"Are you here to test? No you're not. You're too late. Plus our internet is down so you can't test…read moreanyway". Wow. What kind customer service today.

I had set up my board exam for a Friday via Pearsons' call center. It was easy to get the right…read moretime and date with my schedule. Pearson sent me reminder emails and had directions. I arrived half hour before my exam time per the instructions. There was a line as others had also did the same. For the most part the check in process was easy. Once checked in I had to wait to go through a screening before testing. It was security check to make sure I was not cheating and didn't have anything on me. There are a lockers available to put your stuff in during your test. You are required to put everything in there and get to keep your key and ID while completing your test. There are restrooms in the hallway that are well used due to nervous tummies on exam days.

After 3 private lessons with Christian, my daughter's ACT English and Reading scores went up 8…read morepoints! She is now eligible to get into almost every school in the State of Texas and eligible for scholarships. She is retaking the SAT and ACT again on August 25 and September 8 and hopefully she will get higher scores again. I would love to for you to experience the same benefit for your student. If you sign up for classes or private lessons with Love the SAT, your student will receive a private lesson free, worth $150, and so will my daughter. Please call them and tell them Donna Nielsen referred you.

My daughter took an ACT class with Christian and then took three 1:1 sessions with him in the two…read moreweeks prior to the exam. Her ACT score increased from a 29 to a 34. Can't beat that! We are both delighted. The office is easy to find off Spicewood Springs. It is definitely not a beautiful space, but it's functional and well worth the investment. Parents, if you have to drive your kids, there are lots of other places very close by where you can wait or get in a quick grocery run to Randalls.

I've hired a few other tutors before hiring Planting Seeds with Chris. My son has always been…read morechallenging in wanting to study and complete his homework. His English grades have mostly been close to failing. However, Chris has found a way to motivate him and got him on track to put some effort in. Chris is the most organized, encouraging, and well rounded tutor I've hired for my son. Because of this, my son's study habits and grades have significantly improved. Currently he is making an A in English and I'm grateful to have hired Chris to help.

Prior to Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep, my younger brother struggled with reading. Despite…read moretrying out several methods, nothing seemed to work for him as his teacher informed me that he would only answer 2 out of 38 questions correctly during his mock STAAR reading tests. During that time, he would take up the whole day whereas everyone else completed their assessments within 4 hours. Fortunately, my mother and I found Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep on Thumbstack. Chris was very quick at responding back to my emails. Within a few days, he introduced us to India. She served as my younger brother's tutor for a month up until the day before the actual STAAR reading test. Within the first meeting, she assessed my brother and determined how many hours per week he required to gain maximum help. During the tutoring sessions, she tried her very best to make it fun and interactive for my brother to learn new reading and writing skills. She also communicated with the teacher in order to accommodate her lessons with his reading performance in school. Within the third week, he successfully answered 27 out of 38 questions correctly during another mock STAAR reading test. While going over his exam, I noticed all the analytical notes my brother took alongside each reading passage. He then proceeded to tell me how they greatly helped him answer the more difficult questions. Overall, there were several aspects that I greatly liked about Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep: 1. Chris informed my mother and I about the financial matters behind their services prior to the first session with India 2. India always informed me whenever she was running late and always made up by staying in a few minutes extra 3. Compared to the more expensive tutoring services in Houston, their prices made it easier for my mother to afford additional tutoring sessions with India 4. My mother and I found it very convenient that they offer at-home tutoring sessions. India provided consistent tutoring sessions that worked well around our schedules 5. India usually supplied additional homework that further helped my brother gain reading tactics necessary to pass the STAAR test 6. Everyone from Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep are very professional and courteous. Even though we are not currently utilizing their services, they are more than willing to help out my brother during the remainder of the school year and beyond! We are currently anticipating my brother's actual STAAR reading results from TEA. We're truly hoping their services aided my brother in attaining a passing grade!

Liz is amazing! I am…read moreworking with Liz Pack and it has been such an amazing experience. Even though I haven't started the college application process quite yet, Liz has helped me feel prepared and grow as a student. She always has the best advice and I can't wait to work with her through my junior and senior year!

Our son Lucas is a senior at LASA and just accepted one of several admission offers he received…read more Liz Pack supported us during the last 18 months or so. From test prep to college selection to the application process, it was soup to nuts. It really helped us because Lucas was our first child to hit college-age and everything is so different these days. A service like that can feel like a luxury right now. Things will pass and hiring a counselor really helped us (and Lucas!) a ton. Liz has been an all-around awesome person and resource for our family. Thanks for reading this review. Gunnar

Ann Connally is a Godsend to our family. I will spare you all the details of our 3 year learning…read moredifferences saga ,but in short, Ann was the third professional to evaluate our daughter in a 3 year period. I will also add she is the only professional who actually gave us accurate and helpful information.Ann has the amazing ability to pinpoint the exact learning "breakdown" in your child. Once she identifies the areas that need work,she will design an individualized therapy program for your child's specific needs. There is a reason it's called Austin Learning Solutions, she offers brilliant solutions!!! As parents isn't that what we all want??My child's confidence has soared,and she has truly been transformed under Ann's guidance. Book your evaluation today!!

My husband and I cannot say enough positive things about Ann. Our son struggled with learning to…read moreread in Kindergarten. Learning sight words was particularly problematic for him as was identifying rhyming words and following multi-step directions. I am a former teacher, and my bag of tricks was not helping him. Ann evaluated our son in March of his Kinder year and quickly identified fundamental areas that we needed to address. We also began a Listening program using sound therapy to target sensory motor issues. Ann is the ultimate professional, but she is also a great motivator and coach. Although my son had started to shut down at school and with us at home, he was willing to work for Ann. She is just the right combination of no-nonsense and positive encouragement. She knows her stuff. I immediately felt that my son was safe in her hands and that our money was well spent. As a parent, I learned so much from watching Ann work with my son, and she gave me the confidence to implement what she was doing with my son at home. My son worked with Ann throughout the summer after his Kinder year on reading (in addition to doing a sound therapy program). The progress he has made with reading is truly remarkable, and I cry when I think about the difference in my boy in less than a year. We were already beginning to hear him make comments that he wasn't smart and that reading was too hard for him. Under Ann's guidance and instruction, our son's confidence has soared. Not only is he reading, but he views himself as a capable learner and reader -- HUGE!!

Not to be confused with The Prince Revue, which is an all-male strip show featuring the likes of…read moreme, Tatum and McConaughey, and we dance to When Doves Cry and Kiss and all sorts of other Princely Prince songs. TAFKAPFTW. Who doesn't love the Princeton Review? But it's not actually based in Princeton apparently? Or at least maybe for this region, it's based right here in this mall, just seconds from UT campus. Pretty interesting. Pretty cool actually since it's basically on campus. It closes earlier than the rest of them though so most of the times I've been here I haven't been able to check it out. Anyway it's more Barbie's thing than mine because she went to the Ivy League and is actually proud of it, whereas I went to Oxford and am indifferent to it at best.

Update 5/26/11: my daughter just finished her first year at a top Ivy League university. I…read moreguarantee the Princeton Review, which upped her score considerably, was a big part of her getting into a class with a 9% acceptance rate. Not to mention, the university offered her super financial aid, so it ended up being very, very affordable. Our investment in the PR course ended up paying off in a huge way. Original review from Feb 2010: My kid took the SAT prep course, and it made a substantial difference in her score. I'd bought several test prep books that helped a little, but there is something about the in-person experience that really makes the info sink in, so this is absolutely worth the time and effort. It's expensive, so look online for promotional codes which can save some money. It does involve homework, so be sure to budget time appropriately. The only caveat is their system for the essay - though she's a particularly skilled writer, she followed the PR instructions to the letter for this test section (instead of doing her usual thing) - and it actually cost her points. If we did it again, I'd tell her to ignore them on the essay bits but pay close attention for the rest. Overall, we enthusiastically recommend Princeton Review.

Dr. Amar was an excellent tutor and his class was extremely helpful to me while studying for the…read moreLSAT. The personalized teaching style is awesome to help students think through their mistakes and understand what specifically makes the right answers correct. The class is taught to help students understand how to approach each type of question, which made me feel like the LSAT was learnable since the questions have recognizable patterns. I improved 10+ points in only a short amount of time, making the class great for students and those in the workforce or with busy schedules. I reached my goal score for my exam and I couldn't have done it without Dr. Amar's help!

Dr. Amar's class is a great tool to learn the fundamentals of logical reasoning and reading…read morecomprehension needed for the LSAT. He does a great job with explaining concepts and takes the time to thoroughly review answers. I will say, you get out of the class what you put in. I believe that you need to participate in class discussions and vocalize when you got something wrong in order to learn. The class helps you stay accountable to a study schedule as well, but you have to put time in effort in outside of the classroom to get the most out of the class. You spend 6 hours in class a week, and you should spend at least that amount of time outside of class studying as well. I put in a lot of effort in making sure that I paid attention to Dr. Amar's lessons, but I also came to class prepared and went over my practice tests before going to class as well. All in all, I'm very thankful for this experience. I was able to score a 172 on test day, and I don't think I would have been able to get there as quickly without Dr. Amar's assistance. Thanks Doc!

The LSAT was a true beast for me. It was so very hard. I was sitting at a 165. After working with…read moreRachel for half a year while working full time, I got a 173 on the real thing. I give Rachel a lot of credit for that. If you're like me, you take an online LSAT course, read several LSAT prep books, take a bunch of practice tests, then plateau in the low-160s. The LSAT did not come intuitively for me, and as all LSAT takers know, one question may translate to one or maybe even two points. So, if someone can give you a tip to help you get an additional question right, that literally translates to an extra point on the test. Below are several tips Rachel gave me specifically for what I struggled with: 1. A necessary assumption question's answer may also be a sufficient assumption; don't get confused. 2. For strengthening questions, Imagine you're giving a PowerPoint presentation trying to convince your audience of something. 3. Using shapes is a powerful method for attacking certain logic games. 4. Try doing LR questions backwards. For some people (like me), the psychological benefit of doing easier and easier questions as you move along may help. 5. For splitting game boards in LG, split them using rules that form the biggest "blocks". 6. For some people (like me), diagramming frequently in LR actually slows you down way too much. Rachel pointed that out to me; I never would've realized it. I never thought doing away with diagramming would actually increase my speed and accuracy. I imagine Rachel would give you different tips based on your specific weaknesses. After all, the tips above were provided to me based on my particular weaknesses she observed. Importantly, the LSAT is already a struggle, and you don't need a tutor who's just there to make some money on the side. Rachel is not like that. She shows up eager to help more than anything else. Thanks a lot Rachel; I owe you one!

Before writing this review in depth, I would like to begin by stating that Rachel's coaching &…read moretutoring was crucial in my preparation for the September 2022 LSAT, and her guidance was instrumental in receiving a 170s score on the exam - Rachel was a terrific teacher for me on my LSAT journey. For what it's worth, as a former PhD student with experience as a teaching assistant at a university, I can attest to the soundness & effectiveness of her pedagogical methods. Now, onto the rest of the review. At the age of 32, I decided it was time for something new, and started to study for the LSAT. I started off with all the usual recommendations such as The LSAT Trainer, the PowerScore LSAT Bible Trilogy, and The Loophole in LSAT Logical Reasoning. Self-studying with these books as well as a 7Sage account brought me to a good fundamental understanding of the LSAT, and after 9 months of studying, I received a 164 on my 1st LSAT. It was a bit of an underperformance, but indicative of the fact that some important details were missing from my understanding of the material & exam. I came across Rachel & Starpath Prep on Reddit after reading a positive account of a former student who had been a similar situation to me. After the scheduled consultation, we met over Zoom on a weekly basis for 2.5 months. During that time, my finer understanding & confidence in the LSAT grew each and every session as we went over RC & LR sections. As an adult diagnosed with ADHD, the organized daily study planning & check-ins were tremendously helpful in staying accountable and on-track. During our 2-hour weekly sessions, she made sure that all the fundamentals were understood to create a base from which to expand further into the nitty gritty details. She was able to quickly diagnose which question types were my problem areas, and also some more general test-taking tendencies that I had. Throughout all of this, she was patient & kind while being articulate & instructive - this was able to bring about both a well-rounded & pointed understanding of the material & question types. This allowed me to eliminate much of the hesitancy in my weaker question types (namely SA, NA, Flaw, Parallel Reasoning in LR). Essentially, my weaker areas were shored up while strengths were reinforced. As many who have been studying for the LSAT know, confidence is key and this cannot be understated, especially for those who are looking for a high score where the margins of error are so slim. With Rachel's help, we were able to systematically create a plan that gave me a solid sense of direction & pacing going into test day, and this preparation allowed me to take the real thing without too much additional pressure (as far as that is actually possible). I bought into the system, trusted the process, and the end result was a rewarding one. In addition, Rachel was more than accommodating with certain scheduling changes throughout our time working together as I still had other obligations in the midst of studying for the LSAT. Also, I do want to quickly mention that I believe her instruction to be of high value in terms of pricing given the quality & care in her instruction. When you consider the cost of tuition of law school in this day & age, and the potential difference in scholarship dollars at play with just a few increased points on your LSAT score, it should give one an appropriate & well-measured perspective on the matter. In conclusion, Rachel was a pleasure to work with, through and through, and for anyone who is serious about improving their understanding of the LSAT & ultimately their actual score, I wholeheartedly recommend Rachel & Starpath Prep on your journey to achieving your LSAT goals.

For my first session, the tutor was 20 minutes late to the online session. She did not introduce…read moreherself or provide clear explanations or expectations. She was distracted and disengaged. She seemed to be looking at something online that was unrelated to the tutoring session. I ended the session early because it was unproductive. I do not trust this organization to hire tutors of quality after this experience. They refused to provide me with a refund, even though this experience was terrible.

I would give them zero stars, if possible…read more Great service in creating the account and putting my student in front of a tutor. The tutor turn out to be a retired Chemistry professor who spent 15 minutes complaining about the fact that VT assign to him too many students and he didn't have time to take care of anyone. We changed tutor. My student has a question, the same answer was given three times. Finally it came out that my student had not clearly understood what an isotope is. The tutor replied "you should know what an isotope is". We finally gave up and requested to cancel the subscription. They told me to consider it a done thing. One month later, mid-December, I was charged 324$ on the credit card. I called them to ask a refund and to finally cancel the subscription for good. The reply was that the contract does not allow for refunds, only for credit. When I promised to write this review, they told me "ok, we will put you in contact with the special requests team"... Our experience has been that of incompetent tutors and a scam-like approach to billing. At the time of writing I am not sure yet if they plan to bill me again in one month. Don't give your credit card number to this people.

TLDR: Austin GMAT review + Application Consultant services are top tier. Scored in the 82%…read morepercentile and got accepted to 3/3 programs I applied too with scholarships. I highly recommend Austin GMAT review for all your business school needs. I took the GMAT prep course with Dr Amar and he is one of the best instructors I've had. He breaks the test down barney style and covers everything you need to know. Every question I found on a practice test and the real test is derived from concepts he taught. I ended up taking the course twice, as the first time I wasn't able put adequate effort into studying, because I was still in my undergraduate program. Be forewarned, if you do not do all of the homework's and periodically review previous concepts throughout the course you will be in for a rude awakening when you take the GMAT. Everything you need to know is in the course, but its your job to retain it. Dr. Amar was nice enough to allow me to repeat the course a second time and I ended up taking the executive assessment where I scored a 155 (82% percentile). In regards to the application consultant services provided by Elaine. I can't recommend her enough. I was on a tight schedule to apply to two programs within a couple weeks and she was able to fit me in. She spent countless hours helping me brainstorm for the essays, reviewing them, and editing them. The finished products were amazing. I routinely had conversations with her late into the night and she made her self available to me whenever possible. She was able to completely redo my resume for me and was able to identify things I didn't even think about putting on there. She also helped me with all of the short answer questions on the applications, how to enter my work experience and extra curriculars. As a veteran, I used ServiceToSchool to apply to my undergraduate program, and while my ambassador was awesome, there was definitely a stark difference in the ability to provide information about the programs. Elaine's experience with different programs was invaluable, since she's helped so many students apply to these programs, she was able to tell me things that I was not previously aware of, such as different opportunities and in depth knowledge about the cultures/career outcomes etc. Elaine's interview preparation was on point as well. She essentially nailed 95% of the questions that were going to be in the interview and helped me prepare my answers to them. The ones she didn't tell me verbatim were just slight deviations from what I prepped for and were easy to answer. Elaine's consultant services are truly all encompassing, whatever your needs or questions she will go above and beyond to help. I can't thank the Austin GMAT team enough. In conclusion, with Dr Amar's & Elaine's help I was able to get accepted to all the programs I applied too, (2x top 20, 1x top 10) with 50% scholarships.

Austin GMAT Review was instrumental in my test taking and MBA applications journey…read more Dr. Amar has a detailed and proven methodology for attacking the GMAT and he is able to provide succinct and clear strategies for the entire host of questions that one might see on the test. He always made himself available for me to discuss any questions or address any concerns I had, which was an invaluable resource. Elaine was amazing during my applications process. Whether it was her advice on how to present myself during interviews, her ability to understand my goals and aspirations for my essays, or her steadying hand during the tough parts of the process, she was always able to go above and beyond for me. Ultimately, the thing that I really believe sets Dr. Amar and Elaine apart from anyone else is that they truly do care about the person behind the test and applications. I could not have been more impressed with their work and the results speak for themselves as I was accepted into three M7 programs. I strongly recommend Austin GMAT Review to anyone looking for MBA test and applications counseling.