Socratic Summer Academy offers 1-on-1 and small group SAT prep online!
Where are the sessions held?
Right now, all tutoring takes place via Zoom (an online videochat platform, similar to Skype).
How long are SAT prep sessions?
That's up to you: We specialize in microsessions, which can be 25- to 40-minute sessions in which we meet more often and with a more targeted approach, so students have time to do work between sessions.
What are microsessions?
Normal tutoring session: Traditional 2-hr/week tutoring session on Sunday, when the student engages with the material for the hour before the tutor shows up (doing homework) and then the 2 hrs he and the tutor are working.
Microsessions: The student sees the gets small doses of information 3-4 times throughout the week, and does homework between each session - the gold standard would be seeing the tutor every other day and doing homework every non-tutor day, so he is engaging with the material every day. A key component of retention is how many times you approach the information from zero - and microsessions keep the concepts in the forefront of the student’s consciousness because the student is constantly retrieving/interacting with them.
Microsessions actually give the parents a bigger bang for their buck, because the student is doing homework between each session and consulting it against a strategic answer key - so the student gets the opportunity to check his strategies outside of the session and better learns his own personal error pattern. Students progress every time they test their knowledge (doing homework against an answer key using do-check-do-check-do-check), so student progress is tied directly to the number of times they get feedback/do homework.
Strategic answer key feedback is the most nuanced, because literally everything you could need is there - you are checking not only your answers, but also your process, which is usually the reason you’re getting wrong answers. This process gives the student agency over his own test-taking process, allows him to learn his own error pattern so he can think more critically about approaching the test, makes sessions more interesting for the tutor - because the tutor can focus on teaching rather than going over things for the sake of going over them - and saves the parents money.
Increasing the frequency of sessions allows us to "keep the paintbrush wet" - students, instead of putting the SAT® out of their minds between weekly tutoring sessions, continue thinking about the test and its approach over a more distributed period of time. Students also get immediate answers to questions they had about homework - while those questions are still relevant. This approach helps students fine-tune specific strategic points/goals through a response to the homework that they completed, and then quickly get a new assignment in which they can test out/implement the feedback in a new context, allowing them to wrestle with the difficulties on their own.
Microsessions can be as long or short as necessary based on availability/scheduling; the idea is generally to hit 1.5 to 2 hrs per week in some smaller number of sessions. The gold standard is 4 30-min microsessions per week (total 2 hrs), but less than that is fine also.
This overall approach promotes not only constant, deliberate learning, but also the critical thinking that the SAT® exam tests and rewards.
We also do traditional 90-minute or 2-hour sessions, if students have schedules that don't accommodate microsessions well.
Questions? Call us: 409-404-0728
Do you give homework?
We believe firmly in the importance of homework - students need to engage with the material on their own so that when they come back to us, they have actionable questions and insight based on their own difficulties. That cycle promotes the growth of critical thinking skills.
We also strongly encourage realistic practice tests in conjunction with tutoring, so students can experience and become accustomed to the testing environment. This reduces test anxiety and increases confidence. We host realistic mock tests, and offer a discount for students being tutored by SSA.
Do you make a plan to SAT prep? Do students take SAT practice tests?
We work with individual students/families to create personalized study plans working towards the goal of taking mock SAT® practice tests.
Who are our SAT prep tutors?
Socratic Summer Academy teachers and full-time staff - including our Executive Director Alyssa Bowlby and Operations Director Emily Ball (who’s been with us since 2014!) - tutor during the school year.
How often do you meet with students?
We can meet with students as much as is needed per week. With traditional tutoring, students choose to have one to two weekly sessions. With microsessions, students often meet 3-5 times per week - but for the same total time as a traditional weekly session or set of sessions.
What do you do during sessions? How do you formulate a plan of action? Do you only do one section? Can you do all the sections? Do you do other, non-SAT® tutoring?
We can:
work with students leading up to a specific SAT test date with a very targeted approach on a single section
work more broadly on all sections over a longer period of time
help to diagnose what a student needs to work on and develop a plan of action immediately after a student has taken a test
work with students to diagnose their persistent, personal error pattern
whatever your student needs! We’ve been doing this since 2010 - we’ve seen it all!
How are sessions billed?
You can either purchase a package of hours (where you save money by buying more hours in a package) or bill by the hour.
$250/hour when purchased by the hour.
5 hours for $1185; save $75!
10 hours for $2250; save $250!
20 hours for $4300; save $700!
