Stephen

I have tutored the SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, SAT, and ACT for more than 15 years having worked with well over 400 students. I graduated from Trinity College and have an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Tutoring Style:

My philosophy of instruction is based on the fact that, to varying degrees, students struggle with the types of information processing that standardized tests are designed to measure. I teach students techniques that more closely matches their personal methods of processing information with what each standardized test expects. Of equal importance is the style of my instruction. I am a coach and cheerleader for all of my students. As a coach, I teach students the customized tools each needs to continually improve, and I expect them to do the necessary work. As a cheerleader, I express my excitement at their successes.

Success Story:

One success story shows that what I teach results in significant improvements in both the standardized tests and school work. At the beginning, he needed to be taught some of the simplest Math concepts - how to determine percentages, how to rearrange equations, the basics of Geometry, and so on. In the Verbal section, he had to learn how to find the key information that in a text that related to the correct answer to a question. After a few months, I witnessed a remarkable improvement in both the Math and Verbal sections as he began conquering some of the hardest problems. This continued over a few more months when he would sometimes do a perfect job on even the hardest questions. His mother wrote to me that during this time his grades in high school improved from D’s and C’s to B’s and B+’s. His comment was that he felt all along that he lacked self-confidence, and that I had lead him to believe he could excel.

A second success story illustrates that I am actually teaching students how to think in a manner that has implications years after the standardized tests. After several months of work, he had demonstrated in actual ACT tests an excellent command of all the sections except Science which at that time was required. We then focused solely on the different analytic techniques required in this section for a few more months after which he managed to get a great score. This student commented a few years later that he credited how he had learned to think in our sessions to his performance in college and his admittance to Harvard Law School.