When my daughter was in fifth grade, we were looking for an English tutor to help her improve her writing and reading abilities. Over the past seven years, Denise has helped our daughter immensely. All throughout middle school and high school, including in her AP English classes, she has managed to keep an A. Denise has been absolutely essential to her growth as a writer and reader. She also helped develop an immense love for writing and literature in our daughter, which wasn't there until she started coming to Denise. Throughout sophomore year and the first half of junior year, Denise started to work on SAT prep with our daughter, giving her practice tests and materials to help her get a handle of the English and essay sections. She was extremely thorough in helping her prepare for this section, doing as much preparation as she found necessary. After timed full length practice tests, Denise would sit with my daughter and go through every mistake in the writing and reading section in detail and explain how to avoid making that same mistake next time. Due to Denise's instruction, she was able to achieve a 1550 on the SAT on her first try with a 750 on the English section. As senior year approached, Denise started to work with our daughter on college essays. She spent two and a half months with multiple sessions per week helping her brainstorm ideas and write and refine her common application essay as well as the essays for the UC application. She also helped her write many supplemental essays, including the "why this school" essays that students commonly struggle with. Throughout the entire college application process, Denise consistently highlighted my daughters ideas, gave suggestions as to how best convey and organize her thoughts, and how to tell one main story throughout every essay that uniquely highlights who my daughter is and what she is passionate about. Due in great part to Denise's help not only over the past two years but over the past seven years, my daughter was accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, NYU and Dartmouth, as well as waitlisted at Northwestern, U Chicago, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. Denise has not only been a phenomenal tutor, but also a true friend, encouraging and supporting my daughter's educational journey since 2013. Choosing her as my daughters English tutor was truly one of the best decisions my family has ever made. Much of the success that my daughter has had throughout high school and throughout the past seven years is directly due to Denise, and we will never be able to thank her enough. I couldn't recommend her strongly enough. read more

Denise tutored my son for about two years, first to help him read, think and appreciate great literatures, later help him prepare standardized test. Below is my son's review: Working with Denise has genuinely had a profound impact on the way in which I view writing, literature, and rhetoric. I started my lessons with her before my freshman year of high school; we analyzed such works as Plato's Republic, many of Shakespeare's major tragedies, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. With Denise's help, I was able to understand and meaningfully study these difficult works. I wrote many essays which helped to further cement my understanding of the works, and gave me invaluable practice in succinctly and simply discussing complex ideas and concepts. In my sophomore year of high school, I was awarded the unofficial (yet nonetheless significant) accolade of being, "the only excellent writer in Chemistry Honors" by a teacher who holds his students to notoriously high standards of excellency. Throughout the year, my written lab reports, in which I was to concisely discuss the results and outcomes of complicated chemistry experiments, only received scores of under 100% on two occasions (out of over 10 labs). Before the beginning of my junior year of high school, Denise and I shifted our focus on helping me prepare for standardized tests. Under her supervision, I took a diagnostic test for both the ACT and SAT, and found that my testing style is better suited for the former. We spent many lessons ironing out grammatical rules, comma usage, and writing tips for the ACT essay. With her help, I was able to get a 34 composite score (99.3rd percentile), a 36 in reading (a perfect score), and a 9 on the essay (93rd percentile). As I worked with Denise, I grew hugely both as a person and as a student. I deepened my love for reading, developed an insatiable intellectual curiosity, and, of course, did fairly well on standardized tests. None of this growth would have happened without the guidance of Denise, for which I am enormously grateful. read more

After having been tutored by Denise for 3 years, I can confidently say that she has not only made me a tremendously better writer than I was before, but has also made me genuinely love writing. I came to her requesting help for the critical reading and writing portions of the SAT because she had helped my brother increase his SAT score by 150 points in the past. After just a month and a half of preparation, I augmented my writing score from a 690 to an 800. Denise would have me do practice grammar tests that would take fifteen minutes during out tutoring session, and she was very generous with making up this time at the end of our lessons. She also offered her home free of charge as an SAT practice test center on Saturdays. As a result, I took two full practice SATs in the weeks leading up to my SAT, which was probably one of the most beneficial forms of test prep because it precisely simulated a testing environment. The grammar skills and rules I memorized for the SAT ended up being very useful to me in AP English and AP Literature. Occasionally, I would bring my school-assigned essays to Denise for editing, and continued to do so because I appreciated her editing style; she let me maintain and develop my own ideas without being overbearing, but provided stylistic tips that I now use in my writing today. I ended up getting an A on every single AP English essay, and I definitely think Denise's guidance pushed me in that direction. Ultimately, since I spent so much time studying English outside of school with Denise, it is now one of my favorite subjects. I plan to pursue English as a minor next year at Stanford University, and I am very thankful to Denise for having helped me on every single one of my college essays! read more

Denise helped me both with SAT prep and college essay writing during my junior and senior years of high school. Though I was a bit late to the game and only had a few SAT prep sessions with her before I decided to take my SAT, we spent the time focusing on what I struggled with. I have no doubt that the tips she taught me in a short amount of time helped tremendously on the exam. Likewise, I was having trouble starting my personal statements for college because I didn't know what admissions officers were looking for. Denise helped me analyze the prompts and brainstorm ideas for what I could write about. Though she tailors these sessions to the individual needs of the student, I personally wrote my essays and she helped me revise and perfect them without losing my voice. I am happy to say I will be attending UC Berkeley in the fall and have nothing but gratitude for Denise and her expertise. Highly recommend. read more

After having tried several writing tutors who were not helpful, I found Denise. At the time, I was taking credits at San Mateo Community College in order to transfer to a four year university. But I struggled with essay writing. Denise was warm and encouraging. She made me feel capable from the start, which helped me to progress. As a result of her teaching and support my grades increased from Cs to As. The skills I learned from Denise helped me be accepted at a university, where I am pursuing my dream of owning my own accounting business. Right now, she continues to provide guidance for my university writing. Denise thank you for your dedication! read more

I worked with Denise on some of my English and college essays as well as some SAT prep. Every time I would leave her house energized by our conversations; it's clear that she's extremely passionate and knowledgeable. When it came to writing college essays, I was very much in my head, and she worked hard to help me break my discomfort and finally get me in a place where I could write honestly without feeling external pressure. Her patience, intelligence and organization make her a great teacher that I have previously and will continue to highly recommend to friends. read more

Denise helped my son with college essay. Her editing expertise was very helpful. She gave my son a lot of guidance and helped him brainstorming to pick the best college essay prompt to write on and gave him constructive advice. Denise was very supportive and encouraging and gave invaluable insight regarding the college admission process. Denise is very patient and knowledgeable and I was very fortunate to find her. read more