A‑Game Access™ · Palo Alto, since 1997
Your student already knows more than they score.
The gap between what a student knows and what they get is rarely closed by more content. It is closed by access — and access is a rehearsable skill, not a pep talk.
See it in the free diagnostic session
Two hours on Zoom, no charge and no obligation afterwards. You will see how your student works under the clock — which is the only way to tell a knowledge gap from an access problem.
Book the free diagnosticor call (650) 575-5867
- No packages to purchase up front
- No obligation after the diagnostic
- Finish early and you stop paying; finish late and you don’t pay more — no homework conditions attached
The observation this was built on
Watch closely enough and it is the same story every time: the student who did great had a great day.
That observation is nearly thirty years old now. It came from watching four thousand students sit the same test, and noticing that the ones who beat their practice scores were not the ones who had learned more in the final fortnight. They were the ones who arrived able to use what they already had.
Most preparation treats that as luck. It is not luck, and it is not temperament. It is a state that can be trained, cued and rehearsed — the same way the content and the tactics are.
A score is made of four things
You have to know the material. Nothing here substitutes for that. But knowing it is only the first of four, and most prep stops there.
The right material
Knowing exactly what the test asks, so months do not go into material it never touches. Most of the wasted effort in test prep happens here.
A way to learn it
Knowing something and being able to reach it with a clock running are different things. How a student studies decides which one they end up with.
The tactics
How you see the test and how you execute under time. Bullseye Strategy, Rope Not Snake, the Test Maker’s Logic, In Two or Mark for Review, Double Check Don’t Second Guess.
The state
A‑Game Access™. What decides whether the first three are available to your student at 8:15 on a Saturday morning.
Four layers, and every one of them is about access. Knowing the right things rather than everything. Learning them in a form you can retrieve. Reaching them under time pressure. Reaching them under the pressure of the day itself. Knowledge your student cannot get to on the morning is knowledge they do not have.
Why this is not a pep talk
A pep talk is something done to a student before an event. It raises the temperature for an hour and it is gone by the second module. It cannot be practised, so it cannot be relied on.
A‑Game Access™ is a rehearsable skill with its own cue — something your student performs, not something they are told. It gets trained the way a free throw gets trained: repeated under conditions close enough to the real thing that it holds when the real thing arrives.
It is rehearsed in the same room as the test work
Not a separate module, a separate fee, or a separate appointment.
Your student works official College Board material on the clock, and Michael coaches the state alongside the question — at the moment it matters, on the question that caused it. That is deliberate. A skill trained in isolation does not transfer; a skill trained inside the conditions it is for does.
So by test day your student has practised the content, the tactics and the state together, in the combination they will actually need them. They walk into the room having already done it. That is what showing up with your A‑game means.
What this looks like from the outside
Parents rarely describe it as state work. They describe it as their child becoming someone who could do the thing.
“We tried several approaches, including a private tutor from Princeton Review, and it made almost no difference. Michael quickly recognized that what my son needed most was confidence. He started at the end of junior year with a 1130 and finished at 1410 — and received eight scholarship offers.”Cyndy McLean · Parent of a Palo Alto High School student ’25 · 1130 to 1410
“I was apprehensive during our practice sessions but I diligently practiced meditation at home. Finally, when it got to testing day I was unusually calm. Never beforehand was I that tranquil before taking a test — normally my heart pounds, my hands get sweaty, and I can’t think. In the end, I was able to score a 35 on the ACT stress-free.”Alex Novoselsky · San Mateo High School 2020
Questions parents ask about this part
Is this therapy, or coaching for anxiety?
No. It is test performance work — the same category as a coach preparing an athlete to perform on the day. If a student is dealing with anxiety that reaches beyond the test, that belongs with a clinician, and Michael will say so.
Does it cost extra?
No. It is part of every session at no additional charge. There is one rate — $400 per two-hour session, billed after the session happens — and this is inside it.
My student is not anxious. Is this still relevant?
Yes, and often more so. The students with the most to gain are frequently the ones who are already scoring well and losing points to pace, second-guessing and the last twenty minutes rather than to nerves.
How long does it take to train?
It is rehearsed weekly alongside the test work rather than taught in one sitting, so it develops across the same arc as the rest of the preparation. Eight to ten weeks out from a target date is comfortable.
Start with the free session
Two hours, no charge, no obligation afterwards — a diagnostic test plus time to see how your student works, live on Zoom. Then a separate call with you both to go through the results.
Book the free diagnostic