How Much Experience Should an SAT or ACT Tutor Have? What 29 Years Actually Teaches

I have taught SAT, ACT and PSAT prep full time since 1997: 29 years, more than 4,000 students, every session taught by me. Years alone don’t make a tutor good. What matters is what those years contain: how many students, which versions of the test, and whether the tutor learned from the students it didn’t work for.

Test prep has never been a side job for me. Below is how to judge any tutor’s experience, mine included.

Has the tutor taught through SAT format changes, including the switch to the digital SAT?

Ask, because each change made some old advice wrong. A tutor who has taught through several redesigns knows which strategies carried over and which quietly stopped working. A tutor who started recently has only one version to compare against.

These are the changes I’ve taught through:

Every one of those changes produced a wave of confident advice from people who hadn’t yet seen a student sit the new test. The useful thing about having taught through all of them is knowing to wait for the evidence.

“Even today, five years removed from my last tutoring session, Michael’s fundamental strategies help me conquer midterms and finals each year. Sitting where I am now, job in hand and degree just months away, I am very thankful to have had Michael’s influence in my life.” — W. Douglas Wigley · Sacred Heart Preparatory ’05 · Princeton University

Does classroom teaching experience count the same as SAT or ACT tutoring experience?

No. Classroom teaching is valuable, but it’s a different job. A teacher covers a curriculum for a room over a school year. A test prep coach prepares one student for one timed test on one date, and most of the lost points have nothing to do with what was taught in class.

When a tutor’s profile lists years, ask how many of them were spent preparing students for the SAT or ACT specifically. A great chemistry teacher with two years of test prep is a tutor with two years of test prep. My experience is all in test prep. That narrowness is the point.

How many students has the tutor prepared for the SAT, ACT or PSAT?

Ask for the number. Years tell you how long; student count tells you how much a tutor has actually seen. I’ve worked with more than 4,000 students since 1997.

The count matters because of one thing it buys: pattern recognition. Most missed questions come from a handful of causes, and they repeat. After thousands of students, when your child misses a question I’ve usually seen that exact mistake, on that question type, many times before. I know which of the likely reasons applies to them. A tutor with a few dozen students is often still guessing.

Does a tutor with more years of experience get better results than a newer tutor with a high score?

Usually, if the experience is in test prep. A high score proves a tutor can do the test. Experience proves they can get other people to do it, which is a different skill and the one you’re paying for.

The best answer is both. A top score is the minimum: a tutor who has never scored near the top has only read about the hardest questions. But between a new tutor with a perfect score and an experienced coach with a strong one, pick the coach. The new tutor knows how to answer the question. The experienced coach knows why your child didn’t.

Has the tutor taught the whole test, or only one section such as math or reading?

Ask directly. Many tutors specialize in one section, which is fine for a student with one weak area. But scores are decided across the whole test, and pacing on one section affects the next.

I teach every section of the SAT, ACT and PSAT, every session, myself. Sessions run live on Zoom, usually with four to six students. Each student works on their own official College Board material at their own pace, and I coach each one individually. Nobody is handed off to a math specialist or a reading specialist. The person who sees your child lose time in Reading and Writing is the same person who sees what that does to their Math.

What does an experienced tutor actually do differently in a session?

They watch more than they explain. A newer tutor tends to teach content, because content is what they’re confident in. An experienced coach watches the student work under the clock and steps in at the moment a question goes wrong.

That moment is where most of the points are. It might be a student who knows the math but never reaches the last five questions. Or one who changes right answers to wrong ones on review. Neither needs another lesson. They need someone who has seen it before and knows the fix.

“I started at around a 1510. My time management wasn’t the best — I usually didn’t finish the second math section — and I struggled with vocabulary and making educated guesses. Michael’s strategy for that section helped, and being in a proctored environment almost forced me to take the practice tests. Reviewing every question I got wrong, multiple times and out loud, was the other thing that stuck. I ended up at a 1590.” — Krish Arora · The Harker School ’26 · Caltech ’30 · 1510 to 1590

The work happens in the session, which is why there’s no homework. Parents notice the difference:

“…Michael has the kids do the work and then he reviews what they’ve done right then and there. It’s fresh in the kids’ minds.” — Meme Rasmussen · Parent · Saint Francis ’15

Start with the free session

The fastest way to judge a tutor’s experience is to watch them work with your child. The first session is two hours, free, with no obligation. Your child takes a diagnostic while I watch how they work, live on Zoom. Then a separate call with you both, and a written proposal: SAT or ACT, which test dates, and a real number of sessions. You can stop there.

Book the free diagnostic · (650) 575-5867