Private Tutoring · Manhattan · By Inquiry
Private test preparation and academic tutoring for grades four through twelve. SSAT, ISEE, SHSAT, Hunter, SAT, ACT, and advanced coursework.
The Practice
One-to-one instruction for independent-school admissions, selective public-school admissions, SAT and ACT preparation, and advanced coursework across the school year.
Every engagement starts with a clear diagnostic: reading habits, quantitative fluency, performance under time pressure, and any foundational gaps standing in the way.
When another specialty is needed, the practice makes a limited number of personal introductions to trusted tutors and learning specialists. The first conversation establishes the plan: priorities, session cadence, and target dates.
Specialties
SSAT and ISEE preparation starts with a full diagnostic across verbal, quantitative, reading, and writing. Sessions pair test-specific strategy with the fundamentals that produce durable gains: vocabulary, mathematical fluency, reading stamina, and a disciplined approach to unfamiliar problems. The essay is part of the curriculum from the start.
The first diagnostic determines the right exam, the highest-value sections, and the recurring question types. From there, each plan combines targeted instruction with timed practice and close review. Students learn where points are being lost, how to use time well, and how to make their strongest sections more consistent.
AP and honors-level coursework, taught from the structure of the discipline.
Coaching for the student who knows the material and loses the test.
Preparation for New York City's selective public-school admissions tests.
The personal essay and supplemental essays for selective admission.
The Approach
Strong test preparation is more than a collection of tricks. Students learn the test's structure, strengthen the fundamentals beneath it, and practice until sound decisions hold under time pressure.
A diagnostic does two jobs: it identifies the points currently being lost and the strengths that can be pushed further. From there, each plan addresses format, timing, question types, and recurring distractors while rebuilding the skills underneath.
Subject tutoring follows the same principle. The work starts from the structure of the discipline, not a single textbook, and rebuilds whatever the classroom has left unsettled. Most families arrive by referral from another parent, a placement consultant, or a teacher.
How an Engagement Begins
A short written intake: your child's grade, school, and what you are preparing for.
A thirty-minute call focused on the student, the goal, and what has not worked before.
We set priorities, session cadence, and target dates around the student's diagnostic and goals.
A first session, untimed and at no commitment. We learn what the work will look like.
A weekly cadence, with a quarterly check-in and a written debrief at the end of each engagement.
Investment
Private instruction for test preparation and academic coursework.
A diagnostic first session is offered at no commitment. Cancellation: twenty-four hours.
About
The practice draws on a Stuyvesant and Penn education, a perfect score on the MCAT, research at Penn Medicine, co-authored peer-reviewed publications, and faculty experience at Horace Mann School.
That range matters at the table. Test preparation is taught with the precision of a strong diagnostic and the patience of a classroom teacher: build the foundations, identify the patterns, and make difficult work manageable.
A limited number of students are taken on each season so that every engagement receives consistent attention from the first diagnostic through the final debrief.
Begin
New families are taken on by inquiry. The intake is brief. The first conversation is practical.