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.

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.

"I urge families, do NOT make the mistake of choosing C2 Education! My experience with them has…read morebeen nothing short of appalling. Ever since Simon, the Center Director at C2 Education, Berkeley abruptly left in December 2018, the entire operation has gone downhill. I, along with my oldest and middle child, had a positive experience with Simon, which led me to purchase an additional 100 hours of tutoring in the hopes that my youngest child could benefit as well. Little did I know, when the pandemic hit in 2020, these hours (remaining 56) suddenly had an expiration date that no one bothered to inform me about. Had I been aware of this, I would have never invested in more hours. I have had to deal with a constant turnover of incompetent staff: Michael, Andrew, Tina, Selene, Lisa, Jonathan...the list is endless. Each one had a different story, showcasing a complete lack of professionalism and consistency. And let's not forget about the condescending tutor, Christopher, who had the audacity to belittle my youngest child and suggested she had a learning disability. Why would a tutor ask if you're dyslexic and from another country because of grammatical mistakes and you're there for Chemistry? It was highly inappropriate for Christopher to make assumptions and condescending remarks about a students abilities or background. Despite the contract clearly stating that C2 Education has the discretion to reinstate hours, I've been met with resistance from Thomas, District Manager for C2 Education, who outright refuses to do so. It's an absolute disgrace on how they do business.  Consider this a public service announcement: there are plenty of other tutoring services out there that not only offer better value for money but also treat their customers with respect. Unless you want to endure the nightmare I have experienced, steer clear of C2 Education."

FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A POTENTIAL C2 STUDENT: Most reviews for tutoring centers are from the…read moreperspective of the parent, but I implore you: ask your kids whether they like a certain place. TLDR: Ableism, invalidation of students' efforts, lack of overall regard for mental health I got a consultation years back with C2 education, where I was put into an empty room and made to complete a practice SAT test. When I requested a break 40 or so minutes in, Simon got angry at me because the "real SAT doesn't work like this". He didn't know that I literally got back from my exhausting workplace that day and that I have ADHD, but he didn't even give me a chance to explain this. Then, he made me feel bad for my low scores in their practice test and tried to convince my parents to buy a tutoring package of some sort. I refused. Fortunately, I dodged a bullet! My sibling did end up getting tutoring from C2 for her junior year, but their "tutoring" was mainly Simon micro-managing her grades. She was in an honors course where most students were lucky to get even a C, and he made her feel bad for having a B on her report card. Awful. She eventually quit too and found a private tutoring who was far more empathetic and helped repair her relationship with academics. Meanwhile, my parents thought C2 was so "great" and helped her so much with academics - but I saw firsthand that it damaged her mental health. Fast forward years later, I am now a graduate student in the field of education, and I can confidently say that these types of test prep centers utterly terrify me. I have seen wonderful test prep tutors that know how to properly treat a student with low self-esteem or neurodivergencies, and this is definitely not the kind of place. Thus, I implore you: ASK YOUR CHILDREN what they think of a teacher and believe them. Especially if they are going through difficult times.

They helped my son a lot. His english grade improved from C to B and Math from C to A in 7 months…read more I can see his confidence improve a lot. Their pricing is reasonable, about $24/hr. It seems all the students have individual attentions and my son has separate tutors who specialized in each subject. They also help with my son's homework. Thank you to Coachland.

My daughter is a 5th grader and she started with CoachLand 2 months ago. We were all excited about…read moreCoachLand, and my husband called them up and made an appointment to meet with a tutor. They responded to us right away, and the meeting went very well, and so we decided to give CoachLand a try. What we like about CoachLand: 1. Reasonable price and that included a discount! Also, there is no contract. :-) 2. Friendly, and smart tutors. CoachLand has a great learning system, and they surely know what they are doing. We are confident that we made the right decision for our daughter! 3. Flexible schedules. 4. Parking is available in the back of the building. 5. The place is nice and clean. My daughter has had a great experience learning Math through CoachLand. She gained so much confidence about Math, all within 2 months of learning. We will continue with CoachLand for sure. Our daughter said that she really likes her tutors, and she looks up to them. She enjoys learning Math now because of this tutoring experience, and her learning skills have been improved. Thanks to CoachLand for the Great work!!!!

Jordi is an excellent tutor! She tutored our son For the ISEE test. His score turned out to be…read moreexcellent, much higher than his early practice tests, thanks to her work with him. Jordi is knowledgeable, professional, and easy to work with. I would recommend her to anyone.

Jordi tutored both my children from upcoming tests...ISEE/SAT. She is flexible, accommodating and…read morevery knowledgable about these tests. She understands how to teach kids of this age and you can tell she enjoys it.

Our daughter used Compass (Bay Area) for three exams during her junior year of high school: the…read morePSAT, the ACT, and one AP (calculus). Her results speak for themselves: National Merit eligibility on the PSAT, a 36 on the ACT (single-sitting), and a 5 on the calc AP. As caveats, she is extremely bright and is an inherently good test-taker, and we were proactive about selecting her tutors to match her personality and scheduling needs. That said, I had no significant complaints. Jill and Alex were responsive and worked to conform to our requests, and our daughter found her assigned tutors engaging. And she, in turn, did the assigned work. We originally found Compass via recommendation by parents of an older student who had already used them. We, in turn, have now recommended them to parents of younger students whom we know. We told them the same thing I'll now tell you: Compass isn't the cheapest option, but I suggest you use them anyway. To us, the results were well worth the expense.

I highly recommend Compass Education Group. They helped my son with the Reading and Writing…read moresections of the SAT, and his score improved drastically from 620 to 760 (99th percentile).

I worked with Marty to prepare for the GRE and couldn't be happier with the results. He's…read moreincredibly knowledgeable and helped me break down math concepts in ways that I could remember. I was particularly struggling with the quant section of the test. Marty helped me make a significant jump in my score. His explanations were clear and patient and he will help you focus on the areas where you need improvement. On top of all of that, he's nice, friendly, and a true joy to work with every week. If you're looking for a GRE tutor who's skilled and easy to work with, go with Marty!

Marty was great to work with - knew the test extremely well and was especially helpful on verbal…read morestrategies, where I struggled most. TC helped me boost my score by 9 points to eclipse the 330 mark!