I have registered for and taken the SAT alongside my students frequently in the past. I usually get a 2400, and while I find the testing makes me sharper, the test is just too easy for me now. As such, I doubt that I will continue to take it.

By the way, Stanley Kaplan never took the SATs.

Great communicating with you.

Best of luck.

Phil

I agree with your comment. Content mastery is critical.

Quick question: Do you actually register for and take the SAT alongside your students? Just curious.

Karl

Both teaching ability and test mastery are essential. I’m the forty-two-year-old guy who routinely takes the test alongside his students, which most find comforting. If I couldn’t master the test myself then I couldn’t possibly pass that on to my students. But I do strongly agree that a perfect score does not make you a perfect tutor. The ability to teach is a gift, and not all have it. To find the perfect tutor, ask around and plan ahead. I’m almost fully booked for next year already.

Yes, you’re 100% right about what you say. It’s just marketing. Unfortunately, many people (but not all!) think that their kids should be taught by high-scorers from the best schools.

Your comment is interesting and, for me, very thought provoking. I agree that in some ways it would be best to have an experienced and capable teacher who scored well when he/she took the test. There is something I want you to consider, however.

It involves the notion that test-taking savvy can be transferred from one person to another (i.e., it can be taught and learned). Just yesterday I was working with a soon-to-be senior who got a number 14 (out of 16) wrong. The problem involved increasing a price by 10% and then decreasing it by 25%. The student simply added 10, subtracted 25, and concluded that the new price was 85% of the original price. (His answer was (C), the most popular wrong answer.) I first explained the math behind the solution. I then tried to help him become a savvier test-taker.

I reminded him that the problems within a given section tend to be ordered from easiest to hardest. He nodded in acknowledgement. I then asked him whether he thought a number 14 (again out of 16) would likely be easy, medium or hard. Hard. I then asked him whether adding 10 and subtracting 25 seemed hard. No (with a smile). I then highlighted that savvy test-takers are always aware of where they are in a test. If your solution to a number 14 is too simple, it is wrong. Go back and try to find the catch. If you can’t, leave it blank. Don’t go with the simple answer; it will be wrong.

My point is this: If I can teach students to become more savvy test-takers, what is to stop a twenty-something-year old, for example, from (i) learning the ins and outs of a given standardized test and then (ii) turning around and helping teenagers prepare for the same test?

Put another way, “when” my child’s tutor became savvy with regard to test-taking is, to me, less important than “whether” the tutor can instill in my child the traits of a savvy test-taker.

The SAT I took back in 1985 is much, much different than the one currently administered. I have never felt the need to take the current test because I don’t think it is important. (I also think that the presence of a thirty-eight-year-old test-taker would distract and unnerve more that a few kids who probably need every advantage they can get.)

I agree with your sentiment that parents want proof of results. I respectfully argue, however, that they are more interested in the tutor’s results as a tutor than in his/her results as a test-taker.

Some humble advice for you regarding your new business: Just do a good job with every client and your business with grow exponentially by word of mouth.

Thanks again for your comment and kind words about ePrep. Good luck and I hope to hear from you again soon.

Karl

Thanks for the comment. Glad to hear that you have had such huge successes. Keep up the good work. I agree that it is pretty awesome when students come back to thank you years later. Just recently, a student I got to know while teaching at The Hun School of Princeton tracked me down. He graduated from Princeton University a couple of years ago and is currently attending business school at Stanford University. (Rock on Eugene!) It was great to hear from him.

This is a great web site. Thanks!