Test Prep
ISEE, SAT, ACT, HSPT and SSAT — diagnostic first, a target per school, weekly timed practice, regular practice tests.
Whichever gate stands between your student and the next school, the preparation looks the same from the inside: know exactly where you're starting, know exactly what the target is, and put in real timed reps every week with the same tutor — me.
It depends on the school they're headed to — here's the map.
Independent schools
LA's independent schools — Harvard-Westlake, Campbell Hall, Buckley and their peers — ask for the ISEE or SSAT. Most accept either; we pick the one that fits your child.
College admissions
The SAT and ACT are interchangeable to colleges — so we run diagnostics, pick the test where your student naturally scores higher, and commit to it.
Catholic high schools
Catholic high schools — including Loyola — place applicants with the HSPT, one sitting in eighth grade that can also carry scholarship and honors-placement weight.
Each page covers that test's format, its quirks, and exactly how I teach it.
Tests change formats; the way scores move doesn't. Every program I run is built on the same three commitments.
A full timed practice test before anything else. You see the real starting point; nobody prepares blind, and nobody pays for prep they don't need.
We set the score each school on your list actually requires, then build the weekly plan backward from your test date to reach it.
Real sections under real time, reviewed together, with regular practice tests every 3-4 weeks. Plus, you get a written note after every session, so the trajectory is never a mystery.
If yours isn't here, call me — the consultation is free and I answer my own phone.
Most LA independent schools accept either, so we pick the one that fits your child — the ISEE leans harder on math, the SSAT on vocabulary and analogies.
A short diagnostic of each usually settles it. The prep method is identical either way.
Whichever diagnostic your student scores better on — the SAT gives more time per question and adapts; the ACT rewards speed.
Colleges accept both equally. Nobody needs to prepare for both officially; we choose once, with data, and commit.
Twelve to twenty weeks before the test date is the runway that produces the gains my students typically see — for fall tests, that means starting in spring or summer.
Shorter runways can still help; we focus on the highest-leverage sections first. Cramming is the one approach I will honestly tell you does not work.