We’ve got learning down to a science, crafting brighter futures with every lesson.
At Testology, we simplify college admissions with caring guidance and proven methods. Our tutors work closely with families and schools to offer clear, personalized advice, making the journey easier for students. We design unique plans for each student, focusing on their learning style and goals, to ensure they’re ready for tests and set for future success.
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Responsive
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Individualized Curricula
Each student’s goals, needs, and learning style are unique, and our work with your student reflects this. From the first consultation, we customize every minute with your student to be as impactful as possible with a flexible but thorough learning plan. We regularly assign official tests from the ACT or (P)SAT to monitor progress and ensure your student stays on track to reach their goals.
Lasting Skills
Preparing for standardized tests is like drinking from a fire hose: never before has your student needed to learn and review such a breadth and depth of material academically. Students often start our work together not yet equipped with the range of study skills that will be necessary to navigate this. For that reason, we leverage an arsenal of evidence-based methods for instruction and practice to guide your student through this task – learning, study, and testing techniques that will continue to serve your student through college and beyond.
Relationships and Respect
We care deeply about our students, families, and partners, full stop. We respect your student’s time and will never give them any work that will not directly benefit their progress towards their goal. We respect your financial investment and will help your student achieve their goal in as few meetings as possible – no bloated packages of 20, 30, or even 40 hours of tutoring like many of our competitors. We respect our partner schools and organizations’ time and resources and will always go above and beyond to provide the most comprehensive support possible to their families.
Test-ology
Our name comes from our unique, scientific approach to standardized tests and instruction. Our founder, Mackenzie Lee, trained for a decade as a research scientist in some of the world’s most renowned research institutions, and he has since applied the rigorous methodologies of scientific research to dissecting standardized tests and pedagogy. The scientific method can be used to analyze the behavior of any predictable system, and standardized tests are no exception. The insights we have thus cultivated on the patterns and predictability of tests like the ACT and SAT forms the foundation for our curricula’s resounding efficacy.
Individualized tutoring of the strategy and content necessary for students to excel on the SAT, ACT, PSAT, SSAT, and other standardized tests.
Supplemental instruction and review for school courses across a variety of subjects and learning levels.
Customized seminars, courses, and “boot camps” for schools looking to improve student outcomes on standardized tests like the PSAT, SAT, and ACT.
What can your student expect tutoring with Testology?
All students take an initial diagnostic test, unless a previous official test administration qualifies, and are given a detailed PDF report of their performance. This then informs our discussion in the initial (free) consultation with your family regarding your student’s goals, timeline, and customized learning plan.
From there, we usually meet with our students once or twice a week for an hour – though sometimes more to accommodate a restricted timeline. Between each session, your student will be expected to complete targeted homework practice; they will also periodically complete full length mock tests as we approach their test day.
Most students should plan on taking at least two official administrations of the test during our work together to take advantage of the superscoring system (see explanation from ACT and SAT) and mitigate any possible individual test day inconsistencies. Our average student meets with us 10-15 times, though this can vary dramatically in different contexts.
Why virtual tutoring?
We have worked with students both in-person and online in the past, and in recent years, the advantages of online tutoring significantly outweigh those of in-person tutoring for both the student and tutor. We have developed a refined infrastructure of resources for teaching and learning online, and the flexibility and accessibility of scheduling online tutoring is unmatched. With location flexibility, we are also able to hire only the most competent and qualified tutors from around the country.
How does payment work?
Our fee is a flat $160 per hour. We do not offer packages like many of our competitors, as they incentivize lazy tutoring and “filling time” with unnecessary work. Itemized invoices are emailed to parents biweekly according to usage, and payment can be made by any method (no extra fees on cards). An auto-pay option is available on request.
When should my student start preparing for the SAT/ACT?
In general, the start of junior year is the best time to start preparing for college entrance exams. At this point, most students have learned all of the content on the tests (e.g., up to Algebra II in math), and the study process can be relaxed without need to interfere with other student activities. Starting at this point also ensures that students will have the opportunity to take the test(s) multiple times, which can significantly decrease test anxiety by minimizing the importance of any single test attempt. This also frees up the summer before senior year to begin working on college applications and essays.
What is a good score?
Each student’s target score is different depending on a student’s academic level and desired colleges. This means there is no “good score,” as a student applying to a state school needs a very different score from one applying to an Ivy League university. A good general rule-of-thumb is that a student should at least score in the “middle 50 percent” (i.e., between the 25th and 75th percentiles) of matriculant scores at the colleges they plan to apply to. Most colleges will report either these or an average score for their previous year’s entering class on their website. For a comprehensive list, the U.S. Department of Education also reports these scores for each university on its College Scorecard webpage.
When a student has reached this score range, it is often better to focus time and effort on college essays and applications. A higher score will always help a student’s chances of admission, but at a certain point, test prep should not interfere with a student’s ability to complete other components of the application to the best of their ability.
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*Digital Adaptive SAT
