FAQs

We teach. We respect and complement the curricula and high standards of teaching at schools and colleges. We have dedicated our careers to helping students develop their math, critical reading, logical reasoning, and writing skills, along with a host of other abilities important for tests and academic subjects.

Our tutors are educators dedicated to their students' success. From thousands of applicants nationwide, we have assembled a group of 250 extraordinary teachers. Our tutors must not only demonstrate excellence in any subject they tutor but also show that they are compassionate, talented educators. To the best of our knowledge, Advantage Testing tutors are the most highly evaluated team of educators of any teaching enterprise or educational institution in the country.

Our tutors receive intensive test-specific training with our directors and senior tutors before working with students. The training program is comprehensive, incorporating all relevant academic materials and approaches we have developed over the last 35 years. In addition to explaining the material in detail, we engage tutors in simulated teaching scenarios and offer guidance for shaping students' strategies. Ongoing mentorship, formal assessments, constructive criticism, and open discussions ensure that Advantage Testing tutors continue to develop their craft.

Our rates reflect the professional nature of our services, the qualifications of our tutors, their careful training, our painstakingly developed materials, our results, and the fact that Advantage Testing comprises what is almost certainly the most highly evaluated group of tutors in America. Individual rates depend on several factors, including student evaluations, score increases, and levels of experience.

Yes. We recognize the costs of sustained individualized attention, and we appreciate that they are daunting for many. We work to provide realistic options through financial aid and public service Initiatives programs.

Our nation offers a range of excellent public and independent options for education. For families that pursue private education, to say that the overall expenses are high is an understatement. The cost of an independent high school and college education can amount to more than $500,000. Add to this amount the cost of a private grade school, and the total can exceed $750,000. The amount families spend on Advantage Testing's services represents a small percentage of that total, while many, if not most, of our students regard their one-on-one work with our private tutors to be among the most important educational experiences of their lives.

Teacher compensation in the U.S. is lower, as a fraction of our GNP, than it is in virtually every other major industrialized country in the world, while teacher salaries are Advantage Testing's number one expense. The fees we charge are comparable to, not higher than, those of leading professionals offering highly valued services in other fields. Private tutoring by exceptional teachers can profoundly affect a student's confidence, ability, and attitude.

Yes. Advantage Testing works hard to make our educational services accessible to students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. To that end, we have provided pro bono instructional help and financial support to a variety of individuals and public service organizations, offered generous financial aid packages to students with demonstrable need, and donated tutoring services to charity benefits and school scholarship funds. We also hold small group lessons for which we offer significant financial aid to families that qualify, and we provide self-study plans for some tests, helping qualified students prepare using officially released materials and free materials available online. It is our explicit goal to enroll motivated students in our programs regardless of their ability to pay.

Please visit our AT Foundation page for more information about our public service programs.

Yes. We prepare students for a number of standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, AP Exams, SSAT, ISEE, GMAT, GRE, LSAT, and MCAT. We also offer academic tutoring in a range of subjects at the elementary, high school, college, and professional school level. In addition to providing academic tutoring, we have also worked with students on college, graduate, and professional school applications when the institutions to which students are applying permit guidance in preparing such applications.

Tutoring has enormous potential as an approach to the problem of educational disparity. To read an article by our founder on this topic, please click here. We believe that tutoring can be an active, integral part of the solution for bridging achievement gaps. As adaptable as it is effective, tutoring requires few investments beyond the right instructor and a quiet room, making this approach suitable for all students.

Tutoring sessions take place in the student's home or the tutor's office. In addition, tutoring arrangements such as remote tutoring can be made through any of our locations.

Our tutoring programs are long-term in order to fully teach the material. We strongly recommend that students preparing for the SAT or ACT, for example, work with a tutor for an academic year or more before they take the official test. Contact us to speak with a program consultant to start developing an individualized tutoring program for your academic goals.

We tailor each tutoring program to address the particular needs and goals of the individual student. The foundation of all of our tutoring programs is one-on-one tutoring of core educational concepts. Students will practice these concepts and critical analytical skills through in-session drills, homework assignments, and full-length, proctored practice exams.

Our students often see dramatic score increases, a product of one-on-one tutoring directed by our belief that every student should and can be considered individually. Each program is unique and tailored to the specific needs and aspirations of the student. We have no arbitrary benchmark point increase that we would consider a satisfactory result. Nevertheless, judging by our student evaluations, the vast majority of our students (approximately 99%) are overwhelmingly happy with their tutors, learning experience, and final scores. Most important, our students report experiencing heightened confidence and mastery when approaching other academic and intellectual challenges.

We do not offer guarantees. Learning is a complex process, and standardized tests are designed to be challenging for even the strongest students. Many factors affect a program's outcome, including the program's length, the number of meetings and tests, the student's starting point, and the amount of time each student spends studying. We control these variables as much as possible while addressing concerns throughout the process. We also monitor scores carefully through practice tests so that we can gauge progress and predict test performance with some accuracy. Above all, we have a professional and personal commitment to seeing every student perform their best on test day.

Maturation and classroom education can help improve scores. However, it is not true that scores will inevitably or significantly improve for all students without a rigorous tutoring program. We design our programs to help students achieve their best possible scores. Through one-on-one instruction, our tutors address each student’s strengths and weaknesses and motivate them to excel on their tests.

No. We neither take nor recommend an approach that favors "cramming" or "tricks." Shortcuts such as these tend to yield erratic score increases at best and negative life lessons at worst. Our test preparation programs are long-term. They consist of learning ideas, information, and approaches in a logical, meaningful way. Evidence abounds that this educational experience is the most effective way to raise scores.

It's fair and rational to study for any test on which one can improve. Test improvement, like academic merit in general, is earned through hard work and determination. Indeed, the capacity for hard work and the willingness to engage in it are at least as important in success as intelligence.