Name of Test Prep Service:
IvymaxDates You Used the Service:
2010Location or URL:
Diamond BarMy Review
I hope more people review, so we won't waste $ on ineffective preps and will all improve together..FOR SAT, PRACTICE A LOT ON PREP BOOKS BEFORE THINKING OF TAKING CLASSES if you're an English learner. IT MIGHT SAVES YOU LOTS OF $. [consider amazon.com :)]
Before I review Ivymax, I recommend that for SAT, besides tutoring, you really need prep book since practicing is the fastest way to get better. (Mr. Jerry only practice many prep books and improve his score by about 400)
collegeboard book has real questions and nice explanations, Mcgraw hill has nice math and grammar lessons and organized vocabs. Barrons has grammar questions most similar to real ones and helpful diction lessons.
First of all, Ivymax has some expensive courses I DON’T recommend, which are Advance 1, 2 reading/writing courses. many stuff are easy or repetitive if you’re taking SAT COURSE,which is more thorough. Dane and Jerry were my teachers, and they’re really helpful on answering all questions I have about SAT.
Also I recommend ONLINE VOCAB COURSE to English learners, which makes PSAT, SAT, Ivy League vocabs appear repetitively appearing on your screen (of course it eliminates the words you know after awhile). It’s way more effective than memorizing vocabulary lists.
Also, Ivymax has real past year SATs for practicing. (I've improved a lil more than 300 points since I took a practice test in another prep school)
Dane is a very nice and resourceful grammar teacher for SAT. He tries to answer every question I have. If he can't, he will try to find the answer for me through his..like 10 grammar books I guess?
However, the method Ivymax tought me for SAT critical reading strategie does not suit me, I think. It tought me to underline and circle stuff while reading the whole passage first. But I think because I'm an immigrant, to look each question and answer one by one (skipping the questions for asking about the whole passage of course) works better for me since the questions are mostly in order. It gets me higher score and save time on real SAT.
Mr. Jerry is a weird but very smart math tutor in Ivymax. my score really went up. He also taught calc according to my classmate. He doesnt teach garbages like plug in #s. Instead he teaches smart, useful solving process.
As an English learner, it's troublesome to find a prep that suits me, but really learning effective reading writing and math skills for college is more important than some SAT test taking strategies.
