ACT Writing and ACT Math tutor

About Shihiayah

If you are willing to put in the work, I promise to get you to your goal score. I am really good at figuring out exactly what you do that keeps you making mistakes, and then teaching you how to do the right things instead.

Here's why: I'm different than most tutors. I don't have you just take test questions and then tell you what you did wrong. That doesn't actually help you change what you're doing--in fact, it reinforces the wrong steps.

Instead, I observe you really, really closely--like a coach observes his athletes. I notice what you do wrong, where you lose time, and where you get confused. What you struggle with is different than what everyone else struggles with. Once I learn that, I can customize my help so that I am telling you EXACTLY what you need to know to work these problems--on your own, on test day.

How can I do that?
1) I knows these tests really, really well.
I have taken nearly 70 ACT tests and 10 SATs. I have spent hours analyzing every word of these questions. I have helped hundreds of students learn how to do the same problems you are missing.
2) I can tell from watching what you do what is happening in your thought process--and what mistakes you are making.
I can do this because I know the mental steps you have to take to get each problem right. Through observing the questions you miss, and asking you how you got your answers, I can deduce a pattern of wrong steps.
3) I can teach you how to fix those wrong steps.
Most of the time, you take wrong steps because there are things you don't know. So it isn't just a matter of telling you what you're doing wrong, and telling you not to do it--you need to learn those new concepts. I am very good at building you a ladder from what you know now to what you don't know yet, and I don't rest until it becomes EASY for you. Believe it or not, the whole test can become easy, once it has been explained to you nicely. Then you can understand what each question is asking you to do, and know exactly how to do it.

The last thing I do is design a way of taking the test that works best for you--for your skills and your goal score. For example, some students struggle with time more than accuracy. I have techniques that can help those students get through questions faster (especially on reading), or, if they aren't gunning for a perfect score, figure out which questions to work and which to skip to get to their goal score. Other students take the test too fast, which results in small errors consistently and nosedives their score. Those students need to learn techniques for breaking apart questions and to double check they haven't missed any pieces. For every new problem a student has, I design a new technique; for every problem I've seen before, I have a tested technique already. And these techniques work: in a single session, I once helped one student raise his reading score by TEN points--just by approaching the questions a little differently.

But that's not to say it will be easy or automatic. I can be a guide, a teacher, and an encourager...but I can't work magic. There will be homework and there will be drills. If you hate reading--there will be reading. If you hate math--there will be math. And even if you don't hate anything, you will need to put the time in. At the end of the day, the ACT and the SAT measure what you've learned all through K-12. That was 13 years of learning. If there are gaps, they can be fixed--but it will take time and effort. The same goes for bad habits (like, overthinking, going too fast, or making assumptions) and regular old test problems, like not knowing how to solve certain problems--they can be fixed, but it will take time and effort.

If you are willing to put in the time and effort to improve your score and get into the right college for the right price, I can help you get there. Reach out when you're ready to get to work.