Private tutor advice/opinion

Test Preparation
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<p>I will be taking the SAT in october and I still have some difficulty in the math section . Therefore, I am considering hiring a private tutor. HAs anybody here had a private tutor? If so, how was it and did her/she really help raising your score?
IN addition, What would be the ideal schedule to have with a private tutor and how much does it usually cost? </p>

<p>The main problem i have is with the short time. I can 't manage to finish all the questions and sometimes I am clueless about how to find the solution to some questions. I am in math 7 now and don't recall some of the simple concepts, such as probability, etc... Last time , I scored a 650 on the math, the lowest of all sections. </p>

<p>I have found that the average rate for tutors here in my area is $40-$70 per hour-- i am referring to tutors that work independently, or those that do not work for companies like kaplan and PR.</p>

<p>SHould i trust those tutors?</p>

<p>One claims that he has worked for PR for 2 years and charges 40 dolalrs per hour</p>

<p>Anothe one says that he is a student at columbia and has experiece with the test; this one charges 65 per hour</p>

<p>WHich one should i choose?</p>

<p>reply as soons as possible eplease</p>

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<p>As far as I can understand you have a problem in a few of the concepts so I suggest you brush up those concepts either by yourself or with a tutor who teaches you the Math and not SAT Math. If all you want is to get through the test and don't really care about the Math then a PR or Kaplan tutor is best for you.</p>

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<p>I had a private tutor from Kaplan and my scores in math went from 660 (old SAT) to 790 (new SAT)</p>

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<p>depends, for SAT I my tutor helped abit by raising my scores from a 670ish to a solid 700+, and speed wise I improved quite abit. But my problem was more with carelessness that gave me a range of scores.</p>

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<p>I guess i wil have to try a couple of tutors in order to find out and then decide which on eis more competent</p>

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<p>I have both a math tutor and and enlish tutor, as well as am enrolled in an expensive prep course (not run any major company), but by a woman who has 30+ years of experience. But really, it really depends on what you make of it. If you hire a tutor, he may be the one who gets an 800, but if you don't pay attention, or you just feel that by hiring a tutor you are guranteed an 800, then you will only score you won't improve.</p>

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<p>Plus, my goals for the SAT are mid/low 700s for Math, high 700s for verbal</p>

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<p>The CB SAT Book is sweet for SAT Math with its review concepts. Thats all my brother needed to get from 670 to 800 in a day (he just refresher and pay closer attention). Of course this was on PR SAT Class Tests so we dont know what he is actually going to get, but probably 800.</p>

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<p>I have already explained my position re: tutoring vs. self study on
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1025991#post1025991%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1025991#post1025991&lt;/a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1026444#post1026444%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1026444#post1026444&lt;/a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1031535#post1031535%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1031535#post1031535&lt;/a>,
so I won't be repeating it now.
My opinion is obviously biased since I am a tutor myself.
I hope you still can get something useful out of my advice.</p>

<p>My suggestions:
First: request references and talk to those people who have had sessions with this
tutor. As you can see from that discussion on "Xiggi's SAT prep advice" thread,
there are talented tutors who work for the companies, big or small, not just independently.
Second: after the first or second session you'll know if you are getting real help.
If you decide that you are not, don't hesitate to drop your tutor and find a better one.
Unfortunately, chances are you won't. Follow Xiggi's plan (if you have not already, which would be a shame, considering how close your test is). It'll sure boost your score, maybe not as much as could be possible with a very good tutor.</p>

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<p>Hi, i think i will go with the $40 dollars tutor first and if it doesn't go well after one or two sections, i will contact another one. This tutor claims to have worked for Princ. Review for some time and for kaplan as well. I guess the tutor doesn't have any specialization in math to be able to help with the math section of the sat since it is mainly simple, or early, math.</p>

<p>I have a few questions for you:</p>

<p>Does a higher rate mean a better, or more competent tutor?-- I am referring to those that work independently.</p>

<p>And, As a tutor, how much do you charge per hour?</p>

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<p>frasifrasi, I would not want to turn this commonly shared thread into a personal conversation, but I'd like to give answers general enough, so they could benefit other people as well.</p>

<p>Opinions exchanged in the aforementioned discussion on "Xiggi's advice" thread give a very good idea what a good tutor can and should provide.
One of the observations shared there was that somebody, who has worked for the big guns in the SAT prep industry, is not necessarily an expert.</p>

<p>Charging more is also not a sign of better qualification. A higher rate can be used for self-marketing purposes: for example, to create an impression of being in demand.
In my area fees vary from $35 to $150 per hour (my estimate). In seriously metropolitan lands rates go as high as $500 and possibly more per hour (nuts!?) with the average in a range of $100 - $ 200 per hour.
Does that guarantee a high quality of tutoring, you think?</p>

<p>I work as a contractor for the prep company (not humongous). Being a contractor means I can tutor students I acquire independently from this company. For a number of reasons I almost never do that.
I am sorry, but I can't share our rates - it's a proprietary information.</p>

<p>The fact that somebody is a student at a high caliber school, and/or scored perfect on SAT, does not mean s/he can prepare efficiently for the SAT.
I have to grudgingly confess that I have very rarely achieved max scores - I don't perform well under any kind of pressure. But: about 95% of my students<br>
raise their scores significantly. I know WHAT and HOW to teach them to win the SAT game.</p>

<p>That also answers your other question.
Tutoring for SAT is not about teaching/absorbing math material - does not matter whether simple or difficult. Otherwise, math teachers would be the the most thought after. Xiggi and others explained it in great detail. Being good in "math solving" is, on the other hand, enables a tutor to teach the most efficient (my favorite word) solving techniques. They are as important as SAT specific strategies that Xiggi and other posters demonstrated in numerous examples.</p>

<p>I think using a tutor to refresh basic math or grammar concepts is a complete waste of money. Same is true about working with a tutor on questions you are capable of doing on your own. "Xiggi advice" is an excellent source on ways to prepare independently. Dealing with a problem of running out of time is also covered there, I believe.</p>

<p>If I remember it right, Godot has a successful 2-month prep course.
IMO cramming tutoring into one month helps little in most cases. Exception: polishing up high 700's.</p>

<p>It's already quite a busy season, and I won't be able to be as active on this forum as I have been for the past two months. Please don't feel ignored if I don't answer questions in the future. </p>

<p>Time for a common mantra: "I hope this helps".</p>

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<p>frasifrasi, I forgot to ask you a favor:
when you are done with your test, would you post the story of your encounters with tutor(s) and how tutoring changed your scores?</p>

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<p>I am estimating it will take about 1 month and 2 weeks for this whole process to be over and i expect to hire at least 2 tutors; i will try to post how it all happened and how it helped at the end of this "journey" and ,perhaps, what i score--that would have tobe sometime later. Maybe you should give me your email so i can send it, i may forget to do it, or where to send.</p>

<p>Anyways...</p>

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<p>I wouldnt pay $500/hr unless they magically guarenteed a 200 point increase per hour.... which is basically impossible.</p>

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<p>Hi Frasi --</p>

<p>I'm a tutor coordinator at one of the mid-size test prep firms. Based on my experience pairing many tutors with clients here's my take on scheduling:</p>

<p>For a very diligent student who's in control of his/her schedule, timing doesn't matter. You can do all tutoring in consecutive days for math, so long as you leave time each nite, or the morning after to REINFORCE the tutoring. My company generally prescribes a full day in between to force students to use the extra day for 2+ hours of reinforcement or practice testing.</p>

<p>For a not-so-diligent, we like the every-other-day tutoring if the target test date is less than a month away. Otherwise 2x a week or even once a week is fine. Again, take practice tests in between meetings.</p>

<p>Mark G</p>

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<p>Yes, diligent students should use tutors. I'm biased, (I'm a tutor coordinator at a mid-size firm) but my bias is based on this logic: 1) if you are putting the time and effort in to maximize your score, a good tutor will make it MORE EFFICIENT time spent. 2) A good tutor will give over at least SOME strategies that you might not find in a book. 3) Finally, a good tutor will TAILOR oversight of what you are doing wrong to strategies and/or material that wll counteract those errors.</p>

<p>The downside is cost. but with merit scholarship awards running $1000 - $10,000 PER YEAR based mostly (sometimes solely) on SAT scores, there is almost always a net financial gain from a good tutor.</p>

<p>Mark G</p>

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<p>I have a tutor for math who charges $12/hour and that's the highest anyone charges in my city, and it's helped improved my score drastically, I went from 600 in the 3rd PSAT to 790 in the 8th one.Get a tutor only if you know where you need help as it's hard to sit down and go through the entire course over and it'll also waste time, but it's not essential to get a tutor to score high, if you already have a hang over the subject, just practising with softwares will do great.</p>

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<p>seriously tho, you don't need a tutor for math. self studying is fine for me, at least. I do about 750ish</p>

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<p>megha..r u saying u took PSAT 8 times? :O</p>

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<p>of course not, if you got me wrong, I meant the 8 practise tests given in the collegeboard book</p>