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Veritas Tutor's SAT tutoring services are structured to address the unique needs of each student. We begin all tutoring relationships with a diagnostic test and qualitative assessment by an expert instructor todetermine the student’s particular strengths and weaknesses. This diagnostic forms the foundation of the plan that we then create. While we cover all subjects, we will first spend the most time addressing areas where the student has the most potential to improve.
All of our tutoring is based upon these three major facets:
1) Content Review: students will learn and review concepts and processes that are required for success on the SAT. The tutor tailors the exact content review to the student’s needs based on the diagnostic process and ongoing assessments. Concept review includes such topics as basic algebra, geometry, and problem solving in math, vocabulary, efficient reading, and question-type analysis in reading comprehension, and essay construction, subject-verb-agreement, and dangling modifier identification in writing/grammar (and a lot more!). The purpose of this phase is to ensure that students have the building blocks required to solve the problems posed to them on the tests.
2) Getting Used to Content in Test Format: Problems on the SAT are rarely addressed in a modular and linear fashion. Thus, students must learn to integrate the different content and processes they learn, as well as develop an understanding of the common problem types emphasized on the exam. The purpose of this phase is to familiarize students with the actual problems and the multiple concepts and processes they will have to use together to solve those problems.
3) Practice and Review: Finally, when students are comfortable with the component concepts and skills required for the SAT and how they are meant to deploy those skills for individual problem types, students will learn to address the test holistically. This section will emphasize timing and how to judiciously create an individualized strategy for guessing and leaving questions blank if necessary. Students will also be exposed, in this phase, to the rigors of the full test and pitfalls that they may encounter. This phase also serves as theee final review for phases 1 and 2.
The key to the Veritas method is the emphasis on building a student’s confidence by breaking the test down to component skills and methods and giving students an intimate understanding of how to approach problem types that they understand, as well as problem types that they have never seen before.
This linear, logical, and graduated method addresses the needs of students on all levels. The overlapping nature of the phases allows students to smoothly transition through the different topics in tutoring while retaining the comfort of a graduated curriculum. The result is that the student feels more comfortable with the test, gains confidence to approach novel problems, and develops important problem solving skills that they can use beyond the course.
To see our suggested SAT packages, click here.
Tutors Available for SAT:
Amanda G.
Amanda graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with high honors in Literature. Although her focus was dramatic literature, she also dabbled in American art history and literature, film history, psychoanalysis, European history, philosophy, poetic and theatrical translation. Since her graduation in 2006, she has tutored over 1000 hours in subjects such as SAT prep, AP Literature, and essay writing. As of September 2008, she has been the sole French instructor at Fisher College in Boston. She loves to learn as much as she loves to teach.
- Works with students of all ages and backgrounds
- Fosters the intellectual curiosity of her students while helping them to reach their target scores on standardized tests
- Last year, all her students saw SAT score increases of 100-400 points and were all accepted to their first-choice colleges
- Runs year and semester-long independent study projects for seniors at local private schools
Jay B.
Jay is the CEO of Veritas Tutors. He has taken a broad academic path that spans the sciences and the humanities. As a high-schooler, Jay excelled in the sciences, winning awards on the state level for Chemistry in his home state of Florida. After being admitted to Harvard College, Jay began studying physics. However, realizing that it was the exploration of the unknown and the search for meaning he was really after, Jay switched to the comparative study of religion. Jay studied abroad in India for his junior year and speaks fluent Hindi. He graduated Harvard College in '05, and also attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship for jazz trumpet performance.
- Veritas lead SAT instructor
- Excellent communicator
- Has worked extensively with both special needs and high achieving students
- Thinks students should work hard, but enjoy every bit of learning
Lispeth N.
Lispeth is currently a graduate student with primary research interests in Medieval Islamic theology and philosophy. Prior to coming to Harvard, she was an undergraduate in the Religion Department at Princeton (magna cum laude), where she garnered an A+ for her senior thesis, “al-Ghazzali’s Character Ethic in Context.” However, Lispeth actually headed off to her undergraduate studies intending to be a mathematics or physics major, having taken Multivariable Calculus, Calculus-based Physics, and Linear Algebra in high school. She also participated in competitive-entry summer math programs at M.I.T. and Stanford. SAT: 1590 + 800 Writing. GRE: 1450 + 6.0/6.0 Writing.
- Current Harvard grad student; Undergrad at Princeton
- Recipient of an A+ Senior Thesis mark, departmental Islamic Scholarship Award, the Lawrence Wolfsen Senior Thesis Grant, and the LeMoyne Page Visual Arts Award
- Pre-college math training through Multivariable Calculus
- Able to communicate clearly with "math/science" and "humanities" types alike