I had an amazing experience working with Gourdy. He helped raise my ACT score a ton and was super…read morehelpful with all my college essays, from private schools to UCs. He really knows what he's doing and made the whole process way less stressful. He was also a big reason I got into UC Berkeley, which I'm super grateful for. On top of that, he's really knowledgeable but also funny, so sessions never felt boring. Definitely recommend if you want someone who actually makes a difference.

Gordy is an exceptional college counselor! He kept my son on tack and met all the deadlines even…read morewhen we had limited time. He was encouraging and used virtual services effectively. I also liked how he created google folders and made the whole process of essays and tasks easy and even fun! I would highly recommend Gordy!

Responded quickly and politely. Ended up using a family friend but we'll keep him in mind for SATs.read more

[TL;DR Doug is an incredible tutor. He is engaged, knows the LSAT inside and out, helped me bring…read moremy score above 175, and is 100% worth the price.] I struggle with making decisions very badly, especially when they feel like particularly important decisions. I place importance upon two axes: how much the choice will cost me and how long the choice at hand may last into the future. For example, an inexpensive wine at Trader Joe's is nowhere near as difficult a choice as a $500-$1,000 mattress I will sleep on every night for the next 5-7 years. Naturally, based on these two criteria, picking an LSAT study strategy felt extremely important; not only was the price tag fairly high, but this choice could shape my career trajectory for the rest of my life. I considered a handful of different tutoring options...courses by popular providers like Blueprint, 7Sage, and Kaplan as well as tutoring by some smaller services. In these considerations, I also consulted a lot of different forums; reddit, yelp, and some independent tutor rating services. Ultimately, Doug seemed more qualified than the other sources I had consulted. I worked with Doug from early September up to a November LSAT administration, he was consistent, on time, engaged, communicative, and knew the LSAT questions inside and out. We were able to talk not only about what the right answer was, but also why other answer choices were wrong. He provided strategies and approaches for the exam, and correct approaches of mine that were not serving me. November was the first time I ever sat for the LSAT, and I ended with a score I was thrilled with. I know LSAT tutors can be expensive and this price tag can be intimidating, but I seriously cannot recommend the extra money enough--if you can afford it, which I recognize is a privilege. If starting off with individual sessions seems too expensive, I would also recommend trying a hybrid strategy by first exhausting free resources (shoutout to khan academy, which I used for ~6-8 months before working with Doug) and then working with a private tutor--Doug--who will actually help you achieve what you want through targeted, one-on-one help once your practice score plateaus and/or once your test date approaches. And remember, the law school you go to can/will have an impact on your career outcomes, and the money you spend on the LSAT could pay itself back within your first few months--or even weeks--of your career. Good luck out there to all of you LSAT prepping law school hopefuls reading this, and again, I cannot recommend Doug enough for those of you who really want to see the best results possible on your LSAT. Bonus: All of our tutoring sessions were completely virtual, which is great not only for the pandemic, but also for those who are located outside of Doug's Bay Area/Arizona locales but still looking for a highly-qualified tutor. Tutoring/learning over Zoom can be less than ideal for some, but Doug has enough virtual capabilities configured that learning over Zoom was no problem. He was able to share a virtual "paper" and draw out solutions and other visualizations that may be necessary to the learning process. The virtual aspect is all pro, no con.

I must admit I was a bit skeptical when my daughter requested a private tutor for SAT prep. She's…read morea good student, has a very busy schedule already, and I figured she could just do a free practice test and be fine. But I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism and quality of James Eno and his staff. They do a great job of quickly getting to know the student, identifying improvement areas, and drilling on specific sections of the test. We only had time for a few sessions between the late January and early March SAT but my daughter's scores improved on each section and by 160 points overall - a wise investment of time and $.

I cannot recommend James Eno Tutorials highly enough. James makes sure to meet you in person,…read moretries to really understand what you need, and makes you feel like you and your child are truly important to him. He helps you figure out which test is best for your child and is wonderful at matching your child with the appropriate tutor. Both of my boys worked with his tutors for SAT prep and were incredibly engaged and motivated to learn and work. Both of the tutors were exceptionally bright, wonderful with my kids, and so well prepared. James helped us narrow the focus of the tutoring to what would really benefit my sons and bent over backwards to fit a time and place for the tutoring into their lives which were already busy with school, sports and commitments. James has answered all of my calls and emails in a timely, polite, professional and personal manner. James made what could have been a very stressful time into a comfortable, seamless and successful experience.

It's been a year but I figured it was time for an update. Few notes: I did not go to law school…read moreimmediately after last Spring, and took a break from studying until this summer when I picked it up again. Got a 175 this time around. Review of Online Materials: I re-activated my Blueprint account again, which (frustratingly) does NOT allow you to reset your progress upon return after so long, thereby making all the tests/questions you used in the past (even if it was over a year ago), unusable. That is one critical flaw that the Blueprint folks absolutely should fix. With that being said though, the test has changed a lot over the last year - mainly with the change of format to digital. As it so happens, Blueprint does a largely great job of providing a large bank of questions and exams for people to practice in the digital format - which I found very helpful - especially in drilling by question type, difficulty, etc. The ability to filter question banks by a variety of filters really helped me drill through material to get better at tricky question types and start identifying commonalities in the mistakes I made. So overall, for a new user, I would absolutely recommend the online materials (barring the issues I mentioned above (and previously). Review of the Berkeley Course with Mike: Given the length of time that has passed between the time I took the Spring 2018 course and the LSAT, I'm not sure how much of a useful update I can provide to the in-class experience. Especially with the change in format, because the way I remember RC being taught in class will now be drastically affected by the test going digital, so I'm not sure what that looks like anymore. With that being said, my opinion of Mike as an instructor remains the same. He was incredibly helpful; and if you know how to ask for help, he's there to give it. *Final note: The course and materials are helpful. And certainly helped provide me the motivation I needed. But these can be very expensive, so if you decide to go for it, go in with the right mindset. Don't skip classes, engage, do the assigned homework, and do additional practice ON YOUR OWN TIME. Good luck!

Awesome LSAT prep course!…read more If you are a VISUAL LEARNER and find cartoons and diagrams helpful in understanding material, then this prep course is for you! Blueprint learning material and instructors teach you what and how to study for the LSAT in a fun and entertaining way! Before Blueprint, I took the Kaplan prep course and was unhappy with it. Kaplan did not match my learning style. I found Kaplan learning material and instructors bland and unappealing. Kaplan is black and white while Blueprint is vibrant and visually grabs your attention and desire to want to learn and actually enjoy studying. After I completed the Blueprint classroom instruction, my LSAT score DID improve! I got accepted into law schools and next year will be graduating. So if you want to boost your LSAT score, then enroll here! You will not be disappointed! Persevere and you will succeed!

Mehhhh. Taking a…read moreLSAT prep course, the instructor is nice, the staff is friendly, the environment.. well, the classrooms are either really hot or freaking cold. The building is pretty old, it looks much better from the outside than inside. - Like someone else mentioned the rooms are small. Another thing I don't like is the availability of the instructor, he held a total of 1 office hour session... and its on a SUNDAY from 5-7pm. Pretty hard to reach. As far as teaching materials go, I am improving but I'm not sure how much of that is from the class and how much is from me working my ass off on those LRs.

I found that the center and teacher for my NCLEX review course were both mediocre. The people were…read moresomewhat nice although inefficient because they didn't provide me with the discount I was told I would get and I had to go through a bit of as hassle to be granted it. My teacher for Kaplan spent a lot of time raving about how she studied for the exam and how she was a novelty for both Kaplan and its patrons since she recently took the NCLEX and not many teachers for the kaplan course can say they've taken it in the past year or so.. Anyhow, the practice questions and tests they provide online through the qbank are the most important aspect of Kaplan although if you're already shelving out monies for the online qbank, you might as well pay the little extra for classes so you can ask someone rationale questions in person. On the bright side, you're next to bart and all kinds of food so if you need to munch on something during class it's all within walking distance.

My son has been going to Alpha College Prep for almost 2 years utilizing chemistry and math…read moretutoring with Robert, SAT test prep with Taylor and now college essay writing with Jennifer. Both of us have been quite happy with the tutors and staff at Alpha. Academically, my son has raised his gpa, test scores and equally important, learned the subject matter. The tutors understand how to work with teenagers and my son feels more confident in the subject areas after his tutoring sessions. Lastly, their rates are reasonable and hours are flexible to suit the needs of students. We've been to other tutoring centers in Berkeley and El Cerrito, but none of them has produced as great a result as Alpha.

During my senior year of high school, I went to Alpha College Prep to seek help with my college…read moreapps and help with the overall process that can be very overwhelming. I worked with Jennifer, who was absolutely wonderful, and she managed to help me write my college apps that got me into top universities like UC Berkeley, Northeastern, and UCLA. With this, I also got scholarships from other universities I applied to and had an overall amazing college application experience. She helped me facilitate and better explain my ideas on paper which helped a lot. Also, before the SATs got cancelled, I used the Alpha College Prep to mainly help with the math portion of the SAT and after the first session my score improved by 50 points. I would recommend Alpha College Prep for students who are looking for some guidance during the college admission process or looking for overall tutoring in any area. I will be a freshman at UC Berkeley this fall and thank Alpha College Prep for helping me write and formulate strong essays as I couldn't have done it without them.

The first time I took the GRE I received a score that I wasn't happy with, because I felt extremely…read morenervous & anxious during the test. My husband told me about Mindful Test Taking and how they help students reduce test anxiety with mindfulness techniques. I booked 5 coaching sessions with them over videoconference and practiced the exercises they showed me on my own. John & Heather are great at what they do. They are both so calm and patient; they inspired me to practice the techniques on my own. I felt much more relaxed during my second GRE as a result. Both my quant and verbal scores went up: verbal went from 48th to 76th percentile! Feeling more focused and less anxious definitely played a big role in my test performance. I'm glad to have gotten the score increase I was looking for and move forward with my life - thank you, Mindful Test Taking, for helping me get here!

I have worked with John over the past several months. I have found our work to be some of the most…read moretrans-formative work I have ever experienced. He is an excellent resource with an incredible depth of knowledge. John has utilized various types of techniques to help me get to the core of what I needed to work on. I highly recommend connecting with John on any area of your life you where you desire to move to the next level.

Benji has been tutoring my daughters for a few years now. He's covered everything from Math 1 to AP…read moreStatistics (with a little bit of Spanish thrown in for good measure). I cannot recommend him enough. He explains things in a way that just makes them click. He is knowledgeable, thorough, and just fun to be around. Whether it's for ongoing tutoring or test preparation, if you have a student that needs some extra guidance you cannot go wrong with Benji. He's the best!

I highly recommend working with Benji for your tutoring needs. I recently worked with him for…read moresupport with a college level math class. I had not taken a math class since high school so I did not feel very confident in my ability and my skills. Benji not only helped me understand complex concepts clearly which resulted in my doing well in the course but he also helped me gain confidence in my ability to do well and understand math concepts that typically felt intimidating to me. Benji also brings a kind and patient energy to all the sessions and incorporates humor, making working with him very enjoyable.