My name is Lydia Terry.  Nearly a decade ago, I started tutoring the SAT and ACT at a big box national tutoring company.  I noticed right away that so many great students were struggling with the test.

They knew the formulas and rules, yet they were still struggling to turn that knowledge into a correct answer.

So, I set out to figure out why.  Why was it that the skills students used to get good grades were not translating into good test scores?

The tests are DESIGNED this way! If SAT & ACT scores correlated with GPA's, the test would be meaningless.

They also ask questions in counter intuitive ways. For example, a problem may look like a geometry problem, but it's actually an algebra problem. A sentence may look like an independent clause, but it's actually a phrase. A vocab word will often have a "not" in front of it.

There are three parts to a right answer, the academic content (what your good student learned in class), the execution (no mistakes!), and INSIGHT (essentially critical thinking).

Insight is generally not taught in high school, but it CAN be learned!

Most tutoring programs only focus on the academic content and the execution. Worse, they even can decrease insight by assigning and pushing memorization and drilling. While this can work to some degree, it limits a student's potential.

At Ampersand Prep, we didn't want to reteach high school. We developed a program that was intended to be a complement to the high school process (which is why we have the "and" sign in our name).

We take a good student and teach them how to apply academics, execution, and insight. Taken together we call that "Cognitive Agency."

The Cognitive Agency approach works. Not only does it improve scores, it also prepares a student for college. Before they spend four years teaching a student, colleges want to know if that a student can APPLY what they have learned to problem solve.

They want students who see academics as tools instead of rules.

While we can't guarantee a certain score, we can guarantee continued support. If you choose to enroll your child in the Cognitive Agency Approach program, you will receive continued SAT & ACT support as long as your student is taking the tests.
We have worked with dozens of perfect scorers and most of them took the test more than once!

To learn more about the Cognitive Agency Approach to test prep, click the "Contact Us" button to set up a FREE Student Success Session. Even if you don't end up working with us, we will help your determine which test is right for your child and set up a plan for success.