Many large tutoring companies like Kaplan only require their tutors to score in the 90^thpercentile of the exam they teach. Many students who seek tutoring already score above the 90^th percentile, which means they could have scored higher than their tutor! Ivy Answers has much more rigorous standards; all of our tutors:

1. Scored in the 99^th percentile, and/or had straight A’s on their test/subject.
2. Attended Ivy League universities and graduated with honors

Targeted and Customized Approach

Prep courses can’t give you the one-on-one coaching expertise that we can. Equally important, their lesson plans and study guide books aren’t tailored to specific skill levels; they recommend the same strategies for all students. This is a misguided. Many strategies are typically more appropriate for average students vs. strong students. A good example is backsolving for SAT math, which can be very useful for average students who may struggle to solve the problem conventionally, but it can be time-consuming. Strong math students can instead quickly solve the problem algebraically, freeing up time for the more difficult questions.

We are also different in our approach to studying. For most students, especially stronger ones, canned lesson plans are not the most efficient use of their prep time. Going through a full lesson plan is often a waste of time because students are only struggling with a minor detail which can be easily rectified. So how should a tutoring session be structured? We discover where the kinks are in a student’s approach to a problem and then help him to work out this mental block. Our primary tactic is to review practice exams the student has taken and understand how he thinks so we can improve his testing skills.