In test-preparation work, the goal is high scores. Though I know and teach all the tricks, the best way to achieve high scores is to raise the student's real strength -- if this were not so, institutions such as Harvard College or the Trinity School would not give standardized tests the weight that they do. For example, the best way to get a better reading score is to learn the art of reading well. I use reading techniques that I first encountered as a Harvard undergraduate in Harvard's study skills course for its own students.

My own SAT scores were 790V/ 800M/ 800 English/ 800 Chemistry (before the SAT was made easier in 1997; a 730 performance when I took it would earn an 800 now).

My test preparation tutoring, in overview, has three phases.

• First comes a familiarization phase, in which I orient the student with proper technique for the given test and, through diagnostics and an experienced eye,  get to know his or her strengths, weaknesses, and thinking style .
  

•  Then comes a strengthening phase in which I work systematically through each covered area and select, from a variety of materials, customized, targeted practice in the methods most effective for the student. Working together, the student and I increase his or her real strength in the skills that the test is measuring. Specialized knowledge on the part of the instructor is important -- certain grammatical rules, for example, that are not endorsed by the most distinguished writers and scholars are held to be absolute by the authors of the SAT.  The strengthening work often has the side benefit of improving overall academic performance, as it can uncover and repair weaknesses that have long remained hidden. For example, methods for avoiding careless mathematical errors (a subject on which I am writing a book) are effective generally in math.
  

• Finally comes a consolidation phase, in which the student replaces some of the ongoing work with periodic dry-runs through the test. This allows us to uncover and solve any problems with fatigue, bubbling, nervousness, nutrition, etc., so that the test itself holds no surprises and runs smoothly along familiar lines.
  

The various test-prep  organizations and private tutors have disparate philosophies, but the truth is that each technique works best for certain students and to counteract certain difficulties. The art is in finding the right path for a given student. That is where a good individual tutor's experience and instinct is superior to any system.

• SAT
  
• ACT
  
• ISEE
  
• SSAT
  
• SHSAT
  
• AP
  
• ERB
  
• GRE
  
• LSAT
  
• GMAT
  
• Common Core
  
• Regents
  

Not affiliated with Harvard University

Andrew Fox Tutors

Test Preparation