Who are we?
- Degreed experts with extensive subject knowledge and significant teaching or tutoring experience, especially in the area of standardized test prep
- Natural test-takers who have undergone Score At The Top’s extensive training program to prepare students for standardized tests.
- Passionate teachers with a thorough understanding of standardized tests and study skills
- Effective communicators
We provide tutoring specific to particular standardized tests, like:
- ACT, SAT/PSAT, SAT Subject Tests, AP & IB Exams
- FCAT
- SSAT, ISEE
- GRE, LSAT, GMAT, MCAT
- TOEFL, and others
Our instruction takes into account a student’s unique learning style. Proven experience and insight – at Score At The Top we have it!
Our learning community relies as much on our outgoing personalities as it does on our test-prep expertise. Our enthusiasm for teaching and learning is contagious! We truly engage a student in the learning process.
Your child’s personality and learning style will be matched to the right tutor, a match that will help your child excel. Unlike some other test-prep providers, we all teach from the heart and customize a curriculum for each student – we don’t blindly follow a memorized syllabus. We can correctly answer and explain every question on every test we use. We teach students a variety of strategies tailored to each test, and, ultimately, to each student. No matter whether your student has a successful test-taking track record, or an anxiety-ridden one, we’ve got the personality and resources to help, and we are proud of our adaptability to student needs.
What makes us really special?
We regularly take the tests we teach, and score in the top five percent of all test-takers. Why is that important? Because we want to keep in touch with the way the test creators do things. Unlike most test-prep educators, who haven't actually taken the test since they were in high school, we stay as up-to-date as possible. When we actually sit down to take the real thing in a test center, we acquire insights about the test that cannot be learned just by studying old exams. We sense their nuances, we note student reactions during the breaks, we look for small things like how much our fingers start cramping during the essay – all the elements of test-taking that can only be appreciated first-hand. Our advice to students is fuller, complete, experientially based. We give our students more insight into the test creators’ mentality.
How are we trained?
Before we can be accepted into Score At The Top’s training program, we must take an actual standardized test, score in the top 5%, and provide excellent, engaging explanations for the right and wrong answers to every question. We start our training with more than 30 hours of one-on-one mentoring by Judi and our seasoned test-prep tutors, continue by taking many actual tests, and participate in a 10-hour practicum. If we get top reviews from our mentor and Learning Center director, we then begin preparing students for standardized tests. Many of us have also had significant test-prep tutoring experience before joining the Score At The Top team.
Because we are also academic tutors, we undergo specialized training focused on interactive, motivational teaching and effective ways to blend academic content with study skills. We further our professional development in on- and off-site workshops on such topics as reading strategies, student anxiety, test preparedness, and organization skills.
Who trains us?
We are trained by Judi Robinovitz – founder of Score At The Top, who spent the early years of her career working for the makers of the SAT – and also by Barry Mallis – Director of our Wellington Learning Center, and a former English teacher who was an SAT essay reader for the College Board. We are also mentored by other seasoned test-prep tutors at Score At The Top.
Judi Robinovitz, founder of Score At The Top, worked for Educational Testing Service and wrote the College Board’s SAT-prep software and strategy chapters of their test-prep books before founding her own educational consulting company. She leads professional-development workshops on test-taking strategies for us, continually updating our training. She also leads test-prep workshops for several local schools as well as boarding schools around the country. Judi personally tutors a small number of students every year, coaching them to very significant score gains. Taking the SAT on a regular basis, Judi has frequently scored an 800 on the reading and math sections. She took the “new” SAT the very first time it was offered and scored a perfect 800 on its new writing section.
Barry Mallis, Director of Score At The Top in Wellington, scored SAT essays for the College Board over a three-year period. He has also scored writing components of state-mandated testing for California, Arkansas and Maryland. Today he regularly leads professional-development workshops for our test-prep tutors and high school English teachers, training them to instruct students about how to write higher-scoring essays for the SAT and ACT. Our students sometimes travel from other locations to our Wellington Learning Center to work directly with Barry when they need to substantially increase their essay score on any standardized test. In addition to successfully coaching students on all sections of the SAT and ACT, Barry leads test-prep workshops in our Wellington Learning Center and in schools all over the country. He’s even available “virtually” to students in any location!
In conclusion…
Score At The Top maintains an integrity built upon long-term tutor pride and commitment. Parents consistently commend our work to others because of the exceptional results their children achieve. The result: your child gets the right tutor and you get the peace of mind that comes from knowing you have given your child the opportunity to score at the top of his or her potential.
