If you are looking for a MD SAT Tutor, there are some things to take into consideration to make sure you are finding the right MD SAT Tutor. When you simply search for a MD SAT Tutor you will be faced with a multitude of results, how is it you are supposed to sift through the pile of choices? To find the correct MD SAT Tutor you must realize that reputation should not be the only deciding factor.  In your search for MD SAT Tutor you may have realized that big names like Sylvan and Kaplan were among the top results. These are household names, you know their books and have seen their commercials but do you truly know how they will teach your child? These companies take a one size fits all approach to test preparation.  Their approach is repetition of the test will make perfect, the classes consist of your child getting a little bit of instruction and a whole lot of class work in addition to an unreasonable amount of homework. Why do I believe it to be an unreasonable amount of homework? They typically give about 70 problems to do over a seven day period. You as a parent who has been through High School and quite possibly hold a college degree look at this and realize that it is only 10 problems a day. Put yourself in the teenager’s shoes. They don’t think this way, their rationale is that it is not due until next Saturday and I will try to work on it on Friday. Friday rolls around and there is a party, lo and behold the homework does not get done. In their mind this is not a problem, it is not a graded class so what is there to lose? The problem is that the big companies give a guarantee of your score being raised. Did they inform you of the catch? The catch is that ALL homework must be completed and submitted and ALL classes must be attended. If one, yes only one out of 490 problems is not completed then that guarantee is moot. So who should you select from the search of MD SAT Tutor search results? The answer lies within your knowledge of your child. If they are self motivated and do well in a classroom environment at a fast pace then go with the big name company. If your child is not one of these students and falls in the category of 90% of the population then please continue reading. Scroll down the search results of MD SAT Tutor and steer clear of matching services like Wyzant and Tutor Match. They don’t know the quality of the tutors and any Tom, Dick, or Harry can work for them. Look for local companies like Lifelong Knowledge. These companies perform a background check of all employees who tutor for them. That is just your first step in your quest for the right MD SAT Tutor. Once you contact an agency, and are put in touch with a tutor then you should ask the following questions:

1.      How many years have you been tutoring the SAT?

2.      What have your results been? How many students did better and how many did worse? (NOTE: If a tutor says NO student ever did worse, they are lying plain and simple. No one bats 100 in this industry)

3.      How do you adapt to the learning style of your students?

4.      What do you do when a student does not understand even after repeated explanation of the problem?

5.      Do you teach the concepts or the tricks?

6.      What kind of personal guarantee do you give? (NOTE: This is important, if a tutor is confident and knows only a very minute handful of students ever do worse then they will give a personal guarantee of free tutoring should your child not do as expected on the test.)

7.      How do you gauge your progress?

The answers to the above questions are very important and should be along the lines of the following:

1.      Should have at least 5 years of tutoring experience in the subject area.

2.      Should have at least a 90% success rate and offer references of both students who did worse and students who did better. A tutor who is candid is your best ally.

3.      A tutor should indicate they try to find a common ground of how the explanation should be conveyed and finding the right words to making the concept click. If they stutter at this point then they are not going to try to figure out an individual style.

4.      A tutor should indicate they will do the problem as many different ways that they know how until the student understands one way by example.

5.      The tutor should teach both the concepts and then as the test time nears the tricks will be taught. Tricks alone do not help nor do concepts alone.

6.      A tutor should stand by their work. Education should not be an investment with zero return. It is your hard earned money that is being spent, don’t get milked.

7.      A tutor should gauge the student’s progress through mock tests. The tutor should have actual SATs from the past few years, NOT standard books from the bookstore.

If you need more advice on finding a MD SAT Tutor, please do not hesitate to contact me at info@llkts.com.