1. Find a Tutor With Kaplan (All Tests)
You’re studying for it? They’ve got a private tutor for you. They offer private in-home tutoring for every major test (plus a few you’ve never heard of) in many different packages. Some start at 12 hours and go up to 36; others start at 15 hours and go to 35. And the prices? They can set you back a pretty penny – expect to spend upwards of $2,000 on average.
The good news is that they have a “Higher Score Guarantee”: if you are not pleased with your score or tutor for any reason, or just don’t feel ready to take the test, you can take the course over again for free or receive your money back. That’s not a bad incentive, considering you’ll have to sell your plasma on the side to pay for the sessions.
2. Find a Tutor With The Princeton Review (All Tests)
Like Kaplan, they cover every major test, but you'll have to find an online tutor because their tutoring sessions are predominantly done on-line. You’ll receive access to their on-line classrooms, and will have personalized real-time instruction from one of their expert tutors.
Their packages range from 16 – 24 hours, and the prices are comparable to Kaplan’s. The higher up on the learning ladder you climb, the more expensive it is.
3. Find a Tutor With Sylvan (SAT/ACT/PSAT)
Sylvan’s claim is that 75% of their students who have gone through a session with a Sylvan tutor have increased their score significantly. We’re talking five points on the ACT and 160 points on the SAT. That’s dollar signs, folks. If you go from a 24 to a 29 on the ACT, you get MONEY. Speaking of money, you can get yours back if after going to the first class, you don’t think your tutor is worth the dough.
Gotta love guarantees!
4. Find a Tutor With TutorsTeach.com (All Tests)
Now this is a fantastic idea. Tutors Teach invites educators, professors, and students to become independent contractors on their website as tutors. They pre-screen for appropriate qualifications and post the tutors’ education, background, and experience. All a person has to do is search for a tutor in his/her region with the desired qualifications, and if one is available, they’ll pop up. Neato!
5. Find a Tutor With TutorNation.com (All Tests)
This is the same concept as TutorsTeach, but the difference is that if you choose a tutor through TutorNation, he or she will be ITA certified, as in International Tutor Association. So not only are the tutors pre-screened, they have all passed rigorous training requirements, so you know you’re not getting a tutor who doesn’t know their stuff.
6. Find a Tutor With Knewton (GMAT)
From the makers of the GMAT and the scoring algorithm behind it, comes GMAT test prep with a kick. It’s less expensive than Kaplan, and offers more features: forty-five classroom hours with a tutor vs. twenty-four; nine free trial hours with a tutor vs. zero, fifteen teaching sessions with a tutor vs. eight.
Knewton also rides on the philosophy of exclusion; i.e., this is the only test prep they offer, so they are focused on getting GMAT takers the scores they need, not pandering to every PSAT/TOEFL/MCAT person out there.
7. Find a Tutor With PowerScore (GRE)
Need face-to-face time with a tutor? PowerScore will give it to you with one of their tutors – a person who has scored in the 99th percentile on the GRE, and has completed the PowerScore training. You can select open-ended private tutoring, or select a package; they come in lots of five, ten, and twenty hours, and the more tutoring you purchase, the lower the price per hour goes.
8. Find a Tutor With GetPrepped (LSAT)
This LSAT tutoring service offers one-on-one learning time with law students or instructors functioning as tutors, who have scored in the 94th percentile or above on the LSAT. When you sign up for their fifteen-hour package, which is $1199, you can purchase additional tutoring hours at $60/hour if you need more help.
9. Find a Tutor With Edufire (TOEFL)
This site is similar to TutorNation in that you can search for a tutor in your area or online. They offer live, interactive web sessions with a TOEFL tutor who has designed the curriculum to fit your needs. Or, if you don’t want to sign up with a specific tutor, you can jump on a live chat session with any tutor who happens to be online when you are, which is very handy if you’re stuck trying to figure out the idiosyncratic tendencies of the English Language.
10. Find a Tutor With CraigsList.org (All Tests)
Sure, it’s risky, but if the economy is breaking your bank, this may be the road to take. You can search for a tutor under the education section of the jobs list, and research to find one that may suit your needs. As a precaution, you should ask for references and a resume before you proceed to hire a tutor, and should always meet in a public place for the tutoring sessions.
