Hi.  Welcome to our new web site.  We’re still building it, so always feel free to give us a call at 798-5690 if you have any questions or concerns.

We offer classes and private tutoring for SAT and ACT.  In addition, we offer private tutoring for SAT subject tests, LSAT, SSAT, GRE, GMAT, and some APs.

Note that information about our locations, course schedules, curriculum, teachers, prices, and recommendations can be accessed either by clicking the appropriate word in this sentence or by navigating in the menu column to the right.  Please scroll down if you’d like to read our thoughts on Guarantees, Vocabulary, Testing Timelines, and other issues that parents and students have told us are important to them.

Due to the popularity of our other summer classes, we have added a once-a-week Saturday midday SAT course that will be taught by Dugan Slovenski and run from August 8 to September 3.  Each of our Brunswick courses will close when we reach our 12-student limit.

Aside from fear of math, the hardest shortcoming to overcome when preparing for a standardized test is a weak vocabulary.  If you’re an adult, it’s good to examine your present vocabulary and consider how much of it you knew when you were 17.  In my case, most of the polysyllabic words with which I’m now familiar I hadn’t used even once at that age.  Let’s face it, learning vocabulary is a sedimentary process.  Words wash in, and if we use them regularly they bond with the words we already know.  When they’re not used, they wash away again. Read the rest of this entry »

We have put together a list of 12 SAT essay “nevers” that our students tell us is very helpful. You’d be amazed the kinds of grammatical and rhetorical mistakes that bright high school juniors on the honors track still make. Below are three of the “nevers.” If you’d like us to send you the entire list, drop us a line at essay@maineprep.com.

Pitfalls to avoid in your next essay:

1. Never use “if” evidence such as, “If a biologist concentrates on molecular biology she probably will not make any contributions to paleontology.” Don’t look at me like that-most “if” statements are even worse. “If” you’re not using such statements now, great-don’t start. “If” those statements comprise your favorite kind of evidence (because using them requires no real effort on your part), sorry, you need to come up with something concrete. Read the rest of this entry »

Former Maine Prep SAT student Michael Girouard of St. Dom’s has been selected as one of two Presidential Scholars from Maine.  Michael will attend Williams College in the fall.  Here’s a recent article that provides more detail.

What have you been told about the ACT, the standardized test that is accepted in lieu of the SAT at nearly every competitive college and university?

Here are some facts:  The ACT is written and admistered by American College Testing, which is not associated with The College Board, who is responsible for the SAT.  For years, the ACT was the chosen standardized test for colleges in the Midwest and Southwest; back in the ’60’s,  Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I’ve had many conversations with parents about how to devise a testing schedule that takes into account not only Early Decision (”ED”) and Early Action (”EA”) application deadlines but also various schools’ testing requirements.  In order to bring some light, we have compiled a matrix of colleges that includes ED/EA as well as SAT, subject tests, and/or ACT requirements.  Since ED and EA deadlines can be as early as November 1, the November and December SAT test dates can no longer be used by those who apply ED or EA.  Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re over 40 years old, think “Achievements,” since that’s what we called the SAT Subject Tests when they mattered to us.  If you’re of more recent vintage, you might think of them as “SAT II’s.”  Whatever.  They’re one-hour tests that assess how well a prospective college student can answer relevant multiple-choice questions, and most competitive colleges require two or three of them in addition to the SAT.  Here is a matrix list we made that includes subject test requirements of some of the competitive colleges in which our students have shown interest.

It’s important that you know that a test-taker can sit for up to three subject tests on any SAT test date and that one cannot sit for any subject tests on the same day that one sits for the regular SAT.  The last available test date before the November 1 “early” applications deadline is October 10.  Read the rest of this entry »

You can now pay for Maine Prep courses and tutoring using credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, and others).

This spring, The College Board (”TCB”) unveiled its new Score Choice program, which TCB claims will help students to take the SAT with less stress.  I was reading some of the predictable outrage about standardized tests when I came across a page on the College Board web site that mollifies college admissions people by assuring them that even if a student opts for Score Choice the college still can ask to see all of the student’s scores, which suggests that any choice may still remain the college’s.  Read the rest of this entry »