My daughter attended Cambrian Academy for the past five years, starting when we moved from Dubai to…read moreCalifornia during a time when many public and private schools were closed due to COVID. Our experience offers a comprehensive look at the school.   Academic Excellence and Curriculum: Cambrian Academy is strongly geared towards college preparation. The counselors are diligent in ensuring students complete all necessary coursework on time and provide clear academic paths. The school is known for its college readiness support, including guidance on personal essays, application timelines, and staff assistance with recommendation letters. AP classes are available, though some are offered online, which might not suit every student's learning style. While not all specialized programs or electives are available directly, the school effectively assists students in navigating and enrolling in external college courses to supplement their curriculum.   School Culture and Environment: One of the standout aspects of Cambrian Academy is its safe and supportive environment. With a small student body of around 80 students, there is virtually no bullying, and staff members like Mrs. Delgado are highly aware of the goings-on around the school, contributing to a nurturing atmosphere. The school creates a positive culture that promotes inclusivity, respect, and a strong sense of community. The focus on student well-being, including social-emotional learning, is evident and appreciated.   Teachers and Staff: The teacher-student ratio is generally favorable, allowing for more personalized attention. However, our experience with the teaching staff has been mixed. While many teachers are dedicated and skilled, there have been instances, such as a chemistry teacher leaving, where courses were subsequently taught by individuals who were not subject matter experts in that specific field.   Extracurricular Activities and Opportunities: The school offers various opportunities for clubs and activities both within the school and externally. Students can explore diverse interests and develop leadership skills through these avenues. It's important to note, however, that Cambrian Academy does not have its own sports teams.   Practical Considerations: In terms of cost, Cambrian Academy's tuition is comparable to other private schools in the area. Its small size is a defining characteristic, providing a very personal and focused educational environment, which can be a significant advantage for families seeking that type of setting.   Parent-School Communication and Involvement: Communication with the school primarily consists of daily automated emails detailing student attendance and grades. While this provides basic updates, proactive parent-teacher meetings are limited and typically occur when parents initiate contact. Building a collaborative and communicative environment between teachers and parents largely depends on individual parental outreach.   I would recommend this school to folks who need individual attention. My daughter got into many universities in the STEM area, including an offer for Pharmaceutical Science at Purdue, few bio-engineering majors at few University of California Universities, and some direct medical school options internationally.

Hi there! I'm Larry the Cucumber! And, uh... I just wanted…read moreto express my thoughts about this place I thought it'd be full of sunshine, learning, and maybe a snack or two... but instead, it was like a math-flavored nightmare. First off -- the teachers were so mean! I tried to stay positive, but they seemed allergic to happiness. Every time I smiled, they frowned so hard I thought the lights got dimmer. And boy, were they bad at teaching. I'm still not sure what I learned, but it definitely wasn't algebra. Maybe "how not to teach"? Yeah, I got an A+ in that. Also... I don't want to be rude, but their breath could knock over a watermelon. I had to hold my breath just to stay conscious during "lesson time." They were super unorganized, too! Nobody knew what we were doing -- not even them! And worst of all -- no snacks. NONE. I'm a cucumber! I need my energy! You can't do math on an empty stomach! So, yeah... if you like kindness, organization, fresh breath, snacks, and most importantly.. learning, maybe don't go here. I'm giving this place one star -- and that's only because leaving was free. -- Larry the Cucumber

Kind and willing-to-follow-up quickly staff. Excellent curriculum. Professional teachers. Responds…read moreto every email quickly. No major complaints. One suggestion is that RSM offer sibling discounts.

The teachers are very rude to their students. The teachers will make students feel bad about…read morethemselves for getting things wrong. One time my classmate cried because the teacher yelled at him for not knowing how to do the problem fast and well. The staff don't let students get to their parents by crossing the parking lot and making parents get out of their car just to get their child from a 10 step walking distance. This school is no good.

Very friendly staff and excellent studying programs. Have been attending this school for years and…read morecan easily recommend it to others.

We came here after spending a year at Cupertino campus…read more Cupertino campus is so suffocating - room didn't have any windows and door was closed for ~2 hrs. The teacher used to escalate immature things. The teacher didn't help encourage any excitement in learning math rather she spread fear and anxiety. We moved to Prospect campus and it's been a breath of fresh air!!! The biggest positive is Mrs. Larisa she make the classes more fun our kid! Sure the timings suck but our kid comes out happy every week!! I believe the teacher makes a huge difference and she's great! I hope we have her next year!

My 9 years old daughter just had our first meeting with Heidi. The reason we signed my daughter up…read morewith the tutoring center is because my daughter just switched school and we want her to do well in the new school. Heidi is amazing!! During the 30 minutes we met with her, she was able to point out all the important things that we can do to make learning fun and exciting. My daughter felt so comfortable with Heidi and was able to carry a very meaningful conversation during the 30 minutes. I also feel that she really cares about her students. Our first lesson is tomorrow with Ms. Heidi and we cannot wait!!! We also talked to Mike before signing my daughter up for the program and Mike is very knowledgeable and willing to share his knowledge!!

My daughter started with Engenious Learning Center in Almaden about a month ago. She is in the…read morefirst grade and we wanted some extra support for her, especially in reading. She is not fond of academics at this stage, but she has expressed to us that she really enjoys going to her "tutoring". We have already seen an improvement in her reading and focus.

My child has flourished at Fusion. We thought of Fusion when COVID hit. We didn't have confidence…read morein the public schools to adapt quickly enough so we transferred to Fusion. They provide 1-1 teacher child instruction and really, truly tailor the learning to the individual child. It amazing how well my child is doing, and more importantly, enjoying learning. We decided to stay with Fusion for the rest of the school years.

dude my ap euro teacher mr rawal doesnt wanna teach anything i am so done with him he gave me a…read more0/100 on an assignment i didnt even use ai on overall terirble teacher woudl not recommend. genuinely you should go FUCKING rush to your counselors office the millisecond you see a teacher by the name "Rawal" literally doesnt know anything about history and swears on curry for some reason.

Pine Hill School Has Truly Changed Our Lives!…read more I cannot put into words how much Pine Hill School has changed not only my son's life but our entire family's life. What this school has done for us is something I will forever be grateful for. As a parent of a child with significant special needs, there was a time when I wondered if we would ever find a school that could truly understand my son, support his challenges, and see the incredible little boy behind his disabilities. Before coming to Pine Hill, my son experienced a tremendous amount of loss of education because his needs were not being properly supported in his previous educational environments. Instead of being able to learn, participate, and grow alongside his peers, so much of his school experience was spent struggling to get through the day. As a parent, it was heartbreaking to watch my child lose valuable opportunities to learn simply because he did not have the right support in place. Today, because of Pine Hill, my son is able to sit in a classroom, complete his schoolwork, participate in learning, and experience educational success in ways we once struggled to imagine. These may seem like small accomplishments to some, but for our family, they are life-changing milestones. What makes Pine Hill truly exceptional is the incredible staff. From the teachers and classroom aides to the therapists, behavioral support team, and administration, every single person plays an important role in helping these children succeed. Their patience, compassion, dedication, and understanding are beyond anything we could have hoped for. The staff at Pine Hill do not simply manage behaviors or get children through the school day. They teach, encourage, advocate, build confidence, and genuinely believe in each child's ability to grow. They take the time to understand my son's individual needs, recognize his strengths, celebrate his progress, and provide him with the tools and support he needs to be successful. What I appreciate most is that their support does not stop with the child. It extends to the entire family. They understand that raising a child with significant disabilities comes with challenges that affect everyone in the household. They listen to our concerns, communicate with us, offer guidance, celebrate victories with us, and make us feel like we are truly part of a team. We have never felt like we were navigating this journey alone. For years, our family lived with the constant stress and uncertainty of wondering how each school day would go. We worried about whether our son was learning, whether his needs were being met, and whether he was receiving the education he deserved. Pine Hill has given us something we had been missing for a very long time: peace of mind, stability, hope, and the ability to finally enjoy our lives as a family again. We no longer have to spend every day fighting just to make sure our son has access to an education. Instead, we get to watch him grow, learn, develop new skills, and accomplish things that once seemed so far out of reach. Pine Hill didn't just give my son an education. They gave him an opportunity to succeed, and they gave our family our lives back. I wish every family raising a child with significant disabilities could experience the level of compassion, dedication, and support that Pine Hill provides. Every child deserves educators who see their potential rather than just their challenges, and every family deserves to feel supported and understood. To every teacher, aide, therapist, administrator, and staff member at Pine Hill: Please know that the work you do changes lives far beyond the classroom. You are not only making a difference in the lives of the children you serve, but you are also bringing hope, happiness, and stability back into their homes. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for believing in my son when others struggled to understand him. Thank you for never giving up on him, for celebrating every milestone, and for supporting our entire family throughout this journey. We will forever be grateful to Pine Hill for giving our son the education he deserves and giving our family the chance to finally breathe again. You have truly changed our lives.

wish I could give this school zero stars. My child's behavior did not improve, and we felt the…read moreschool was not honest or supportive. The elementary school pressured us to enroll him, but it seemed they ultimately wanted to push him out rather than provide the help he needed. My child was hit by other students, staff handled him roughly, and he was yelled at. Once you remove your child from public school, getting them enrolled again can be extremely difficult. We also felt that some staff members were disrespectful and dishonest. Based on our experience, I strongly recommend exploring other options before enrolling your child here. Don't do it you will regret it !

My daughter is wrapping up the third grade at ACDS. Our family has been with the school since her…read morefirst grade year. It's interesting to note how I just mentioned "our family" in reference to ACDS, because it's true - from the start it never felt like it was just my daughter being welcomed into a classroom. My husband and I were also ushered into a community of parents, children, teachers, administrators, and staff that truly are a community. This sense of familiarity and care, right from the start, was welcome. We looked at ACDS for my daughter after having been with a couple of other schools in the region that seemed to emphasize academics above all else. Academics are of course important, but I also wanted my daughter to have the chance to play and explore other possible interests. ACDS has a full complement of enrichment and extracurricular activities. Science, art, drama, music, you name it. There's a choir and a band. And every year every grade puts on a theater production, which I'm hoping next year can be done in the brand new Event Center. When school closed for COVID in March of last year, ACDS was ready for it. They moved their entire educational program online within a matter of 3 days, and it has been going strong ever since. When the school reopened for in-person learning in the fall, they continued the remote learning option alongside it. My daughter is presently the only child left online in her class, though she will be returning to school next week. Her teacher has been in close touch with me to make sure that she feels included and supported. The real gift is that my daughter has felt she is an active and important part of the community no matter where she physically is in relation to the school. And speaking of the teachers, wow! Dedicated and enthusiastic sound cliche but I assure they are not. The thought and energy they put into their lessons, especially even across two learning platforms, is phenomenal. If they had a high school, I would be planning to send my daughter. But for now I will just enjoy the stellar preparation she is getting for whatever step she chooses next.

The school seems lovely until you are in the middle school and see how they deal with behavior and…read moreadolescent development. Unfortunately, they do not live out their promises to develop the whole child or at least not with every child. There is a nationwide mental health crisis and this school's answer is to hire unqualified teachers to play the role of school counselors. In the middle school there are a large number of kids coming out of TLC with complex learning needs and no learning specialist? So, they respond by punishing kids as often as possible with frivolous write ups and suspensions. My kid was unhappy by the end of their 8th grade year, scared of teachers and emboldened administrators, and we couldn't do anything. They were heartbroken to see how many of their peers cowered and just tried to get through the day and not get written up.

Although I did not purchase the additional learning module, Albert's YouTube lecture series alone…read more(which addresses the two primary sections of the LSAT --logical reasoning and reading comprehension-- is both systematic and thorough. He is highly personable, relatable and even fun. It is clear that rather than pursue a career as an attorney (a profession at which he would certainly excel had that been the field in which he professionally thrived) he has chosen to leverage his natural aptitude for teaching. His passion for being an educator is infectious. In telling his own story he recounts having been literally offered unheard-of incentive packages (tuition remission and a cozy stipend) by at least two Level 1 law schools (of the four levels, Level 1 is composed of the top 14 law schools in the US) after earning a score of 179 out of 180 on what is recognized as the most difficult of objective metrics that are used to determine one's suitability to obtain admission to a top professional degree program (in this case, the JD, or Juris Doctor). Albert's love for and competence as an educator is attested to on both the preparation end as well as his delivery. HIs program is the result of an intensive inquiry into the specific types of questions (of which he's categorized from literally reading thousands of samples, fewer than a dozen actual structures on which the authors base the patterns of the text, creating variety and disguising this fact by varying the topic and content of the material on which the questions are based. Without having the benefit of this knowledge, the test-taker --regardless of innate intelligence-- is at a disadvantage that is genuinely indescribable. I believe that Albert is the type of person who enjoys the challenge of extremely complex puzzles. Being that the LSAT is just that --an extremely complex puzzle-- and one that was created by humans, it is not as though a dedicated analytic mind like Albert cannot "crack the code," so to speak. In fact, it is precisely because of years of intellectual curiosity and sheer dedication to solving the meta-questions of the exam that Albert has been able to systematically classify them. Without a knowledge of how the authors of the test assemble the information and the multiple-choice options, the aspiring LSAT taker --no matter how intrinsically smart he or she may be-- is utterly clueless in knowing how to approach these questions. On the delivery end, Albert has produced ten-plus hours of content that is presented for free on YouTube in a way that is thoroughly consistent in its format, so that --in terms of the presentation of content-- you know exactly what to expect. He introduces a handful of "tools" that make for greater degree of clarity and efficiency. I cannot overstate how critical these tools are in helping to efficiently manage the specific structure and details of a written passage while working against the clock. Having as many heuristics at your disposal is indispensable to completing the reading comprehension section, as the topics are deliberately esoteric and unengaging. Albert will make you thoroughly aware of how to "solve" both the logical reasoning (LR) and reading comprehension (RC) sections of the exam by establishing what have proven tried and true methods that, if followed given the recommended amount of preparation will result in a *significant* increase in your LSAT score.

Hi Ajit, Any chance I can get my $200 back for an initial consultation that was absolute nonsense?…read moreI have kindly asked for my money back multiple times. I want you to known that telling my kid who is STEM focused taking 10+ APs to consider taking a ceramics course doesn't cut it for a $200 initial consultation. JUST GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK. Just letting you know that your responses on your reviews of people who complain about your service is underwhelming. Improve your service and you will do much better. Ajit, I will continue to complain about the service I received to every Indian parent that I know in the Bay Area. If you think otherwise, you don't know me well... Based on your "Stanford MBA" education, you may certainly know that word travels fast in the Bay Area. A simple suggestion to all who read this (including you Ajit) - Do NOT pay $200 for an initial consultation. Simply request a free initial consultation so that you are aware of the all of the program details, the costs, and the proficiency level of the counselor. If they can't give you a free consultation, move on and find another program. Believe me, there are plenty of programs that give you all the information that you need without paying fees to find out. They should be selling you on the program and not the other way around. 8/18/25 - Ajit, I read your response. Your answer is false. My wife, my son, and I all attended the meeting with your "counselor." It was you who was missing in that meeting. So don't make up stuff. The fact remains that I have not received my $200 back....