Setting the blueprint for a lifetime of academic excellence

Early Stage Testing & Private Middle and High School Admissions

There’s no way around it. Starting early is the best way to build a fluency with standardized testing that unlocks the potential for achieving top scores down the road. But the benefit to testing aptitude is but a corollary to gaining admission to a set of well-ranked middle or high schools, where a student can learn the skills and habits to flourish as a budding scholar.

For most of our students, the middle or high school admissions process is the first exposure to high-stakes testing, as well as to writing personal essays aimed at conveying their aspirations and personal qualities on paper. We understand the unique challenge of these tasks for middle-school-aged students, as well as the unprecedented prospect, for boarding school applicants, of leaving home and establishing an independent lifestyle. We’re here for our young scholars at every step of the way—helping them to gain their best scores on ISEE/SSAT/HSPT testing and to craft winning applications.

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Your first encounter with high-stakes testing: ISEE, SSAT & HSPT

The ISEE and the SSAT are the most common standardized tests you’ll need to prepare for when applying to private high schools across the country. We also offer support for HSPT, a test reserved for admission to certain Catholic high schools. For middle school students, these exams may well be their first exposure to the world of standardized testing. Our tutors have the experience and resources to demystify the test preparation process and help you develop into a confident and practiced test-taker right from the get-go.

High school admissions tests are shorter and simpler in structure than the SAT/ACT, yet these exams come with their own unique tricks and traps, and there are many critical strategies that can help dramatically improve your performance even with a small amount of prep. Mastering the format, structure, and timing scheme of these tests can not only help an applicant stand out in the competitive high school admissions process, but also build an essential foundation for the series of college admissions exams that will soon follow.

Drafting essays that put your best foot forward

Essays can easily—and very quickly—become an applicant’s worst nightmare. We can help you build the winning image, and pin down key themes that will allow you to cut through the essay prompts efficiently. Producing a successful essay involves organization, taking the right perspective, and a scrupulous eye to grammar and style. Admission officers are people too, and the essays are your one shot at communicating who you are, person to person.

Eighth grade fall is the time to try and distill all of your elementary and middle school accomplishments into a few pages of black and white letters on paper. Consider the fact that whatever makes it into your application will be all the admission officer will know about you! We will show you how to stand out in a crowd—in the best way—and earn your admission by allowing your passions to shine through on paper.

Finding the schools where you can thrive

A list of potential schools—sounds simple, right? The choice of whether to attend private or boarding school is a life-changing decision, and many considerations go into narrowing down your options to those institutions where you truly see yourself thriving. Geography (including weather and distance from home), teachers, test scores, campus culture—these are just a handful of the factors that go into creating your high schools list, but are all important pieces of the puzzle. 

We will help you and your family think through the key elements that make up your ideal high school environment and identify matches where we think you will flourish. Through a combination of data-driven and qualitative analyses, we will ultimately help you find schools we guarantee you’ll be excited about. And as test scores and grades constantly reshuffle the playing cards in your deck, we will help you reformulate your schools list along with your changing circumstances.

Even if you do not get the chance to visit every school on your list, we will be your best resource in your research, showing you ways to unearth insightful and valuable information that can play into your decision process. Off on a school tour? We will give you and your family the best advice on how to maximize your experience to get the information you need and also perhaps even a boost to your admissions chances.

Completing applications with a meticulous eye for detail

Completing high school applications can quickly become a convoluted and messy process. Imagine filling out your grades, activities, and test scores not once, not twice, but maybe 15 times. Did we mention that you cannot make a single error or typo? We know, it can all get overwhelming, fast. 

Always here to help, our experienced advisors can assist in the process by streamlining your application process and minimizing stress. With our time-tested systems and extreme attention to detail, we will catch any errors so that every page looks exactly as you intended when it hits the discerning eye of the admission officer.