On a 30-minute trip to Stevens High School each week, tutors swap stories and share tips as they get ready to help students in Claremont achieve their college goals. The students volunteer with Let’s Get Ready, a national non-profit that provides free tutoring and college counseling to high school students who have qualifying financial need.
The Dartmouth chapter, founded in 2007, originally worked only with Mascoma Valley Regional High School, in Canaan. Last year, the group increased its reach to Stevens High School, in Claremont, said site manager Will Johns ’15.
Though most at the College have put the days of SAT prep books behind them, Johns and a number of other Dartmouth students work as SAT tutors, some as local volunteers and others with national and international companies.
As a tutor for WBG Internationals, a test prep company that caters mostly to Chinese students, Emily Estelle ’15 helps students around the world prepare for the SAT. Estelle began working with the company her sohpomore year, connecting with high school students each week via video chat to run through vocabulary words and critical reading strategies.
Estelle has worked as an SAT tutor since the summer after her senior year of high school. She started by tutoring family and friends, but after her freshman year at Dartmouth she began working with Revolution Prep, a national test preparation company based out of Santa Monica, California.
Before working for Revolution Prep, Estelle said she had not received any formal training, although she added that she had done some volunteer tutoring through her high school’s guidance office.
At Revolution Prep, Estelle said she was tasked with starting a new branch of the company in her hometown of Westminster, Massachusetts. As the branch’s manager, she marketed her class, decided pricing and taught throughout the summer, she said.
Compared to working with family and friends, Estelle noted she made more money and was better able to find potential students. Advertising that she was a Dartmouth student made people more inclined to sign up for her course, she added.
Kristen Flint ’14, who did similar work for Revolution Prep her freshman summer but no longer tutors, said that while prospective clients may have heard of Dartmouth, her own SAT score brought in most of her business.
Both Estelle and Flint said that because they could set their prices, almost all of their students received a significant discount. Flint said two of her students were not required to pay at all.
In her class, Flint said she tracked students’ scores through successive diagnostic tests, recording an average score increase of 275 points, she said.
“I was very excited, but for Dartmouth students, this number might seem inflated — most students here did very well,” Flint said. “A lot of my students started pretty low.” .
Other students have chosen to use their tutoring skills for non-profits. Johns said half of Lets Get Ready’s volunteers focus on math and the others concentrate on reading and writing. Both groups spend three hours working with high school juniors each week.
Johns said that over half of the Let’s Get Ready tutors have previous tutoring experience. Tutors also receive yearly training from representatives of the national organization, he said.
For the past two years, the Mascoma group had the highest average overall increase in scores from the start of tutoring to the final diagnostic exam, he said.
In 2012, the most recent data available, the average increase in test scores over the course of the program was 178 points, Johns said.
He attributes this success to the coaches’ talent.
“We have a tremendous group of coaches that are extremely dedicated and work well together,” Johns said. “There’s a sense of community.”
Aryeh Drager ’12 optimized the group’s “target numbers” system, a formula that helps students decide how many questions on the test they should answer, he said.
Johns said he started tutoring because of the impact it has on students.
“The SAT is such a gameable test — the best predictor of SAT score is family income,” Johns said. “I want to close that gap.”
Caroline Sohr ’16, a Let’s Get Ready reading and writing tutor, said the group also provides college consulting services and helps students write college essays.
Changes to the SAT, which include making the essay section optional and moving toward more evidence-based reading and writing questions, will go into effect in 2016.
Johns noted that the changes will significantly affect Let’s Get Ready, as tutors devote attention to improving students’ writing.
Estelle said that, for her, tutoring will remain largely the same, noting that she focuses largely on the essay. Though it will now be optional, many schools will still require it, she said.
