Our Philosophy

Advantage Testing regards standardized tests as opportunities for students to learn important skills both for the tests themselves and for life. If students prepare properly, their tutoring and testing experiences foster quantifiable results and spur academic achievement. Our long-term, rigorous, and carefully designed approach to learning seeks to go this far, and further. We work hard to instill education’s most enduring and profound rewards:

self-confidence
academic growth
joy in learning
intellectual curiosity

Toward these ends, private tutoring serves as a uniquely powerful educational tool. We adapt traditional methods of study and practice for the individual student. Creating a positive environment that simultaneously challenges and supports, our tutors teach students to study not just intensively but effectively.

Our Approach to Learning

Long-term: Depending on an individual student’s needs and goals, our programs may span a year or more. True cognition involves phases of digestion, application, and repetition that take time, both during and between teaching sessions. The benefits of such productive work, of course, become long-term as well.
Rigorous: Advantage Testing students work hard. We teach the efficiencies of skill, knowledge, and sound reasoning rather than short cuts or tricks. Homework, memorization, drills, and practice tests are crucial components of our programs.
Comprehensive: For two decades, we have continually refined and expanded our teaching materials and approaches. Our curricula and instruction reflect a depth and breadth born of experience and meticulous analysis. We try to prepare students for every foreseeable academic contingency.
Practical: Learning in the abstract is hard at any age but especially difficult at younger ages. We design and implement concrete strategies with specific steps toward attainable goals. Practice itself is the backbone of our structured programs.
Creative: Paradoxically, our structure permits extensive creativity. Each student responds to a distinctive style of teaching, but all benefit from enjoying and contributing to the process. Our mnemonic approach to learning vocabulary, for example, encourages students and teachers to create idiosyncratic word associations and stories ranging from the serious to the seriously silly; these associations make the dictionary definitions more memorable and the learning experience more fun.

Our Tutors

Advantage Testing is a group of educators specializing in academic tutoring and test preparation. Our faculty consists primarily of high honors graduates of leading colleges and universities. Many hold graduate or professional degrees. Of the hundreds of applications we receive regularly, we select only a few dozen for interviews and ultimately hire just a few. As Crain's New York Business noted in 2003, "This year, 900 people applied for positions at tutoring firm Advantage Testing. Five were hired."

Our instructors are:

effective motivators who encourage students of every background and ability to achieve their highest possible scores
experienced, dedicated educators who receive outstanding teaching evaluations
energetic, informal, and approachable mentors who establish productive relationships with their students
skilled test-takers who must score in the top 1% (99th percentile) on any standardized test they teach for us
students themselves of the continuously evolving science of standardized test construction

Message to Educators

In content and in spirit, our approach complements, and does not purport to replace, the work that our students do at school. Whether it is a review of geometric progressions or an epiphany about literary irony, the material that we teach relates to and supports students’ coursework in middle school, high school, college, and beyond.

Our endorsement of education is unequivocal and positive. Our students are referred to us by university presidents, college faculty, high school principals, guidance counselors, teachers, parents, and other students. By adhering closely to our educational philosophy, we hope and intend to maintain this record.

One of our highest priorities is to convey a systematic approach to learning that will remain with the student throughout his or her career.

Message to Students

We believe that preparing for standardized tests can be deeply rewarding. If you peel away the layers of anxiety, cynicism, and misperceptions surrounding standardized tests, what you find is a core set of teachable, and learnable, educational concepts. Our programs help you master those concepts and achieve your goals.

Typically, an Advantage Testing program requires the same level of time and commitment as a class at school. You will work hard, but you may be surprised by how much you enjoy the process. Working with a tutor you like and trust, you can focus your energies where you need to and determine the right pace and content of your studies. In the end, your independent accomplishments will be securely grounded in the quality of your own efforts.

Message to Parents

Our program consultants and tutors are available to provide clear, helpful, accurate information to aid your decision-making and answer your questions. As you choose the appropriate route for your child, we work in tandem to design customized programs that produce the maximum educational benefit. By adhering to the highest professional and personal standards, and by maintaining open communication, we work to earn and maintain your trust in the role we play in your son's or daughter's academic development.

Virtually entirely through word-of-mouth, our message has been enthusiastically spread, and received, by growing communities of parents and educators. Through a systematic educational approach, we demystify academic material and build deep confidence in our students and their families. In so doing, we help them transcend anxieties about testing and encourage them to maintain a positive focus.