Palo Alto · Since 1997
You don’t need an SAT tutor. You need Mr. Test Prep.
A tutor teaches content. This is a method — the frameworks, the tactics, and the performance work that let a student use what they already know when it counts. Twenty-nine years, more than 4,000 students, every session taught by Michael himself.
Start with a free diagnostic 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 sessionor 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
You never have a great score without a great state
Watch closely enough and it’s the same story every time: the student who did great had a great day. That observation is nearly thirty years old now, and everything below was built around it.
You have to know the material — let’s be clear, there is no state trick that substitutes for knowing things. But “knowing it” has two parts, and most prep only addresses one. Your student needs to know exactly what they need to know, so months don’t go into material the test never asks for. And they need a method for learning it efficiently and effectively — because how a student studies decides how much of it sticks, and how fast. Teaching that method is part of the work here, not an assumption made about your student before they arrive.
Then there are the tactics and frameworks. Two students with identical knowledge produce different scores, and this is where the difference lives — how you see the test (Bullseye Strategy, Rope Not Snake, the Test Maker’s Logic) and how you execute under the clock (In Two or Mark for Review, Double Check Don’t Second Guess).
And then there is the state. A-Game Access™ is the practice that trains it — not a pep talk, a rehearsable skill with its own cue your student carries into the room.
The part that matters most is that these are not three separate purchases. The state work is rehearsed alongside the test work, in the same two-hour sessions — so by test day your student has practised the content, the tactics and the state together, in the combination they’ll actually need them. They walk in having already done it. That is what showing up with your A-game means.
What a session actually looks like
Not a class, and not a tutor talking at your student for two hours. A focused practice room, run live on Zoom.
Your student works through official College Board material on the clock, the way they will on test day. Michael watches the work happen and coaches each student through it in real time — catching the moment a question goes wrong and naming why, which is something no worksheet and no explanation video can do after the fact.
Four to six students are usually working in the same session, each on their own material at their own pace. That is deliberate, and it is not a compromise. Your student will not be alone on test day. They will sit it in a room with twenty or thirty other people — turning pages at different speeds, finishing a section early, packing up while your student is still working. Every one of those is a small invitation to panic, and preparing at a kitchen table rehearses none of them.
A room does. Other people are working around them, moving, finishing, starting again — and your student practises keeping their attention on their own page through all of it. Knowing the material and holding your focus on the day are two different skills, and only one of them can be practised alone. Small enough that Michael coaches each of them individually; real enough that the room feels like the room. Nobody is lectured, nobody waits for the group, and nobody is ever handed off — Michael has taught every session himself since 1997.
When your student sits down, they are working with someone who has seen this particular mistake, on this particular question type, several thousand times before — and knows which of the twelve reasons a student misses it applies to them.
How it works
Three steps, and you can stop after the first one at no cost.
The diagnostic
Two free hours: a diagnostic test, and time to see how your student thinks — not just what they got wrong, but whether it was a gap in knowledge or a lapse in execution. Those two problems need completely different work.
The plan
A Zoom call with you and your student to go through the diagnostic together, then a written proposal by email: target scores, which test dates to sit, how many sessions it should take, and what it will cost. You decide from there.
The sessions
Weekly two-hour sessions, built around the test date that matters. Sessions continue at no additional charge until you are satisfied with your results.
What families say
More than 180 of these, written by students and parents after the testing was over. Two are below; the rest are worth ten minutes of your time.
“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 → 1410
“I knew my son would never prep on his own — it’s just not in him and he does not have the time. 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
What it costs
Stated plainly, because you should be able to work out whether this is for you before you pick up the phone.
$400
per two-hour session, billed after the session happens
Most students work through about ten sessions. Some finish in five; students starting further from their target, or aiming very high, often go past twenty. Your written proposal will name a number rather than leave it open.
You can pay less than the plan. You can never pay more.
Finish early and you simply stop paying. Not there yet, and you keep coming at no charge until you are.
Your written proposal names a number of sessions and a number of dollars. Treat that as a ceiling, not a price. Sessions are billed one at a time, after each one happens — so if your student reaches their target in seven sessions instead of ten, the last three were never bought and are never owed.
That is the reverse of how prepaid packages work. Buy twenty sessions in March and finishing early is the company’s win, not yours; they keep the balance. Here, finishing early is your win. I would rather have the referral than the last three payments.
The ceiling holds in the other direction too. Reach it without reaching the result we agreed on, and the weekly sessions carry on, unbilled, until you are satisfied.
And there is no homework requirement attached to any of it. Most score guarantees in test prep are compliance contracts — forty practice problems a week, six full-length tests at the weekend, ninety per cent attendance — and the day your student misses any of it, the guarantee is void and the shortfall is your family’s fault. Those conditions are not incidental to the offer. They are what the offer is for.
Your student is never given homework, so there is nothing set outside the room to fail and no clause I can point at later. Show up and work with me. That is the whole of your side of it.
“His philosophy is to limit SAT preparation to the sessions, and this is very important in maintaining the appropriate balance of school work and test preparation in our children’s highly pressured lives. We had our first child work initially with a different tutoring service which was very intense and involved a lot of homework. This was not successful and little progress resulted.”Karen Patou · Palo Alto · Parent of a Gunn junior and a Georgetown freshman
And “satisfied” is your word, not a number I get to define after the fact. Nearly every student names 1600 or 36 at the start. If yours is aiming there, lands at 1560 and is delighted, we are done. If they want to keep going, they keep going. Nobody rules on it, and there is no claims process.
I have taught every session myself since 1997, so I know what this method does. That is the only reason I can put it this plainly.
Questions parents ask
Is my student the only one in the session?
Usually not, and that is the point rather than a compromise. Four to six students share a two-hour block, each working their own material at their own pace while Michael coaches each of them individually. Test day is not taken alone either — it is a room full of other people working at their own speeds, and learning to hold your pace inside that is a skill preparing at home cannot teach.
Is online tutoring as good as in person?
In this practice it has been better. Results improved after the move to Zoom — screen sharing makes it far easier to work through a problem together than leaning over the same sheet of paper, and removing the drive means sessions happen when they should rather than when traffic allows.
Do UC schools still look at SAT scores?
Not for admission. The UCs have been test-blind since 2021, which means a score cannot help or hurt an application there. Scores still matter for merit scholarships and course placement, and they matter a great deal at the many private and out-of-state universities that consider or require them.
But that policy is now under active review. The Regents have asked the Academic Senate to report back on whether to restore testing, with recommendations due in early 2027 and a decision expected by the middle of that year.
Students applying in the next two cycles are almost certainly unaffected. A student currently in their first or second year of high school could well be applying under a restored requirement. If you have a younger student, this is worth watching rather than assuming the test has gone away.
How many sessions will my student need?
Around ten is typical. A student who is already close to their target may need half that; one starting further back, or chasing a very high score, may work through twenty or more. The diagnostic is what turns that into a specific answer.
Is there homework between sessions?
Nothing is assigned. The work happens in the session, with Michael there to see how your student is thinking.
What if the score doesn’t move?
There is a cap on the number of sessions you pay for. Past that cap, sessions continue weekly at no additional charge until you are satisfied with your results.
How far in advance should we start?
Earlier is better, but the more useful rule is to build the plan around the test date that actually matters and treat any earlier sitting as a live attempt inside that arc. Starting eight to ten weeks out is comfortable; less than that is workable but tighter.
Start with the free session
Two hours, no charge, no packages, no obligation. You will leave it knowing where your student stands, what a realistic target looks like, and what it takes to get there — whether or not you work with me afterward.
Book the free diagnostic