Ivy Insiders Offer A Fresh Approach to SAT Tutoring
Thursday, July 02, 2009
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Posted by: Hilary Krentzman
The SAT means business. We float through the first two years of high school either reveling in, or tormented by, mid-adolescence. Then the SAT descends on us right when we feel like we’ve gotten the hang of things. The SAT qualifies us as on our way out of high school, at the beginning of yet another transition. It demands, “It’s time to get serious. “
Or does it?
Ivy Insiders, a company that has taken a fresh approach to test prep since its founding in 2003, somehow brings a sense of humor to the test.
“Get passionate about the SAT, “Ivy Insiders tells its students. “Believe it is a game.” The Ivy Insiders “Game Theory” method encourages its students to take advantage of the predictability of the test; learn its rules, study its material, anticipate its tricks, and, as a result, beat it. The genius of the Ivy Insiders approach is that it brings the calm and mature perspective on the SAT that most only arrive at when the test is far in the past, to those who actually need it—high schoolers.
Pair composure with an intelligent and well-researched curriculum and it makes sense that students who come out of the Ivy Insiders program have earned a 265 point average score improvement, the largest among those who have taken courses with its competitors.
When we say at Ivy Insiders that the SAT is not, as it is described, a measure of “aptitude” or “intelligence,” but only how well you know how to take the test, we mean it. We know it in large part because a lot of extremely smart people have spent a considerable amount of time making the test as straightforward as possible. “Information hierarchies” of exam parts, core content areas, and concepts, is our fancy way of saying—don’t worry, we’ve laid out all of the ingredients for you, all you have to do is throw them in the oven and turn on the heat.
The “heat,” in this case, is the right attitude. The SAT is an opportunity because, as II offers, “It is the part of your college application that can be improved most dramatically in the least amount of time.” The SAT is not an anvil falling out of the sky to crush your youthful bliss, but a creaky door that just needs a bit of fidgeting before it swings open faster than imagined.
That is not to say that everyone that goes through Ivy Insiders receives perfect 800’s and admission to their dream school. However, every student does experience the pride of setting personal goals and reaching, if not surpassing them. That is no small feat at a point in life when so many things are beyond our control.
Maybe this generation of test takers gets Ivy Insiders, but they also have a host of other complications. Let’s do them a favor and make one transition a bit simpler.
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