We couldn't be happier with the results. My son, a high school sophomore, was struggling in math and his grade had been slipping throughout the semester. With less than three weeks before his final exam, we booked just three sessions with Marty. Marty was fantastic--he quickly identified the problem areas, explained concepts clearly, and gave my son the confidence he needed. The outcome was amazing: my son aced his final, missing only 2 out of 40 questions. Thank you, Marty! We highly recommend him to anyone looking for an effective and knowledgeable math tutor. read more

I highly recommend Martin Cinke. He was incredibly responsive, friendly, professional, and genuinely interested in helping my grandson prepare for his electrician union aptitude test. He even opened up his schedule to accommodate us on short notice. As it turned out, my grandson passed the test on his own before his first tutoring session, so we didn't end up needing Martin's services. Even so, I was so impressed with his communication, professionalism, and willingness to help that I wanted to leave a review. I originally found Martin because of all the rave reviews on Yelp and Google, and ChatGPT also recommended him when I was searching for a tutor in the Castro Valley area. After my experience with him, I can see why he is so highly recommended. I would absolutely contact him again if we need tutoring in the future. read more

Marty was exactly what my son needed for SAT tutoring. He had spent a month with a large online tutoring company but benefited much more from in-person tutoring. Marty identified the issues my son needed to work on---not only topics but also test-taking strategy. His SAT score increased by more than 100 points. I highly recommend Martin for SAT prep! read more

Marty was a FANTASTIC tutor for the SAT for my 16-year old son. He was kind, patient, and easy to work with. Marty was very responsive to my son's emails and quite flexible with scheduling his sessions. Most importantly, my son dramatically raised his SAT scores under Marty's guidance. Overall, I strongly recommend Marty for SAT tutoring. He is a true professional and you will be thankful that you hired him! read more

From the very first session, both my son and I could tell that Marty is highly experienced. He provides focused tutoring that directly addresses my son's weak areas in math and English. His teaching style is crisp and clear, with explanations that make even complex concepts easy to understand. My son thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and said Marty is the best teacher he's ever had. After just nine sessions leading up to the September 2025 SAT, Marty helped my son improve his score by 80-100 points (comparing real test score to practice test scores). Considering that the real test is much more challenging than practice exams, we couldn't be happier with the results. Thank you, Marty! Olivia read more

Martin is an outstanding SAT tutor. His clear explanations, patience, and effective strategies really do make a difference, and makes studying feel much less stressful. Highly recommend! read more

Wonderful tutor. Marty worked so well with my daughter, both in person and online. He helped her strategize for the SAT after she was disappointed in her pre-SAT score (1310). The results speak for themselves, her SAT score is 1460, which she and we, as parents, are very happy with. To reiterate what other reviewers have said, Marty is patient, kind, and has a good explanatory style, not to mention great strategies. You still need to put in the work, but if you listen to Marty and adopt his methods you'll fly. read more

Marty is an amazing and effective tutor. He was INSTRUMENTAL in helping me increase my GRE Quant score from 141 (8th percentile) to 160 (53rd percent tile) in a few months. His tutoring sessions are efficient, clear, and personable. I simply cannot recommend him more for those studying for the GRE and other standardized test. read more

Marty was referred to me by a friend when I was looking for an SAT tutor for my high schooler. He's been great throughout the process. Not only is Marty knowledgeable about both the math and reading material, he is also just overall a kind and patient person, creating a supportive learning environment. He also went above and beyond to schedule sessions at times that worked for us. read more

OK, so you probably want to know how much your student is going to improve with Marty, right? Here's our experience. My son is Junior in high school, so this review is regarding SATs. My student first started with a virtual Princeton Review summer course. His baseline SAT score was 1310. He was able to get his score up to 1370 - not much of an improvement. Princeton Review was just too much crammed in to absorb. Marty was recommended to us by our college counselor. We interviewed a handful of other counselors which were either too pricey or not the right personality fit. Marty's got a very down to earth, no nonsense approach to his teaching. He also happens to have amazing credentials, and his rates aren't astronomical like some tutors. He clicked very well with my student. They met weekly after school virtually. His explanations were clear and he made sure my student was working on the exercises. After meeting with Marty for a few months, taking the SATs about four times, and a lot of hard work, my student was able to get his score up to 1540. I'm sure Marty could not promise you this kind of result, but I'll say that his coaching was a big part of it. read more

What can I say aside from great things! We reached out to Martin in a crunch to help our son get prepped for HS test. Martin went above and beyond and really helped him prepare! We are so grateful! read more

I took SAT prep with Martin and he helped my score improve by 190 points! He is super nice and great at explaining test concepts. He was also able to accommodate my weird schedule which was an extra plus! I would highly recommend Martin for SAT prep. read more

We were very lucky to have Martin training SAT and ACT for my two sons who got accepted to and graduated from their school choices lately. Based on my own experience as a middle school teacher, I can tell Martin is a very effective, experienced professional tutor. Not only is he training students to improve their math levels and English writing skills, but also to learn and solve challenging problems with techniques and strategies. I was very confident in Martin's integrity and professionalism when having him coming over our house to teach my children privately. I trusted him completely and felt grateful for his effective training. Nothing makes parents happier and prouder than seeing their children succeed in their studies. I strongly recommend Martin to any parents who are serious about wanting their children to achieve their academic goals read more

Our son worked with Martin for SAT prep this summer. We first signed up our son for an in-person group lesson at one of the most popular SAT centers in San Jose. It was a waste of money and more importantly our son's time. With no improvement and very little time left for the August SAT, I found Martin on Yelp. He was amazing! My incredibly picky son walked out of the first class and said Martin was the best! * Martin will not waste your child's time or your money * He is very calm and will patiently get your child to their best possible score in the fastest possible time * He is very strong in both the English and Math sections * He has actually taken these tests many times and is a top scorer * He know how to teach all the concepts you need to know to ace the test * In just a few sessions we saw remarkable improvements in our sons scores * His approach is modern and very different from the pushy and annoying old school teachers at our local SAT centers who will waste many hours of your kid's time and get you no score improvements Our son scored 1350 in his PSAT last year. After that we saw no score improvement from the group lessons. Then after working with Martin for 1.5 months, his practice test scores ranged from 1530-1560. He took the August SAT. Results came back yesterday and he reached his target score of 1550 in his first attempt. This means our son can now focus on all other things like Research, Olympiads, APs, Extra Curriculars, Sports, etc. and not worry about SATs any more. Thank you, Martin! As my son says - Martin is the best! read more

Don't look any further. He's the person to help your student to tackle the SAT! We used two other tutors for our sons' preparation for the SAT. Both of them got "reasonable" results, but as parents, we were expecting great results because we knew about our children's capabilities ("A" students, "5" on AP STEM tests, etc.). Marty was the tutor that took the matter to the next level. Our son increased his results in 130 points in one seating and was able to hit the 1500-1600 threshold that he was looking for. Marty was able to identify the issues that was holding our son back and work with him to address those issues (time management, careful review, strategy, etc.) We're ecstatic with the result and very, very happy and grateful with the outcome. Besides, Marty is a pleasure to work with and our son was looking forward to meeting Marty every week. Thank you, Marty!!! read more

Last summer, I got Marty's contact info along with a few others from my son's college counselor. I did all the phone screening and came down to three tutors based on their experience and our dialog. I then let my 16 years old to make his final choice as you know they must "click"! I am extremely happy with Marty. He is calm, patient, kind, and has his way to communicate to teenager effectively. He will either come over to our house or have the session via Skype. Either way works perfectly. I would highly recommend Marty if you are looking for an exceptional SAT tutor! read more

Martin has tutored two of my HS kids over the past decade - both with outstanding test score improvement. Beyond that most important metric, both my kids really liked working with Martin and felt safe and at home working with him. Martin started in both cases by helping my kids decide whether SAT or ACT was the right test to focus on (son went with SAT, daughter with ACT). Then he worked with them in weekly sessions that involved self-paced work to be done in between sessions. And as stated, the results (score improvement) were excellent. I highly recommend Martin. read more

Martin has been incredibly helpful in improving my GRE verbal section. In only a few (4 or 5) sessions, I saw my score increase by about 10 points, mostly due to his imparted strategies and hints. On top of all that, he's also a very friendly and accommodating which was a great relief for me as a busy college student. read more

Martin was referred to me by my colleague as one of the best SAT tutors in the Bay Area. My daughter had Martin as her SAT tutor in June/July 2021. Martin is indeed very experienced and excellent at tailoring his program based on the needs of individual students. After two 90-m review sessions, Martin told her to work on her own doing problems. She then scheduled a 60-m session to go over questions after a few weeks. From then, Martin suggested her to work on her own and schedule time on an as-needed basis for his guidance. In the end, Martin helped my daughter improve her test score from 1460 to 1550. Martin is truly remarkable SAT tutor. Highly recommend him! read more

Martin is a great tutor . I am so glad that we find him from my best friend referral. He has so much passion in teaching . He is teaching my dayghter SAT Math . She almost got a perfect score. After Martin helping , she had so much confidence she will achieve perfect score on the next try . I highly recommend him. He not only help with her Math SAT and boost up her confidence. He is very patient and assess what the my daughter weekess . He also teach my daughter how to approach the test and tactic I have hired so many math tutor in the past and he is the best I came across. Other tutor only teach , they don't address the kid weakness and teach the kids how to approach the SAT . He is the best . read more

Marty was an extremely valuable resource for me as I prepared for the GMAT. He had great study tips, test taking strategy wizardry, and great communication during my time with him. I focused more on quantitative than verbal (my choice) and Marty helped construct an excellent plan to put me in a great position to succeed. I would highly recommend him to anyone seeking assistance with the GMAT. read more

We hired Marty to assist our daughter in prepping for her ACT exam. With a couple of sessions he was able to help her increase her score from a 30 to a 33 and we could not be happier! Marty took the time to work within her busy schedule, adjust to her learning style and concentrate on the areas that would help her the most. I would highly recommend his services! read more

Marty has tutored my son, now a Junior in HS for SAT. Over the course of many lessons with Marty, my son has improved his scores tremendously. My son has mentioned that Marty is a great tutor, better than his school teachers when it comes to clarifying concepts that he needed to understand. He also provided great strategies and tools! He really liked how Marty was very patient with him and he never complained about having another session with him- that's how much he liked his style of tutoring and how effective he was. Marty was also very willing to do a zoom session with my son when we moved across state. He is knowledgeable in what he does. My son made improvements in his SAT because of MARTY!!!!! I highly recommend Marty! read more

Martin has been wonderful helping our daughter with her prep for her SAT. The one on one sessions with Martin have given her confidence and the ability to pinpoint areas she needed improvement and she was able to incorporate the tools that he taught to improve her score and the ability to take tests more efficiently and accurately. Thank you Martin! read more

Marty was great, I couldn't have asked for more. While Marty is based in California, he was more than willing to accommodate my East Coast schedule. Where Marty truly shines is in his ability to figure out strengths and weaknesses and then provide tailored guidance. Thanks again for the help Marty! read more

Martin was great with helping my very shy son achieve a 32 on the ACT on the first try (97th percentile)! During one of his practice tests, he got a 34, which is in the 99th percentile. My son is very quiet, so I was afraid he wouldn't be able to connect w/ Martin very well, but Martin really helped him feel comfortable and equipped him well for the challenge. When the ACT scores got published, Martin emailed me to as how my son did, so he actually cares! Great guy! Highly recommended! read more

Martin tutored my son and daughter for the ACT and SAT. He was very helpful in targeting my children's weaknesses and addressing them. He provided great test taking strategies. Both my kids say that he is very easy to communicate with. Highly recommend him and have referred him to family and friends. read more

Marty worked with our daughter during the second semester of her junior year. She really enjoyed working with him and from first practice test to the first time taking the ACT and he helped her figure out which one to focus on, which was helpful as she was initially thinking she would do both. She improved her score tremendously (and felt she had a bad day on a few sections), scoring in the 96th percentile on the first attempt and 98th and 99th percentile in a few sections of the test. She will be taking the test again in a few weeks and I won't be surprised at all if we see additional improvement in her score. Marty has been great to interact with as a parent as well. I highly recommend him with no reservations and expect that we'll have our youngest work with him in a few years as well. read more

I was introduced to Marty from a friend of mine who had studied for the GMAT last year. I tutored privately with Marty via Skype for 2 months. I had been studying for the GMAT on my own for the previous few months, and found my sessions with Marty to be invaluable. Marty took the time to explain the smallest, and most important details. He tailored our sessions to exactly what was needed for me to improve. My score improved over 100 points. For anyone interested in improving their score, I would highly recommend! read more

Marty helped all three of my daughters with the SAT and the SAT subject tests, and all three were accepted by Cornell. Obviously, I am extremely happy with Marty's tutoring. He teaches test-taking techniques that can help boost the child's score significantly. Marty has a gentle demeanor, so the children were very comfortable working with him. Marty is able to instill confidence, so the child is not nervous taking the test. Hiring Marty is a great investment. read more

Marty is absolutely amazing. I worked with him for SAT, ACT and GMAT prep. He helped me achieve a 2110 on the SAT and a 34 on the ACT. He was flexible and worked with my schedule meeting me both by my high school and by my house. When it came time to apply to grad school I knew I couldn't go anywhere else. Marty met with me via Google Hangouts to study for the GMAT. He helped me improve my score by over 100 points. He is truly amazing at creating a personalized, tailored plan to achieve success. I would highly recommend him to anyone. read more

Martin is an excellent, thorough tutor. He tutored me for the SAT, covering not just the material, but also good test-taking practices. He taught me various strategies to move through the test questions more efficiently, while still being mindful of the wording in all of the questions. And I can't thank him enough for his guidance through the essay portion, which had previously given me the most trouble. With his help, I felt like I could handle any essay prompt that the SAT might throw me. Martin is patient, personable, and incredibly focused. I never felt like there was a wasted moment during any of the sessions. I would highly recommend him. read more

I highly recommend Marty. While the format seems similar to other tutors, Marty's significant experience is clear in the results. We had worked with another tutor previously since we had not been able to schedule something with Marty on short notice (mainly due to limitations in our schedule) and didn't see much progress. We received Marty's name from a friend who had also had a great experience with him. Marty worked with my child on the ACT test. He discussed areas to focus on and set a goal score before the first meeting. With just a few lessons, my child felt more confident and comfortable with the content. The amount of "homework" was reasonable and my child never complained or felt stressed about it. Even though there wasn't a lot of time before the test date, my child's score improved. By the next test, my child achieved their goal score. In addition to his knowledge and experience, Marty is easy to work with - responsive and generally caring about the students. read more

Marty was recommended to us to assist our daughter with SAT preparation. Our daughter saw significant improvement in her score, but more importantly, she learned valuable test taking skills which will help her long term. Marty is easy to work with, patient, knowledgeable and approachable for shy kids like our daughter. He developed a focused plan for SAT prep and was always organized and responsive. We will definitely work with Marty again for our son. read more

My friends recommended Marty and a couple of other test prep tutor to us the summer of 2018 and we are really glad we decided to work with Marty. Marty is a very knowledgeable, professional, patient, and honest person. He not only helped my son with his ACT test prep, he also taught my son some usefully studying habit and test taking strategies which helped my son getting straight A's throughout his Junior and Senior year. My son's ACT score was great and he was able to get into the college of his choice thanks to Marty. I highly recommend Marty to those needing a test prep tutor. read more

In my junior year, I decided to use a private tutor to help prepare me for the ACT. Seeing how much Martin helped my older sister improve her SAT test score and get into a top 20 school, I wanted him to help me do the same. Within the first session, I knew that Martin had the main qualities I was looking for in a tutor: patience and adaptability. After taking my first practice exam, Martin quickly understood my knowledge gaps and made lesson plans exactly tailored to fit my needs and wants. In the following months of tutoring, he made a point to evaluate my progress with timed practice sections that mimicked the real exam. With Martin's unique approach to helping students, I was able to improve my score. ACT aside, Martin taught me important lessons that applied to other undertakings. I learned how to apply myself more, how to have a positive growth mindset, and how to be more confident in myself. I could not recommend Martin more highly! read more

Marty is an excellent tutor - for both math and english. He helped both of my children with their ACT prep, and having two teens not complain about their tutor is really all that needs to be said! We have tried various tutors from well known prep centers - some scrolled on their phones during sessions, one had my child copy formulas to take up time, and one was on an internet dating site during lessons. There are some really bad ones out there! Marty is not one of them. I am a tutor (middle school math) so know what to look for and can separate good from bad fairly quickly. Marty is the real deal - not only is he knowledgeable, but he is kind and really cares about the kids. I have no qualms giving Marty 5 stars and recommending him to others! read more

Marty is the best tutor!!! He helped raise my GRE score and overall confidence taking the test. He's very understanding and patient, and explains everything in-depth. I never felt bad for having questions or not understanding something, and he would take the time to carefully re-explain topics that I needed extra help with. The tutoring felt super specialized and crafted to fit my exact needs for the test. He also gives good tips for the test-taking process itself. Highly recommend! read more

After another student recommended Marty to me, I took virtual sessions with him for my second GRE attempt, and was really happy I did! He helped me rethink my entire test-taking strategy, build confidence in my abilities, and I eventually achieved my target score on the test. Marty is a perceptive and patient instructor, and having had so many years of experience with test prep, comes with a wealth of knowledge about test taking strategies and really strong advice on knowing your strengths (and weaknesses!) I came in with a test date already set and barely 6 weeks to go, but Marty was super flexible and the virtual sessions proved to work well for my schedule and the cross-coastal time difference. He was also incredibly responsive to the things I wanted and needed to focus on, such as timed practice and certain content areas. read more

Marty helped me get exceptional scores on the SAT and SAT subject tests by teaching me how to effectively maneuver the tests with logical strategies and ace them. I wouldn't have gotten into Cornell without him. read more