only send the scores you want. Many schools allow this, but some don't. Regardless of whether they allow Score Choice, however, nearly every school will look at the best score. In fact, some will even superscore, which means they will take the highest score from each section to form the best possible score. So if your student is considering sitting for a test date that might be prior to his or her real "target date," go for it. There's almost certainly no harm in it, and there's a good chance that the extra "dress rehearsal" could pay off.

Both can be highly effective, but 1-on-1 tutoring allows us to customize where we spend time based on the student's strenghts and weaknesses. This can be a significant advantage. ACT and SAT prep is all about spending time in the right places, and a tutor being able to move quickly through the stuff your kid is pretty fresh on and slow things down a bit on the math topic your kid hasn't seen since 8th grade brings a lot of value to the prep experience for your student. In addition, there's often a practical advantage in being able to have sessions in home and work around your schedule.

With that said, both programs utilize the same underlying curriculum and the same instructors. Both will lead the student right up to their chosen test date, and both will cover a mix of strategy and underlying concept review. Some students flourish more in a group setting, and this is often a factor that drives families toward that program.

US students won't see the digital SAT until 2024, and we've written up a Complete Guide to the New Digital SAT that will answer many of your questions. In short, it's probably not a big enough factor to change your prep timeline. Most of the content is staying the same, although the SAT will get shorter because the new digital version is adaptive.