SAT Tutor: High-schooler?

<p>I was just wondering if any parents would be willing to pay for a high school senior with an SAT score of 2350 to tutor their children for the SAT, and if so, how much you'd be willing to pay per hour. Obviously there are many variables that you could consider when answering, but I appreciate any answers.</p>

<p>Yes, I would have been willing to have paid a h.s. student with that score to have tutored my sons. I probably would have been willing to pay $20 an hour.</p>

<p>I admire your willingness to try to make money this way. I had suggested that my high- scoring younger son become an SAT tutor, but he decided to pursue jobs that were more interesting to him, but barely paid minimum wage.</p>

<p>Ehm, I MIGHT give a freelancer a shot - but to be honest, I wouldn’t pay much (definitely not $20/hr) unless he/she has some really good references and a record of score improvements to back it up. I would definitely choose someone a bit older with several years experience and references, given the choice. </p>

<p>Like, I got an 800 CR score, but the only advice I can give anyone for improving their CR score is to start reading at an extremely young age and continue to devour good books for many subsequent years.</p>

<p>Yeah, not very helpful for prep purposes.</p>

<p>So I wouldn’t assume anyone else would be helpful for prep purposes based on their score, either ;).</p>

<p>(Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration - I could probably come up with some decent strategies, but I’m just trying to highlight that “high scoring” definitely no-way-no-how would equate to good tutor).</p>

<p>My son (high school senior) tutors the math section only for $35/hour. Even though he has a fair amount of tutoring jobs, I don’t actually know that I would personally pay a high school student since there are strategies that high scoring kids may not need to use but your kid might. These pop up more in the Verbal section which is not as straight forward, but either way, I’m just not sure. My son is essentially a math tutor rather than an SAT tutor, even though he is using the SAT sample tests to teach the material.</p>

<p>Getting a high score means that the student knows how to answer the test questions him/herself, but may not know how to teach the skills and tactics that would help someone else do well. I wouldn’t hire a tutor who only had high test scores to recommend them; I’d look for previous teaching experience. If this is a first teaching experience, then I’d probably go for $15/hour to start.</p>

<p>I would hire my daughter to tutor my son in a perfect world. If the student being tutored is willing to take direction from a high school student, it could be helpful. However, if a student is willing to take direction from someone who is just a year or two older, that student might be successful with self-studying a practice test book–and I would try that first. Is the OP wanting to tutor or wanting to hire the tutor?</p>

<p>Some HS seniors can be very good tutors, but you can’t judge how good one is by his score alone.
My son who always got perfect scores on all standardized math tests (PSAT through GRE) could never tutor SAT math because he doesn’t understand what is there to explain.</p>

<p>My sister tutored me in SAT writing after she scored 12 essay and 80 MC (aka 800). My score jumped from 550 to 700 after just one session. I would probably start at 15/hour and then up it to 20 if your child feels the tutor is very helpful.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t hire a HS senior as a SAT tutor, but rather as a subject tutor.</p>

<p>Depending on the maturity and communications skills of the tutor – yes. $20 per hour.</p>

<p>Suppose you are given these two situations: Teacher teaches Student A; and Student B teaches Student C. How would you expect students A, B, and C to perform on a test covering that material? According to a seminar I attended last week by a professor from Nebraska, Student B > Student C > Student A. She said that the quality of instruction is higher from the teacher than it is from Student B, but that Student A accepts what the teacher says and learns in a more passive way, while Student C questions what Student B says (either explicitly or internally), and is more personally involved in the instruction.</p>

<p>If this is true, then students might actually learn more from a student tutor than from a professional tutor. Not because the student tutor is better, but because the learner plays a more active role in the process and therefore retains it better.</p>

<p>That’s not to say this is always going to be true, but I thought it was interesting.</p>

<p>For $20/$30 per hour, I would call surrounding high schools (not your student’s) and ask if AP English or Math teachers did private tutoring.
There is a big difference in knowing how to do well on a test and knowing how to teach another kid to do well. There is also the problem with peer tutoring that the student might be reacting to the tutor on too much of a “peer” level.</p>

<p>I know of professional SAT coaches that charge $50/hour. Obviously a student couldn’t charge that much, especially with no track record. </p>

<p>The issue with SAT review is not just tutoring, but getting students to do review on their own time too. So part of your challenge would be getting students to use their own time wisely. Summer would be great for this kind of gig. Maybe you could try something like this… </p>

<pre><code> $5/hour plus $1 per point of SAT increase?
</code></pre>

<p>Thanks for all the input guys, by the way, I was considering trying to tutor this summer, and from the responses so far, I’d say I’m gonna go for it. I think that I’d have a decent client base to start, I live in a community with a ton of overachievers who, insofar, are dissatisfied with the SAT instruction they are already receiving and will likely try to take the SAT’s again in their senior year. Although you guys have voiced concerns about a student trying to teach the SATs to peers, but I’m extremely personable and most kids in my grade think I’m very smart.</p>