Are you ever on a random journey in a new town and open to new ideas and experiences???? That was…read moreus on this very cold but sunny day in Boston. We were walking from the north end after getting fresh pastries from an amazing shop ( See my other Boston reviews) when we saw a small historical sign explaining the history of North Bennet Street School. It was bustling as we curiously peered in. As we continue to walk up to the corner where we spot a sign for an open house at the school. We immediately turned around and went back. The lobby and staff were so welcoming! They got us checked in and answered a few of my questions. They gave us a low down and a map. Each area had us exploring and listening to the enthusiasm spilling from the students. It was really interesting and inspiring. Each presentation was so specialized and well organized. We spent a good chunk of time learning about the complexity of pianos, paper making, hand bound books, architecture and more! Another highlight was talking to an older gentleman who was a first year silver smith ( yes it was super cool) who was putting the finishing touches on a ring just as we walked by. He took the time to show us all of the steps from a rod of silver to the dazzling finished ring!!!! My feedback is that they should a season or two of web series showing their talents to the world. It would also be a great STEM connection for education. So many talents and interesting people in the area. Highly recommended. I'd love to attend a class or two here!

Unprofessional is an understatement to describe how the North Bennet Street School handled my kid's…read moreapplication. The admissions committee ghosted my student after they completed all the admissions requirements in time for the priority deadline. My student received an email confirming their materials were submitted in time for the priority deadline. Following an interview, there was no notification of acceptance, rejection or placement on a wait list. Zero. Weeks went by, and then months. My student sent emails to follow up, including to the admissions director. Crickets. We parents also contacted the admissions office and director to ask about our student's application. No response to very polite emails and calls. At one point, we got a human on the phone at the admissions office who seemed to be reading from a script, saying they were reviewing applications and would reach out if they needed more info. Six months have passed since the priority application deadline. Still no word -- except that they have the nerve to keep contacting my student with marketing materials. So, clearly they have accurate contact info. Even highly selective Harvard communicates with all applicants to let them know if they're in or out. Yet, NBSS can't get its act together to offer applicants the courtesy of sending a timely rejection email. There is something seriously wrong, in my opinion, with an artisan and trade school that charges $30K a year but treats prospective applicants and families in this manner. In my view, it's a big red flag, and I'd be curious to know if others have had similar experiences.

I had a great testing experience here and highly recommend it. The staff are all super nice and…read morehelpful in getting you checked in and started on your exam. It is a smaller location, so I can see the spots filling up fast. There are probably 20 seats in total, so I think the lower volume makes less traffic of testgoers and an overall great experience. If I have further professional exams to take, I will do my best to schedule them here!

This test center is located in downtown Boston and is very accessible by bus or train (only a few…read moreminutes walk from the downtown crossing train station). My experience here has always been positive. The staff here (David and Debbie) are helpful, likable, and kind. I've also never had any issues with the computers and connectivity here while taking my exams (unlike my experience at the Pearson Back Bay location where the connection occasionally got laggy and scared me to death when a couple system error message popped up in the middle of my exam!) The only downside about this test center is that there's only a single bathroom available for each gender in the building that is shared with other tenants. This might be an issue if you're taking a timed exam but i've personally never had an issue with this since i never had to use the bathroom in the middle of an exam. Good luck on your exams!

Just ended my weekend PMP boot camp with Russ Thornley this past weekend at 1200 Beacon st. I…read morehighly recommend taking this boot camp with him. He is very knowledgeable and fun. When I first signed up for this boot camp, I thought to myself how I going to last through this class without falling into sleep. This was a four day boot camp. Each day was from 8:30am to 6:00pm. But Russ knew when to throw a couple jokes or interesting stories. I felt fully engaged the whole time. Great boot camp! Great instructor!

Course date: 10/16 through 10/19. Instructor: Michael Einstein…read more Michael is a fantastic instructor that has a passion for the material he's teaching. Though it was a lot of material to cover in 4 days, Michael's enthusiastic attitude and many wonderful stories that pertained to the topic at hand really helped make it a great and memorable learning experience. He was also open to any questions during lectures, which really helped me to solidify my knowledge as we progressed through the material. On 10/24 I took my exam and I'm happy to say I passed! Thanks, again, Michael!

I took the Digital Cameras I class for the second time (took it first 5 years ago but never…read morefollowed through to buy a digital camera) with Chris Sanchez. It was crazy fun, and a wonderful introduction to the basics of a digital camera. I once again rented from BPW. I went for a Fuji mirrorless, since poking around had shown glowing reviews from professional photographers. Silly me! It was heavy and control-glutted. Not the camera for somebody who's new to digital photography. Fortunately, Chris saw me getting frustrated, so he swapped the Fuji out for a Nikon Z50 mirrorless. It wasn't perfect for me (I don't like how you can easily bump the "zoom" button on the monitor with your nose or finger and wind up with a WTF moment where you have no idea why you're suddenly looking at the subject super closeup. Also, the monitor is very funky: it blinks on and off constantly when you're trying to choose a setting or look at the display to review your photos). But it was miles easier to use than the Fuji, so word to the wise if you're new to digital, get baffled by too many controls, and/or don't like a super heavy camera; see if you can rent a mirrorless Nikon instead, if they have any to rent out. If not, try Borrow Lenses in Waltham. I'm renting a Nikon Z50 from them now. Anyway, more to the point, Chris is a remarkably good teacher. He breaks things down in uber simple terms, and then repeats himself when he says something that's important to remember, so it really sinks in and is easy to comprehend. I really enjoyed the actual shooting, too. We walked around shooting texture inside the studio building, since it was a rainy day. Playing with exposure, ISO and aperature really brought the lecture materials to life in a visceral way. His emphasis on underexposing a scene is so helpful: You can really see colors get richer and more saturated when you do that. It was a wonderful experience shooting in manual and seeing why you'd want to do that: your photos can really pop. I've already taken Chris's Digital Cameras II class, which delves into lenses and focus, as well as nighttime photography with Aaron. Those two workshops were just as excellent as Digital Camera I. I will absolutely take more workshops. First, though, I need to actually commit to a camera and buy it!

I just took the Digital Cameras I class with Haley, and it was a great experience. The class…read morecovered everything you need to get you shooting in manual mode, and to learn the basics of your camera. Haley was an excellent instructor who took time to answer everyone's questions while still covering all of the material. I'd definitely recommend this class to anyone looking to get into photography, and will seriously consider some of their other classes in the future!

I have just finished the real estate salesperson class here at Freedom Trail Realty school. The…read moreinstructional video, live and pre-recorded, that was provided was of high quality and very engaging. I am new to learning online, after completing this class I found online learning very rewarding. The idea of online learning is hard to imagine, so if you are wondering what it was like, I will give a quick few words about the tremendous experience that I had. The classes are big, sometimes 150 students, it is neat to think that there are that many students learning with you. Imagine, you are all alone in the comfort of your home at your computer, no commute to class, no distractions, no uncomfortable chairs that hurt your back. The amount of students that attend really increase your opportunity for hearing enriching questions and answers from class. The questions are asked verbally or by a written text box on the right side of the screen, it allows you to read and interact with the class. The interaction within the class between the instructor and students is very valuable. The content is very rich, instructors, including the owner, wield real life experience combined with a real passion for teaching. There are many bonuses to the class that were not expected and very valuable. The school provides a completed Quizlet software program to help you learn over 700 vocabulary terms (huge time saver). Freedom Trail also provides a comprehensive, but brief handbook that presents complex real estate material fairly easily. There are also very smart practice questions with excellent charting and graphing software to monitor your strengths and weaknesses, targeting the areas that you need to continue studying. The experience was nothing short of perfect, I highly recommend the school for anyone who desires to take the real estate salesperson test for the state of Massachusetts. A fantastic group of people!

Freedom Trail Realty School was great for Massachusetts State Licensure. I especially liked the…read moreinstructor Bob Raiche, as well as Janice Diaz. The practice tests were more helpful in preparing you for the test than the practice questions, as they were more anecdotal. I did pass the MA and Federal exam through PSI on the first try. Just wanted to note that PSI no longer issues licenses. It is now done through the Board of Registration. I learned this the hard way, as PSI took payment from me, when they were actually supposed to give the test results to the Board, upon which they ask you to pay, upload your own picture and print the license (laminated it too). This took about 3 weeks and many phone calls to straighten out. I still need to be reimbursed by PSI as essentially I have paid 2X for my license. Just thought I would share this for other MA residence who are taking the Real Estate Sales Person Exam.

IDK but I feel to have received little for what I'd expected. Definitely would not recommend. Maybe…read moreI had wrong expectations but the improvement in my ability to hold a speech did not materialize.

Boston native Kit Pang is the Beatles before they became the BEATLES. Just like how the Beatles…read morefollowed fall Malcom Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule to master a skill, Kit has done 10,000 hours of speaking to truly master that skill. It is just a matter of time before some prime TV special or movie picks him. His workshops are great. His coaching on point. And he has experience with solopreneurs, Fortune 500 companies and the everyday Jane. Highly recommend Kit.

Milk Street is the brainchild of Christopher Kimball. He is a publisher and chef both. He created…read morethis around 2017, and it's both a podcast and a magazine. The podcast is free, but pushes his subscription service, which has a wide variety of formats. You can subscribe to the paper copy, the electronic one, both etc. He also sells various spices and cooking utensils, all of which he reviews and gives ideas for using. His podcasts are easy tom listen to and engaging. He brings on a variety of guests, from chefs to recipe creators to book authors and more.

Terrible experience and customer service -- stay away! I…read moreplaced an order and paid extra for 2-day shipping. Got a shipping notification a couple days later. Several days later, tracking showed UPS still hadn't received my order. Emailed customer service for an update. No response except a generic auto-reply. Several days later I tried to call the store and was told they don't handle online-shopping customer service; email is the only contact method. Two weeks after placing my order, since UPS still hadn't received my item, I emailed to cancel my order and get a refund. Still no response. Ultimately, I contacted my credit card to dispute the charge and, miraculously, within a couple hours Milk Street finally got back to let me know my order was canceled. I will never do business with Milk Street again.

I am taking classes here now and really enjoy it. I plan…read more to continue learning Spanish throughout next year.

I very rarely write reviews, but considering how happy I am with my choice to come to BASE for my…read morefirst few Spanish courses, I wanted to put it out there for others! So far I have take two courses, covering 4 total levels (Basic A-C and Intermediate A). They also offer less intensive classes as well as private and semi-private options as well, but considering I was looking for conversational practice I chose the group option. Bill (the director/owner of the program with his wife) and all of the teachers are friendly, attentive, and do their best to make you feel welcome and comfortable. This school is also located in the heart of Downtown Crossing, which made it super convenient and was among the most reasonably priced options out there (including the Centers for Adult Ed.). At first I was apprehensive to start with classes, as this is more of an "exchange", as the name implies, and has a fairly informal office space setting. However, my worries were immediately set aside when I met Bill and my teacher, Elaine. From day one I felt confident that I was in good hands. She was always engaged and focused with myself and other students, catering to the varying experience levels in my class so as not to leave anyone behind or bore anyone. While the curriculum is set by the course level, she kept the class fresh and was consistently challenging us with homework and in-class conversation sessions. I also took a few make-ups with another teacher, Ricardo, who had his own style of teaching but was equally engaged and concerned with his students' progress. Overall, I feel I gained a lot from my time so far (~14 weeks), going from someone with a very basic comprehension level and non-existent speaking skill, to a much more confident and capable reader, listener and speaker. While I still have a long ways to go, I am happy in particular with the confidence Bill and his team have built in my abilities!