FAQ's

Why is KlassTutoring so much more affordable than the competition?
Why should I work with KlassTutoring?
When should I take the SAT?
When should I sign up for SAT tutoring?
How long are the tutoring sessions?
What if I am taking the test in less than three months?
How many times should I take the SAT?
How much tutoring do I need?
Can I customize any of the KlassTutoring programs to focus on my weaknesses?
How do I sign up with KlassTutoring?
How much money should I expect to spend on tutoring?
Do you offer discounts?
How many points will my score increase after working with KlassTutoring?
Does KlassTutoring offer a score-increase guarantee?
Who are your tutors?
What if I am not satisfied with my tutor?
Where does the tutoring take place?
Do you offer group tutoring?
Do you offer other tutoring services besides the SAT?
How do I sign up for the SAT?
Why is it important to improve on the SAT?

Why is KlassTutoring So Much More Affordable than the Competition? Two words: low overhead. Since all of our tutoring is one-on-one, and since we don’t have classrooms (we drive to you), we don’t need to pay rent on a central place of business. In other words, KlassTutoring’s administration team works from home. Which is good for you (and frankly for us, too - have you seen the traffic lately?). And here’s the amazing thing: while our rates are the lowest in the industry, our tutors are typically the highest-paid. (Don’t believe us? Call some of our competitors and pretend like you’re looking for tutoring work. Seriously, if you have the time, give it a try. Then call us. When the shock of our competitors’ high-margins wears off, you can even sign up for tutoring during the same phone call!)

Why Should I Work with KlassTutoring? We could tell you we have the best tutors (just like every other tutoring company). We could tell you our curriculum is the most effective (who wouldn’t say as much?). We could guarantee you’ll increase your score at least 1,000 points (and then follow that up with enough fine print to make you go blind). So what do we do differently? We give you great tutors, we utilize a proven and effective curriculum, and we provide an honest, “small-company” experience that you can’t get with the other guys - and we do it for a heck of a lot less money. See our rates on the Home page.

When Should I Take the SAT? We recommend taking the SAT for the first time in late winter or early spring of the student's junior year, which means, if possible, getting started fall of the junior year, or perhaps the summer before the junior year.

When Should I Sign Up for SAT Tutoring? (A) When the student is in preschool
(B) At least 1 year before the SAT
(C) At least 10 weeks before the SAT
(D) The day before the SAT
(E) After the student gets rejected from her first-choice college

Why should students have all the fun? So what’d you pick? Wait, who’s asking the questions around here? OK. The answer is (C). You should start working with KlassTutoring at least 10 weeks (2½ months) in advance of your scheduled test date if you sign up for the 20-hour program, 15 weeks (nearly 4 months) in advance for the 30-hour program, and at least 5 months in advance for the 40-hour advanced program. (We can accelerate any of the above programs by meeting for more than 2-hours per week, and we can also customize a program for last-minute tutoring.)

Summer tutoring is a great way to get a head start on SAT preparation. There’s no better cure for those long, boring days of summer than some exciting SAT tutoring! (Yes, this is sarcasm.) Students might not love the idea, but summer tutoring allows students to effectively prepare for the SAT without the added stress of other school-year responsibilities. In addition, students who wish to take the SAT in the fall can complete one of KlassTutoring's shorter programs over the summer.

How Long Are the Tutoring Sessions? Depends on whom you ask - some students say our sessions seem interminable. We, however, think that one two-hour session each week works great for most students. This allows the tutor to discuss all three SAT sections (Writing, Critical Reading, and Math) at each section. Of course, we are flexible and can tutor for more or fewer hours per week if requested.

What If I Am Taking the Test in Less Than Three Months? The 20-hour program takes 10 weeks (2½ months) to complete if meetings are scheduled for two hours per week. To accelerate the program, we can meet for more than 2-hours per week; the student, however, should be prepared for an increase in homework.

We can also develop a "crash course" curriculum focusing only on a student’s greatest areas of opportunities by analyzing a diagnostic test or reviewing past SAT or PSAT scores. Give us a call, and we will help create a schedule that works with your time constraints.

How Many Times Should I Take the SAT? One of our students once asked us if he should take the SAT seven times during his junior year (every time it was offered). When we stopped laughing and realized he was serious, we said “no” and recommended that he sign up for a class on perspective. (We didn’t really tell him about the perspective class, and we’re not really sure if one exists, but our answer is still no.)

Yes, the SAT is important, but it’s only one part of a student’s college resume. Thus, for most students, we recommend taking the SAT at least twice and no more than three times. Students often do well the second time they take the SAT because of the experience they have gained taking such a lengthy test the first time. They know what to expect and are thus better prepared and more comfortable.

Taking an official SAT in the middle of a KlassTutoring program is fine. It gives us an accurate look at a student's progress. Obviously, the second scheduled testing should take place after the completion of the KlassTutoring program.

If a student has not reached his or her desired score after the second test, or if further advanced study (perhaps over the summer) is desired, then taking the SAT a third time is encouraged.

How Much Tutoring Do I Need? There are several factors that you should consider when deciding how much tutoring you need.

1. Student's score-increase goal: There are many publications that outline average SAT scores for various colleges and universities; several examples of these scores are shown below. Identify some of the student’s target schools. Shoot high, but have some backups. Estimate how many points the student would like to raise his or her score, and then review our Lesson Plan page for estimated score increases for our three SAT programs. If a student needs to raise his or her score more than 300 points, the advanced 40-hour program is highly-recommended. If a student needs to raise his or her score by more than 1,000 points, we have a hypnotist on staff (in other words, you might aim a little lower).

2. Time before final SAT test: KlassTutoring's standard programs take anywhere from 10 weeks to over 5 months (custom programs may take less time). We recommend that students plan to take their second SAT in the spring of their junior year. Since many colleges accept SAT scores as late as fall or winter of a student's senior year, a student who desires further score increases may study over the summer after his or her junior year and take the SAT a third time.

3. Budget: Decide what your tutoring budget is. Every hour of tutoring is important, so take comfort in the fact that our rates are among the lowest for one-on-one SAT tutoring.

Need help? For most students, 30 hours of tutoring is a sensible and realistic choice. Score increases are usually significant, and cost and time commitments are kept relatively in check. Please contact us today, and we can walk you through the process above and help you select the program that is right for you.

College Admission Data: Below are SAT score ranges (25th to 75th percentile) from a few select universities, in no particular order, as published in U.S. News & World Report "2007 Edition – America's Best Colleges." The fact that UCLA has a lower average SAT score than USC is quite unsettling. (Can you guess the alma mater of KlassTutoring’s owner?)

Can I Customize Any of the KlassTutoring Programs to Focus on My Weaknesses? Of course! The 20, 30, and 40 hour programs, as outlined on our Lesson Plan page, work for most students, but we can also focus on only one or two parts of the KlassTutoring curriculum. Each of the three tests (Writing, Critical Reading, and Math) can easily be taught separately, or we can focus on more specific topics, such as essay writing, reading-passage questions, or, for the less-artistically-inclined of our students, the art of filling in bubbles. As the most flexible tutoring company in the industry, we can tailor any tutoring schedule to meet your individual needs.

Keep in mind that even if one of our set programs is chosen, tutors are trained to focus on students’ weaknesses, or “areas of opportunities,” as we like to call them. In addition, students tend to work quickly through material with which they are comfortable. This allows tutors to naturally spend more time on difficult or more unfamiliar topics.

How Do I Sign Up with KlassTutoring? Unfortunately, you have to communicate with a live person (but we’re working on removing the human element soon so we can be more like our competitors). Contact us at info@klasstutoring.com or call 310-948-1393 or 877-808-6014 for questions or to set up your tutoring schedule. Our huge staff of operators (Linda or Tamara) is standing by.

How Much Money Should I Expect to Spend on Tutoring? Of course, how much you spend depends on how long you choose to work with KlassTutoring. Once you have determined an appropriate program length, review our rates on our Home page. For all programs, there is an added charge of $75* for the student's materials, which includes KlassTutoring’s The Ultimate SAT Tutorial and 10 real SATs (yes, real, honest-to-goodness SATs). We encourage prospective clients to "shop around." We are confident you will see that for comparable one-on-one tutoring, we offer the best value and the most flexibility while providing you with the best tutors and techniques available.

*Rates are current as of May 2009 and are subject to change.

Do You Offer Discounts? Because our rates are already so affordable, we do not offer discounts. We do, however, offer referral rewards. Much of our business comes from referrals from happy clients, and as a token of our appreciation, we award a $100 payment (or, if you prefer, $100 worth of tutoring) for each referral. These rewards can add up, so once you see how good we really are, start spreading the word.

How Many Points Will My Score Increase After Working with KlassTutoring? The number of points a student's score will increase generally depends on how focused a student is during tutoring lessons, how diligently the student works on homework and practice tests, and how long the student works with KlassTutoring. Typically, a diligent and focused student can expect score increases of 150 to 200 points for 20 hours of tutoring, 200 to 300 points for 30 hours of tutoring, and over 300 points for 40 or more hours of tutoring. Higher score increases are common. Increases also depend on a student's starting scores (higher starting scores do not usually go up as much as lower scores because there is less room for increase). Please read our Testimonials section to see actual SAT score increases.

Does KlassTutoring Offer a Score-Increase Guarantee? At KlassTutoring, we have several reasons why we avoid a score-increase guarantee. The “fine print” is a big one. Most of our competitors who offer these guarantees say something such as this:

Students must attend all program sessions, take all assigned practice tests, and complete all homework assignments.

Because of the pressures of high school and other activities, even our best students have trouble completing all homework assignments on time, and rare is the student who does not miss at least one lesson. Tutoring companies that offer score-increase guarantees are counting on their students to not be perfect.

But it gets worse. If you read the guarantees carefully, most of them allow students to retake the class (and we stress “class”) for free. In other words, the student can sit in an otherwise empty chair and learn the same stuff that didn’t work the first time. Or if the student worked one-on-one, then the only choice is to take an SAT class, a seemingly less-effective form of tutoring than the one-on-one that the client paid for originally. And worse still, one of our competitors (go ahead, search around, they’re one of the biggies) says the following:

…you may repeat our Classroom Course at no charge other than a $200 administrative fee.

Wow!

Score-increase guarantees send the wrong message. Scores do not automatically go up. There is no magic, score-increase pill that students can swallow. Every SAT tutoring company knows this. Students must apply themselves diligently to their lessons and assignments – plain and simple. At KlassTutoring, we can say with confidence that those students who focus intently on their tutoring lessons and work hard on their homework assignments will increase their scores beyond their expectations. That’s our guarantee.

Who Are Your Tutors? Every single tutor has a college degree. No exceptions. Our tutors are graduates of some of the nation’s top universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, UCLA, USC, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell, and most of our tutors have graduate degrees. (College education may seem like a no-brainer, but go ahead and ask our competition about its tutors. You might be surprised.) Please read more about our tutors on our Tutors page.

What If I Am Not Satisfied with My Tutor? As we only hire the best, we are confident you will have a positive experience with your tutor, but if you have any concerns regarding your tutor, please call us immediately. We will promptly address your needs and make any necessary adjustments.

Where Does the Tutoring Take Place? Our SAT Tutors are available in most of Los Angeles and Orange County. They can come to your home at no additional cost to you, meet at their own residences, or meet at another place of your choosing, such as a library or coffeehouse.

Do You Offer Group Tutoring? KlassTutoring does not organize group or "classroom" tutoring, and we generally don't recommend group tutoring because of the obvious strengths of one-on-one teaching. We will, however, tutor groups of five or fewer students if the group is arranged by the client. Each student should be at a similar SAT level and, of course, have similar scheduling availability. Please call us to discuss group discounts and other important information about group tutoring.

Do You Offer Other Tutoring Services Besides the SAT?In addition to our primary focus of SAT tutoring, KlassTutoring also provides other college-bound student services. For example, we offer a full-service College Admissions Advising Program to assist students with all aspects of the college application process. Additionally, please contact us if you are interested in tutoring for the SAT Subject tests, writing, math, physics, chemistry, and other sciences. Many of our expert tutors have teaching and tutoring experience in these subjects, and we would be happy to assist you.

How Do I Sign Up for the SAT? All SAT registration must be done through the College Board.

Why Is It Important to Improve on the SAT? SAT scores are used by colleges and universities as part of a series of admission criteria. Increasing your scores will significantly increase your chances of getting into the school of your choice.