Recommended by a top educational therapist, Ender has helped my child get back on track. It's a…read morequestion of fit. I'm giving him 4 stars only because he's not an educational therapist, not because he's not "excellent." After four sessions with him, my child has regained confidence needed to move on to the next level. Don't trustthe b.s. negative reviews that are of one extreme or another, it usually lies somewhere in between. The teacher either has the knack...or not. Ender definitely has the knack.

My two sons have been going to Ender for their entire high school careers--and he is simply put,…read morethe best! I was referred to him when my son was in a crisis--literally flunking Pre-Calculus and in danger of getting an F for the semester. My son was reluctant to go to a tutor, but Ender said--"look, you will know if this is helping in just a few sessions," and he was right. We saw vast improvement after only three sessions. With Ender's guidance and explanation, my son went from an F to an A for the trimester and got a B for the semester. After that, he never wanted to head into a math final without a tune -up session from Ender. He did very well in math and AP Stat throughout the rest of his high school years. So when my younger son tested into the very rigorous Accelerated Math course his Freshman year at Lowell, I knew what to do. I had him start with Ender from the beginning and he was one of the few to emerge from that class with an "A." We also asked Ender to tutor our sons for the SAT and SATIIs and he helped them pull down a surprising 800 in the SAT II--surprising because my son doesn't think of himself as a "math student." Ender is kind, patient, rational, and as my sons say, "just a great teacher." Everyone I have ever sent to him has been very happy with the results. Some of my friends decline to go because he is not the least expenseive tutor in town, but I want to say "He is worth every penny!" So often, I've seen friends spend lots of time and frustration on a less accomplished tutor--with mediocre results. Ender delivers results. Plus, my sons really like him. He's low-key and professional, and he eases kid's fears. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have a resource like Ender for my sons.

We couldn't be happier with the results! Daron connected us with Jillian who worked with our son in…read moreHonors Biochemistry and helped him build both his understanding of the material and his confidence in the class. Thanks to Jillian's expertise and ability to explain complex concepts in a way that made sense, our son earned an A in the class! Daron is very easy to work with, flexible and rates for tutoring are very reasonable! I'm sure we'll be working together again in the near future as our son advances to physics and sports medicine courses.

My daughter had her first tutoring session for Algebra 1 lessons today and it was amazing…read more Afterwards she said, "Mom, I already feel smarter!" She felt very comfortable with her tutor and is eagerly awaiting the next tutoring session. I believe this will be a game changer and help to alleviate any anxiety around learning Algebra.

i moved to SF in february and was looking for a way to get involved and i found this great…read moreorganization. BOT is a tutoring/mentoring programs for kids in grades K-12 that come from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. BOT assigns you a student based on your preferences (boy vs. girl, age group, etc) and you meet with the same student once a week for the whole school year. i just wanted to recommend it because this is such a great opportunity to do something every week that doesn't revolve around you. i've been working with my student since the beginning of the school year. she just got her first report card and went from D's and F's last year to A's, B's and C's. knowing that makes me feel a lot better than dishing out way too much money on a pair of fabulous shoes. so, if you are looking for something positive and rewarding to do with not a ton of commitment (2 hours a week), definitely check them out! the rewards are definitely worth the time invested!

I've been working with Back on Track for almost 5 years. I love it. I was paired so well with my…read morestudent and I've worked with the same kid the whole time which is great. When I started tutoring with BOT, my kid was in 6th grade. Easy peasy. Now she's in 10th grade and I totally remember what I hated about High School chemistry...sigh. It's a 2-hour commitment each week, but you get back so much more.

My son started classes at SF Spanish and he absolutely love it. He enjoys the different topics…read moreevery week and the material that is provided. I will definitely recommend that classes and the teacher is amazing and very knowledgeable.

Unprofessional instructors, rude, expensive, and overall judgmental experience. Don't recommendread more

**Scott is the BRILLIANT STUDENT WHISPERER!!** We first sought his services years ago, when my son…read moreneeded to improve his scores for admissions applications to independent high schools. Fortunately, my son is quite bright--but he suffers from ADHD and lack of self confidence. Scott immediately bonded with him--he's pretty amazing in his talent for putting kids at ease and finding their strengths--and he set up a super effective study and skills-building test prep schedule for my son. Scott also gave him super smart inside knowledge on how to pace himself, with strategies for both answering multiple choice questions as well as managing testing time constraints. My son improved his scores by 50%!! And my son thinks of Scott as a true friend and mentor, as well--trusting his judgment and sage advice completely. Fast forward, my son is now applying for colleges and that lack of self-confidence has returned. On top of that, he's super stressed out and depressed about the whole process and his ability to get into the colleges he'd aspired to get into, even though his grades and test scores should admit him into some pretty good schools. Again, Scott to the rescue. He helped my son really think deeply and analyze what he wanted out of a college and his future. And Scott knows SOOOOO much about *all* the different colleges and their academic environments, teaching atmospheres, stress levels, and the kinds of students who might succeed there--he is able to give great advice about what might be the best fit for someone, based on their personality and abilities. Scott was able to get my son to step outside of himself and his insecurities, and come up with a plan for his future that he feels confident about pursuing--most of all, a college plan with options that my son truly believes will make him happy. We can't say enough wonderful things about Scott except that we feel blessed and lucky to have him in our lives. THANK YOU, SCOTT!!

Without question, engaging Scott was the most valuable educational investment I made to support my…read morechild. It's not cheap, but the outcome is extraordinary. The impact Scott had on my son went well beyond college essay preparation/production. Pre-Scott, my son could barely write a coherent sentence and through the magic of Scott's teaching methodology and in a relatively short timeframe, the improvement was dramatic. The counsel, candid discussions, and direction Scott provided paid huge dividends in the classroom and in daily written communication (emails, texts). My son became a more confident writer and student which of course, carried over to everyday life. As he heads-off to college in the fall (UCLA), I'm forever grateful to Scott for the life-changing role he played in preparing my son for the next chapter and beyond.

Brendan is the absolute best. My only wish is that we had hired him sooner. Our son is bright but…read morenot academically inclined nor well-organized. Initially Brendan helped our son prepare for the SSATs as part of high school applications. Even with just a short time to prepare, our son did better than his first practice test and walked into the test without any fear. Brendan has helped our son better stay on top of his coursework and homework. Brendan has also helped him turn around his grades in all subject areas. And my son looks forward to when Brendan comes over (it really takes the stress off the parental relationship when it comes to homework;). Brendan has had a truly positive impact on my son's relationship to learning. Brendan always goes above and beyond. For my son's first finals week at high school, my son would sometimes give Brendan a late night call - it was more to calm his nerves than truly review materials but Brendan was always available for him. When my son got a last minute acceptance to a high school, Brendan came over on a Sunday to talk him through the decision. When personal tragedy struck our family, Brendan was there in case my son needed to talk about it. Brendan is really caring and meets the kids where they are at emotionally as well as academically. Brendan also understands the school system and has helped us understand how we might tap additional resources to help our son. I highly recommend Brendan to everyone.

We hired Brendan to help our older son with HS Spanish but quickly realized that he was a great…read morehelp across all subjects. Our MS son was struggling so we then added sessions for him. Both boys responded well to Brendan and his easy demeanor meant that homework battles eased up...a lot! We highly recommend Brendan!

We have lived in San Francisco for 14 years and my 3 children have attended public school. MOST of…read morethe time they have enjoyed great or fine teachers. When my daughter got to high school, the math teacher she had for Algebra 1 was not good. My daughter is curious and works hard. Math is not her favorite subject but she worked hard and still could not understand & got low grades. As a parent, I'm not as concerned about grades. I want to know my children are making the effort they are capable of (most of the time) & showing up and trying. I also want them to learn and understand. Much of my high school math career was a total waste and I learned very little. If you don't learn Algebra 1, it's a hot mess as you don't have the necessary foundation and once in calculus, if you make it that far, most mistakes are algebraic according to a principal we had with a PHD in Math. My daughter got another terrible teacher for Geometry. Even the school counselors would speak openly about this teacher being one of the worst in the School's history. My daughter was trying hard and yet not understanding and getting terrible grades. After studying really hard for a test and feeling confident she understood, I remember watching her face fall one Saturday night as she checked her test grade and got a D. As a parent I didn't know what to do Because we were watching Khan Academy videos and she was studying and still not understanding. My friend Laura told me about Sean Alexander tutoring and my daughter started with Olivia a few years ago. Immediate improvement in understanding and therefore grades. We had such a good experience with Olivia and Sean that we signed both of our teens up for the math intensive program in the summer of 2018. My kids went once a week with a tutor named Charlie to learn about algebra one and really focus on algebra basics. My daughter ended up getting a 700 on the Math portion of the SAT. She did take practice test and she did the tutoring with Alexander tutoring. She did not do any other test prep. She couldn't believe she did better on the math portion than the language portion as she loves History and English. Our son was starting high school last fall and after his sisters experience with the math teachers, we wanted to get ahead of the issue and so he took the math intensive program just like his sister. Our son, like many do, struggles with focus and impulse control and I told this to Sean. Doing the summer intensive program relieved so much stress to the entire school year. We didn't even do the tutoring during the school year. We tried to save money by doing online tutoring from Growing Stars (I think that is the name) and my kids thought it was boring and dreaded it and told me they really didn't need the tutoring because what they had learned in the summer was caring them through in their classes. They both did fine all year. If you do you want to do the tutoring in the school year , I would sign up now and early because it does fill up. We took a risk and didn't sign up because my kids felt confident they were going to be OK and they were. This summer my son, who will be a sophomore fall 2019, is meeting twice weekly with Felix. On Tuesday they meet at the library for physics and Thursday at the library for Geometry. I have learned that engaging your kids in the summer a little bit pays off a huge amount during the school year. My children do really well with the one on one tutoring and we have found it is a great investment. It's not cheap because these are knowledgeable tutors and they have to pay SF rent too! We haven't done any other test prep (because the free one at the high school for a day) and my daughter is doing really well on her ACT and SAT math scores but more importantly to me, she understands math! She is willing to sit and do all the practice tests on her own because math doesn't intimidate her anymore. Like all of the tutors, Felix is exceptionally organized and communicates constantly. He is easy to reach, responsive and uses the books we provided him from the school as well as provides some homework each week. Sean asks the teenagers at the beginning of the summer how much homework they are willing to do realistically each week and makes them commit to that. This is very wise because he doesn't want the children to feel burned out or resentful but to have some control over this whole process. Honestly, my children have been very happy about being able to go to the tutoring because they realize how much they have benefited from it. Summer tutoring or school year tutoring reduces stress during the school year and has made all of the difference in my children actually UNDERSTANDING. Alexander tutoring has made all the difference for my children and their relationship with math. Look up YouCubed as well for extra Algebra support. Stanford professor Jo Boaler's site to try and help students have a better view of and relationship with Math.

my son's tutor, Caleb, has been absolutely amazing. We can't recommend him highly enough.read more

Still waiting to get matched with a tutor, but this service so far has been EXTREMELY…read moreunprofessional. For $300/month I expected professionalism. A representative said they'd call me back on an agreed time/date in regards to setting me up with a tutor and I waited an hour for them to call. They have yet to. Waste of time and services so far are not worth the price for the quality. Will update after my month of services is up.

If you are a nursing student or preparing to become one, please be cautious about Varsity Tutor. I…read morebelieve they are fraudulent and do not have a proper program in place to help you succeed in passing the NCLEX. Additionally, their money-back guarantee is misleading, as their system seems designed for you to fail or to spend more money without gaining any real benefit. I have attached an email discussion I had with this program when I requested a refund, as their program did not adequately prepare me for the NCLEX at all.

First off -- I passed the California Bar!! I had taken it before, unsuccessfully, even after using…read moreKaplan, Barbri, and working with a Barbri tutor. I was hesitant to invest in a private tutor due to the cost, but looking back, I wish I had done it sooner. If I had worked with Daniel earlier, I wouldn't have missed out on four years of earning an attorney's salary. Daniel is, without a doubt, the best tutor out there. He knows the bar inside and out. We met weekly, and he helped me fine-tune the study schedule he created so that I was always on track. I gained 175 points working with him -- I'm still blown away by that. I worked hard, but Daniel kept me focused and accountable. I'm forever grateful. If you're tired of spinning your wheels and just want to be done with the bar exam once and for all, go with Daniel. Thank you so much!!

After five years and five attempts, Daniel's 1-1 course helped me pass the July 2025 CA Bar Exam. I…read moream extremely grateful for his techniques in identifying areas for me to improve and when it came time to take the test, I felt much more confident. This was even after using three different big box bar programs and two other personal tutors. I highly recommend!

Very professional and affordable. Knowledgable, attentive,…read morereliable and flexible with their schedule. I have used them in the past and refereed many of my friends. They all were very pleased and impressed. Highly recommend for anyone looking to hire them.

Adam and the rest of the tutors at San Francisco Elite Tutors provide great service to the San…read moreFrancisco area. They are generally very accomplished people as Adam tries to hire only the smartest tutors. They are friendly, helpful and do a great job.