An expert SAT prep tutor will also help you become comfortable with the format of the various test sections. As we do, they will show you how to approach answering the questions on the critical reading section, review and practice different types of math questions, and show you how to write a great essay. Even small advances here will improve SAT scores.

When considering different SAT prep tutors, think about whether you want to be tutored privately or if you want to be part of a group. If you work one-to-one you it may not be any more costly than in a group because you probably will not need as many sessions since each session will be specifically designed around your needs. However, if you would rather be part of a group SAT program, try to find a small group setting and be sure that the group matches your ability. This way all the students in the group are similar in ability to you and you won’t have to worry that the class will move too fast or too slow.

Also, to improve your test scores, take at least one official practice test, under timed conditions. This helps you learn how to pace yourself. But don’t let this rattle your nerves. Most students do not do that well on these tests because they don’t know how to answer the questions and they run out of time. Don’t Panic! If you are working with an expert SAT tutor, you’ll be taught the strategies and concepts to help you raise your score when you take the real SAT.

Finally, stay calm. Think about it. If you don’t get the score you want, you have options. You can retake the test at another date. Even though this is not your first choice, remember that when you retake the test, you will be more aware of how to answer the questions. And remember, colleges don’t only look at SAT scores when they are selecting their freshman class. They consider the whole child and see if it’s a good match for their school. And that’s also your goal, to find a good match for you.

Studying for the SAT and the ACT isn’t like studying for a multiple choice geometry test. From the scoring to the types of questions, there’s definitely a strategy that needs to be learned. While these tests attempt to be objective in their quest for your knowledge, you have an upper hand if you truly understand the strategy.

Our classes are based on real SAT and ACT exams, not from the copies. And we put students together who are at the same level because your collective insights make it a better class.  There’s no real benefit to going beyond 12 students in a class, so we cap our ACT & SAT Summer Prep classes.

You’ve got options when it comes to studying for these tests, but we offer something unique that others don’t. We’re experts at studying. Our teachers are experts in their subject areas – so we’re going to give you two things in one class.  You’re going to walk away understanding how to learn easier with better study habits and test taking skills. AND you’re going to walk away with all the knowledge you need to be successful at the SAT and ACT.

We’ve been helping students for decades do better in school. Our capping the class at 12 makes it easy for us to help you understand how your mind thinks. Everyone is a little different. While some of us do better visually learning, others may need that visual audio combination. Let us help you understand how to combine your way of thinking with great SAT and ACT test taking strategies.

Summer is a time for fun, vacations and jobs. But there are others who spend some of their summer vacation in school. Whether you’re just trying to get ahead, failed the Regents Exam or need to take the 20 hour NYS MS Summer School course, we’ve got you covered.

In both Westchester and Putnam Counties (Mahopac and Mt. Kisco), we’re offering all the summer education help you need. We’ve got a 10 hour MS Study Skills course and two 20 Hour MS Courses that meet the NYS Summer School requirements. Not only that but we can help you be a better student, get a fantastic grade on next year’s Regents exam or just brush up on your reading or math.

If you’re interested in enrolling for our summer program, don’t hesitate to fill out our Registration Form and get it in before all the classes fill up. (Yep, just like summer camp – our classes fill up)

Regents Exam Review

Students who passed their Regents Exam course, but failed the actual exam can attend our Regents Review classes. We’ll be working with students in the following areas:

• Algebra, Chemistry and U.S. History/Government
• Global History, Comprehensive English and Geometry
• Trigonometry, Writing and Reading>/li>
• Living environment, Global Studies and Earth Science

NY Summer School Reading Program

The absolute most important subject in school is reading. Because of that we put a lot of emphasis during the summer on reading, making sure our students are ready for school in the fall. Our summer reading program is top notch, whether you do our in-home tutoring option or come to our offices.

Our tutors are well versed in all levels of school from 1st and 2nd graders learning their sight words to 10th and 11th graders reading advanced biology. You can be assured that we’ll take your child’s reading progress very personally and will do our best to get him/her ready for the fall. The only step left is giving us a call.

If you’re interested in enrolling for our summer REGENCY program, don’t hesitate to fill out our Registration Form and get it in before all the classes fill up. (Yep, just like summer camp – our classes fill up)

High School Placement Test Prepartion, if thought about at the beginning of the 8th grade is quite easy. (However, if your test is tomorrow, we’ve got some studying to do tonite).

This is the not the most exciting test you’re ever going to take – but it will make a difference at the parochial school you’re looking to attend. Because starting out at the right spot is going to really decide how successfully you’ll be there. So, let’s dive in and cover the basics of what you’re in for. If your test is not tomorrow, call us! We’ve got a great cram session, tutors and even a group study for the test. 

High School Placement Test Preparation

The test is going to throw 298 questions at you. It’s going to take you between 90 minutes and 2 hours to solve. (Don’t finish sooner than that. What’s an extra 5 minutes to go over some of the answers at the end?). This is a multiple choice test where only correct answers are counted. So if you don’t know it – you’re better off guessing than leaving a blank.

THE HSPT (or SHS-HSPT) covers your basic SAT type stuff, language skills, vocab, reading, math, geometry and algebra. If these don’t scare you – then you’re in for a treat. However, some Catholic Schools will throw in an aptitude section, sometimes a scientific knowledge section and ever religious knowledge. Call us and we can tell you what’s been done historically there.

Scoring is simple – the person with the most answers correct wins. That’s it.  There is an essay – but it doesn’t get graded – just forwarded to school administrators. Shooting for 80% right is a good goal – but just slightly better than average. If you spend some time figuring out which parts you aren’t good at – and then study those – 80% may just be your starting point.

Since each school administers its own test, it’s hard to know where the school will start. Traditionally you’ll start with the verbal section then bebop between language and math. But if science and religion are thrown in you’ll never know what part comes next. The key to the test isn’t caring about the order – it’s learning the areas you don’t know best.

So start by going through the practice test – which section did you do most poorly? When you figure that out, start studying that section and move on to the next hardest. It takes diligence, which is hard in 8th grade. But do well on the test and high school will start out great.

Perhaps learning what we do to help our students will encourage you to get yourself going. On Saturdays and Sundays every Spring, we offer 2 1/2 hour daily sessions which covers every part of the test. We do a session each on the following topics (which you should be doing on your own anyway):

AP English
AP World History
AP US History
AP Environmental Science
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus A/B
AP Statistics
AP Spanish

What we do is first go over what you need to learn to score successfully on the test, and then we teach you how to learn what needs to be learned. By using real tests, you can get a pretty good feel of what the test is like, how to manage your time and what sections to tackle first. We even help you to understand when to guess, and how to do that.

On their own, students should definitely be studying a bit every weekend. If you don’t have access to past tests, similar tests or the like – remember that the test is a series of questions. If you aren’t asking and answering questions of yourself while studying, you’re not really exercising the part of the brain that scours the mind for answers.

Create your own flash cards. While we offer students one-on-one, or group tutoring, flash cards are a great way to create a second person in the room. It’s hard to study AP Exam Prep flash cards right after you wrote them, but wait a few days and your mind will again have to scour the synapes for the answer. That’s true test prep.

One of the advantages you get in our group sessions is hearing the questions and answers others put forth. That may seem elementary – but the true value is hearing new voices with both questions, comments and answers. You’ll never know what triggers the brain on test day – so be prepared.

Call us before we have no room; we can’t recall a year we didnt’ sell out our capacity. See here for more additional courses available in:

New York: Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Nassau, Suffolk, and Manhattan Counties
Massachusetts: Norfolk, Middlesex, Bristol, and Suffolk
Connecticut: Western
California: Greater Los Angeles

Whether your New York based  SAT test preparation consists of working on your own, in a group or class, or one-to-one with a qualified SAT tutor, the following advice will help you get the best scores possible.

SAT Prep Advice: Think of the SAT’s as just a game.

It is a mindset that helps keep the SAT’s and PSAT’s in perspective. It also helps you keep the pressure off yourself. In fact, if you think about it, doing SAT / PSAT questions is a lot like doing puzzle games, you know, like the ones on the placemats in fast food restaurants. It goes without saying that you’d rather be eating your burger than doing placemat puzzles, but other than that, they’re interesting, and maybe even fun.

Thinking of the SAT’s as a game is not quite enough; it still hurts too much when you miss what seems like a slew of questions. You need some way to protect yourself from the self-defeating thoughts that take over your thinking. The solution is to think of the SAT Game as a sport. This way, when the questions get real hard, you can consider them sporting as opposed to difficult.

Here’s how it helps. First, while winning in a sport is important, it wouldn’t be fun for you to play against a team of grade school kids; you’d always win; it wouldn’t be sporting. So, by getting into this mindset, you can let yourself welcome and embrace the challenge.

Even more importantly, this mindset helps keep you from dragging yourself down when you miss questions. Instead of being mad at yourself—negative thoughts, which drag you down, you can frame your loss in more positive thoughts, praising your opponent, the one who wrote the question. Thinking to yourself, “Good for you, you got me on that one,” is a lot less damaging to your psyche than “I’m so stupid.” It may feel even better to assign your opponent a colorful nickname, so you can think, “Your point, you nasty blankety-blank.”

Also, speaking of feeling bad, don’t believe it when you hear that the test questions are written by high school and college kids for summer jobs; that can only make you feel worse when you miss questions. Once you get into the SAT game, you’ll see that the Real SAT questions (as opposed to the non-official ones presented in many SAT prep courses and books), are far too brilliantly written.

Traps

SAT Prep Advice: Avoid the traps. Be forewarned, that just as with any sport, the opposition uses traps and tricks on occasion. Indeed, on some of the harder questions, the SAT question writers are out to get you. However, if you have the right attitude, that’s okay, it’s simply part of the sport.

Here are a few examples from the math test. The question might contain extra information that you don’t need. Many of the diagrams are not drawn to scale, which they tell you. For example, a right triangle may be drawn with nearly equal legs, which may lead you to believe falsely that they are equal in length. On rare occasions, the questions might even contain something to play games intentionally with your mind.

For example, SAT questions have been known to use traps such as using the letter “d” to represent the radius of a circle instead of “r,” which is downright confusion-provoking. Again, your job is to watch for and catch the trap, and be extra careful not to let them get you. The good news for you is that the current SAT’s / PSAT’s use traps and tricks much less often than the previous versions.

Another trap consists of occasionally placing a difficult question among easier and moderate ones. That can throw you off because the order of questions generally goes from easier to difficult. So, if you are clobbered by a question, don’t give up. Skip it and go on to the next question, as it might be much easier for you.

A trap you can count on is built into the subtest that starts with multiple-choice questions and finishes with student-produced response questions. It is a test-within-a-test. That means, even though the questions are numbered sequentially, they go from easier to harder and then easier to harder again when the type of questions change. So, don’t let them psych you out by the multiple-choice questions getting difficult quickly. As soon as you reach the student produced response questions, they will get easier again. So, be prepared to skip the harder questions and go on to the easier ones, which appear in the mid numbers of that subtest.

Trust

SAT Prep Advice: Trust the questions, trust yourself. When you do real SAT / PSAT questions, as opposed to non-official questions, you can trust them, that the questions are do-able, and you can trust yourself, that you know enough math to be able to do them. When you are stumped while doing non-official questions, you have no way of knowing if you are stumped because you don’t get it, or because the question is defective.

This is the reason I encourage students to practice using real SAT / PSAT questions whenever possible. Therefore, when signing up for SAT, PSAT, or SAT subject test prep courses, be sure to ask if they use real or non-official questions. Be sure they use at least some real SAT questions.

Note: SAT and PSAT are registered trademarks of The College Board.

The curriculum focuses on major ideas and themes in the nine regions of the world beginning 5,000 years ago. Students study what the different regions have in common and what makes them different.

This two-year Global Studies course, which helps students prepare for the Regents Exam, includes geography, social and economic conditions, and political events.

Students explore developments in one region and how these events affected certain regions but made no difference on development in other regions. Students consider what tied these regions together and what tore them apart physically, economically and socially as well as politically.

For example, students might look at several Asian countries during the European Renaissance. After learning what “renaissance” means, they can then decide whether any of the Asian countries had a “renaissance” and how that differed from the Renaissance in Italy or France.

Or they might study nationalism in the early 20^th century by comparing the Boxer Rebellion in China to the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa.

They learn the differences between cultures protected by natural barriers and cultures lacking natural barriers. Students explore how scientists, political and social reformers, writers and revolutionaries have impacted history.

Students study how different forms of government from communism to monarchies to democracies work. They look at how and why international organizations such as NATO and OPEC have been formed and the effect of these groups world-wide.

We offer a Global Studies test prep course to help prepare students to excel at this test. We go over real test questions, analysis of possible questions on this year’s test and thoroughly review what the students need to know to excel. Our prep courses always sell out, so if you’re interested sign up early (click here).

However, in reality, many students are in panic mode in June of their sophomore year as they get ready to take the Global Studies Regents Exam. Now they’re cramming, trying to remember all the facts, dates and information they need to know for the Global Studies Regents Exam

Earth Science, The Physical Setting is a Regents level science course taught in New York State. It’s usually offered in the 9th grade. Here are some of the questions that are asked, and answered, in this wonderful science course.

How are rocks made? How does one type of rock become another type of rock?

An Earth science student told me that long ago New York and Africa were next to each other. How is that possible?

How did sailing ships find their way before GPS navigation?

How can you find your location by pointing to the North Star and measuring the angle?

How is it possible that dry air exerts more pressure than moist air?

If the west coast of California is moving northward, and the rest of California (and the US) is moving southward, how does this cause all the earthquakes?

What Egyptian accurately measured the size of the earth over 2,000 years ago? How did looking into a water well make him think of how to measure the earth?

How can looking at a granite counter top tell how far underground the granite was when it was formed?

About 20,000 years ago, New York was covered with ice and snow over a mile thick. As it moved slowly southward, how did it create Long Island and Cape Cod?

How is it that the Catskill Mountains aren’t really mountains at all?

What happened to the Taconic Mountains that used to tower for miles over what is now the Taconic Parkway?

How is it that the Pacific Ocean is so much colder than the Atlantic Ocean that I need to wear a wet suit when swimming?

How is it possible to measure how far away an earthquake occurred by using a stopwatch?

How can a simple pendulum be used to answer what was a major controversial philosophical question well into the 1600′s: Is the Earth stationary with the sun and everything else turning around it?

Earth Science is an amazing and wonderful course, one that can be enjoyed by young and old alike. As such, I encourage parents to pick up their child’s Earth Science textbook and read it for pleasure. Why? Because it’s downright fascinating science.

Here’s why. Surviving in the real world requires problem-solving skills that we’re not born with and that don’t come naturally. It’s the task of schools to teach children, make that all children, how to solve real problems.

But how?

Do you give kids real problems and say, “ready, set, go,” demanding, for example, that they design and construct a real bridge to span a stream? Personally, I’d not want to drive over such a bridge. Instead, the school curricula create tasks that children are asked to do to test their problem solving skills without risking life and limb.

For example, in Integrated Algebra, students may be given the triangular shape of a bridge and asked to find how high it must be so that the base exactly spans a given stream. In Geometry, students may be asked to prove that the base of a triangular shaped bridge will have the identical length (congruent) as the width of the stream.

In Algebra 2/Trigonometry, students may be given the task of determining how long the bridge would have to be to span the stream given only a scenario and three bits of information. The task might go something like this.

A group of students stands 30 m (about 100 feet) from the edge of a stream. They see a tall tree on the other side and measure the angle to the top of the tree. They walk the 30 m straight towards the tree and remeasure the angle. How wide is the stream? In other words, given two angles and a short walking distance, find the width of the stream.

Notice that these almost-real-life problems come with huge safety nets. If students get them wrong, they’ll get a less than perfect, but no one falls into the stream when (if?) the bridge collapses.

Naturally, as students go on to higher-level courses, the tasks get closer and closer to the real thing. However, because they’re only “practice for the real world,” each is safe. Lack of success may bring B’s, C’s, or other letter grades, but no lives will be lost.

Providing children with the tools they’ll be able to use someday to solve real life problems is one of the major objectives of Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2 & Trigonometry and any other math courses taught in high schools in New York State or anywhere else. If teachers understand this, and do a good job modeling this and making it come alive in the classroom, math courses will be viewed as the relevant and exciting courses they really are.

We do offer students in-home one-on-one tutoring for the most competitive students. Preparation for the NY Regents exams should not be overlooked. Good scores on the tests turn into great scholarships, admission to preferred institutions and sometimes that “extra” something in the job market. For the amount of time it takes to eke out extra points, NY Regent’s Prep classes are worth it.

Our prep courses are limited to 12 people and feature the latest test-taking strategies. We make sure our students get real practice exams which have been proven to raise test scores! Not only are these test taking strategies going to help with the NY High School Regents Exam, but with the SAT, ACT, AP , TACHS, ISEE, SSAT and other exams.

We love to see our students do well on all their of their Regents exams. So we offer classes specific to each test. Throughout May and June, we teach the following subjects expressly as Regents Exam prep classes:

• American History
• Chemistry
• English 11
• Global Studies
• Living Environment – Biology
• Integrated Algebra
• Geometry
• Physical Setting – Earth Science
• Physics
• Spanish

So call us, e-mail us, fax us this registration form – whatever it takes to get you enrolled and on the fast track to higher scores.