As one of New York City’s leading ACT and SAT tutors for over a decade now, I’ve worked with hundreds of students over the years, both online and in person….which has ALSO meant collaborating with hundreds of parents! So I’m well acquainted with the special flavor of anxiety that moms and dads experience as they watch their kid move through the college application process.
As they wade into unfamiliar, stressful waters, it’s not surprising that so many families seek an expert to assist with standardized testing. And a fantastic tutor can indeed take a HUGE amount of work and misery off your and your student’s respective plates.
But not all tutors are created equal. And with your student’s future on the line, it’s not something you want to roll the dice with. Tutors vary greatly in scope, credentials, and cost. So how do you pick the right one-on-one teacher for YOUR teenager? That’s the process—the pre-application process, if you will—that this week’s post is going to outline for you.
ARTICLE CONTENTS
1. Video Version of this Article
2. The Two Types of SAT/ACT Tutor
a. The Expert
3. What to Look for in Your Standardized Testing Tutor
4. Conclusion
Watch this article in video form:
The Two Kinds of SAT Tutor
The first step in picking the right SAT or ACT tutor for your high-schooler is to know what it is you’re looking for! You see, there are two basic types of test prep tutors: 1) the Expert, and 2) the Service Provider.
The Expert
The Expert does more than just review coordinate geometry with you: she will guide your family through the entire test prep process. She takes it upon herself to:
create a long-term study plan specific to YOU;
tell you what milestones you’ll have to hit to achieve your goals (e.g., what dSAT score you need in order to get a foot in the door of your favorite college);
help you pick the test (ACT vs. Digital SAT) that best shows off your teenager's strong points;
manage the entire test prep schedule, making sure you’re registered for the correct test dates and that your son or daughter “peaks” on test day; and
ease tension between you and your high schooler by keeping your kid on-schedule with minimal nagging from you.
In short, the Expert is a mentor, a coach, and a guide…in addition to being very sharp.
The Service Provider
The Expert offers guidance ranging from the big-picture to the tiny details—but not every family prefers that. Some are better suited to the Service Provider.
This is someone who will come in and follow directions from you. YOU, the parent (or the really self-directed student) are the ultimate designer of your experience. You might ask the Service Provider to “work on the Digital SAT Reading and Writing section” today, to “study the ACT Science section” next time, or to “drill quadratic polynomials ‘til the cows come home.”
If we were producing a play, then when you work with this genre of tutor, YOU would be the director—making overarching aesthetic decisions, running rehearsals, coaching actors—while the Service Provider would be the lighting technician who runs the gels and spotlight according to your instructions.
Both types of tutor have pros and cons. before you choose between the two, do some thinking about which would best suit your needs.
What to Look for in a Standardized Testing Tutor
Regardless of which of these two roles you want your SAT or ACT tutor to play, there are a series of traits that are essential to her ability to help you/your student succeed. You should be screening ALL potential tutors to make sure they have these characteristics (though, admittedly, they appear more often in the Expert than in the Service Provider):
1) Generally Smart
You probably aren’t too shocked to hear this one, but it’s worth emphasizing anyways. Whoever is tutoring your son or daughter for the DSAT or ACT needs to be intelligent enough to have done really well on the test herself. A tutor can’t teach the material if he doesn’t understand it!
2) Knows the Test(s) well
It’s not sufficient, however, to be “really smart” and “know how to work through the problems” on the SAT or ACT. Your tutor needs to know your chosen test intimately and concretely.
In standardized testing, the whole is more than the sum of the English topics. The SAT and ACT have different rhythms, different feels, and different strategies for success. You tutor should specialize in the SAT and ACT and not be someone who offers lessons in any academic subject. They should know ALL of the possible “tips and tricks” in existence for both tests.
3) Has a Profound Understanding of All specific Concepts on the SAT and ACT
Though “tips and tricks” can be enough to bring a low score up to an average one, to go from an average to a strong score you need an expert who deeply understands the overarching math, grammar, reading, and science concepts being tested. In fact, you’ll never get a top score without a deep AND wide knowledge of the big picture. Thus, your SAT or ACT tutor needs to have this broader knowledge as well, or who the heck is going to teach it to your son or daughter?
4) Translates test topics well
You can understand all the concepts, facts, and “tips and tricks” in the world, but they will do absolutely no good if your tutor can’t break down these ideas into digestible bites.
5) Speaks Your Language—AND Your High-Schooler's
Your tutor should speak both “teen” and “adult” fluently. This is absolutely CRUCIAL. The student-tutor relationship will flounder if your tutor doesn’t relate to, and earn the respect of, your son or daughter. Otherwise, even the most helpful advice will fall on deaf ears and rolling eyes. At the same time, your tutor needs to communicate effectively with YOU, the parent. They need to be someone whose advice you trust.
6) Is Mentally Flexible
One of the key aspects of communicating effectively with both parent and student is to make sure to meet your listener where she is. In the case of the SAT or ACT, this means being able to explain a question or problem in multiple ways and even drawing analogies that relate personally to the student—whether that means connecting the subject matter to Chappell Roan, flag football, or Minecraft. This also means putting yourself in the student’s place mentally, and explaining the easiest/fastest way for that particular student to solve the problem. This is no small feat, largely because it requires that your tutor…
7) Has High Emotional Intelligence
Not only must your testing guru be able to parse the inner workings of your high-schooler’s brain to course-correct on any mistaken lines of thought, but he or she needs to know how hard, and when, to push. Sometimes, a student needs inspiration. Sometimes, they need to be affirmed so that their nerves settle. Yet other times, a tutor needs to gently but firmly call out the student on flimsy excuses and slacking. And more importantly, the tutor needs the experience and sensitivity to know which will be most helpful to the student.
8) Keeps her eye on the prize
While finding those first seven traits may sound like a piece of cake (jk!), the whole dang point of all this prep work is for your student to hit his or her target SAT or ACT score! In service of that aim, your tutor needs to be goal-focused and have exceptional planning/organizational skills. Your tutor should be frequently reminding your student how far she’s come, and where she’s still headed.
That said, a great mentor will also understand what will get you there: do you REALLY need to spend a session learning how to deal with 3-D Geometry, or will you get the score you need by skipping it and focusing on fast fractions instead? Does your hoped-for college get such high ACT/SAT scores from its applicants that you MUST deeply understand the concepts, or will a simple hack suffice to land the score you need?
9) Stays on top of Digital SAT, ACT, and Common App updates
The College Board and ACT change things up pretty often, and the last thing you want is to discover that your tutor doesn’t know the ACT Essay prompt changed or that the SAT does score choice! (Several years ago, I noticed immediately when the former news item came to pass, and updated the head tutor of a prestigious tutoring company of the ACT essay update—of which he was not aware—before he saw his next student.) Or more recently, that the ACT is changing format in 2025. Your tutor should update YOU on the latest advancements and announcements, not the other way around. Because your tutor should be...
10) Constantly Learning/Researching/Improving
You want an SAT or ACT tutor who is a life-long learner and who gets psyched to share with you top-notch information and strategies for these tests. That means researching new test-prep books and other materials, poring over College Board and ACT-related media, and seeking out the very best and most recent testing strategies, and constantly honing her craft as a teacher, coach, cheerleader, and mentor.
I know which kind of tutor I am, and by now, you probably do too. I'm the Expert.
That's not the kind of tutor that every family will choose...and that's okay. But hopefully this list has given you a sense of what you're looking for when you seek out the type of assistance you want.
And if expertise IS what you're looking for—if you want someone who can make a sound gameplan and manage that process while teaching your teenager complex material and testing skills—then reach out today and let me help make your life (and college process) a whole lot less stressful.
