New Offerings: Fall 2020

College Application Critique

Have a member of our college application team review your completed application, providing written feedback on everything from essays to resumes to the common app preview, before pressing submit. With three different offerings available, this service is ideal for a student who is almost at the finish line but wants an expert to ensure they're putting their best foot forward. Critiques start at $240.

Small-Group Test Prep Courses

Whether you join a class or bring your own pod, our small-group test prep courses consist of only 5-8 students to allow for focused group study and individual instructor attention. Held remotely or in-person (outside, weather permitting), our courses are geared towards beginners looking to take the Spring or Summer 2021 SAT or ACT. Students will complete a basic assessment prior to the start of class so that classwork and homework can be tailored to student needs. Homework will be provided online in the form of pdf files and online assessments. Assignments will include realistic test questions and eight full-length authentic tests.

Classes will meet for 90 minutes, twice a week, for 24 weeks. Price: $3,800

Payments plans available as well as discounts if you bring your pod to us. Need to prep for another test? We can put together classes for ISEE, SHSAT, SSAT, and more. Just let us know.

Remote Education Managers

Unlike traditional subject tutors, our remote educator managers (REMs) focus solely on time management and executive functioning support—two of the major obstacles families face when it comes to remote learning. REMs will oversee your student’s daily time management, assignment tracking, teacher communication, and technological assistance needs. They’ll check-in strategically throughout the day or week to ensure learning stays efficient and on track while allowing you to focus on your own work. Contact for pricing.

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To discuss any of these offerings, please contact Annie Sullivan at (347) 334-2751 or click here to email.

Remote Learning: Silver Linings and Golden Tickets

Labor Day isn’t yet looming, but schools are already scrambling. Faced with a pandemic that shows no signs of petering out, colleges across the country have announced plans for staggering student arrivals and limiting the number of undergraduates allowed on campus at once. At the K-12 level, LA has committed to a fully virtual fall semester, while NYC’s hybrid approach will combine a day or two per week of in-person instruction with several days online. Of course, as the COVID situation evolves, school districts will continue to adapt, but amidst all the uncertainty, you can count on one thing: for the foreseeable future, remote learning is here to stay.

As much as we’d all like to trade FaceTime for face-to-face meetings, there are some advantages to classes in the cloud. In person, you can’t hit rewind on your teacher’s pre-calc lecture, but at home, you can watch Khan Academy videos on cosine and sine as often as you want. That time you’d usually spend on the schoolbus? Now you can use it to preview or review material, eat a proper breakfast, or even catch some more zzz’s. Besides self-pacing and flexibility, remote learning can also improve focus. With fewer distractions, it’s easier to absorb lessons and free up hours for personal pursuits.

Yet, to really reap the rewards of online education, it’s crucial to unplug. Sure, there are services like Freedom that let you block time-wasting websites and apps (I’m looking at you, TikTok!), annoying notifications, or even—horror of horrors—the internet itself. But if you keep your eyeballs glued to a screen all day, your brain can come unstuck. So, instead of scrolling through The Great Gatsby on Gutenberg, pick up a paper copy. Rather than peering at pixellated problems sets, print them out. If you’re worried about the environmental impact, remember: what’s bad for the trees is good for your concentration, retention, and efficiency. And the first step toward building a sustainable future for the planet is creating one for your study habits.

Besides limiting your voyages into cyberspace, try to delimit the space in which you work. If possible, the desk where you read and annotate The Handmaid’s Tale should be different from the couch where you binge-watch the series version. Maintaining separate areas for work and play—even if they’re only a few feet away—can keep you on track during lessons and give you distance from them when you’re done. As you delineate space, do the same with time. Depending on your school’s schedule, plan your day to cater to your strengths. Not a morning person? Maybe now you don’t have to be. Missing those after-lunch siestas from preschool? Psst. No one’s going to notice if you take a power nap.

Maybe the biggest benefit to remote learning is that, more than ever, you’re forced to figure out what kind of learner you are. Whether visual or aural, tactile or text-based, you have the chance to craft a program that works for you. And if you use the time to refine your study skills now, once we all come back together in person, you’ll be in an even better position to thrive.

— Colin G.

Sign up for our College Application Crash Course, in which Colin breaks down the college application process into its four main categories: Search & Selection; Tests; Recommendations & Transcripts; and Essays, Activities & Portfolios. Click for more information.

Colin is Head College Process Strategist at Intelligentsia. He received his BA in English and History from the University of Pennsylvania, his MA in History and MA in Humanities from Stanford University, and his MFA in Fiction from the University of Houston. He specializes in College Process, History, Literature, Writing, German, and Standardized Tests with 20 years of experience tutoring and teaching at the high school, college, and graduate levels.

Is Remote Tutoring Effective?

The education landscape has changed dramatically since March, with schools around the world moving their classrooms online. Many parents, students, and media outlets have reported that the transition has been...less than ideal.

Moving a traditional classroom to video conferencing platforms seems to have been more challenging than initially thought, which is understandable. New tools, techniques, and lessons will need to be explored before schools come back for the fall. But one thing that has transitioned fairly seamlessly from before-times is one-on-one tutoring.

We recently talked with several of our top tutors to get a handle on how remote tutoring was going and, to our delight, we found that it’s been all-around very similar. In fact, they’ve shared that it’s just as effective, if not more so.

Tutoring over video is so similar because it’s still one-on-one, the same setup and design as in-person tutoring. The many-to-one model of a classroom does not translate nearly as well over video platforms for a number of reasons. Students get distracted easily, teachers cannot necessarily see all students in their view, or there are unaddressed challenges in the student’s home-learning environment. With a personal, one-on-one setup, tutors are able to account for those weaknesses and help students get set up for academic success.

Plus, there is an executive functioning skill that arises organically when students are required to log on at a certain time to meet with their tutor. They show up ready to learn with less time being used at the top of the lesson for the tutor and student to get settled in.

Part of why we’ve been so confident in this transition to remote tutoring is that many of our tutors have worked with remote clients for years, especially boarding school students. Still, many parents may be wondering: how exactly does it work?

For most STEM subjects, we get a little creative. Some tutors draw on a tablet and share their screens, allowing students to annotate remotely, while others use a physical whiteboard and marker on their end, verbally working through problems and confirming answers. Think of a teacher using a blackboard and a single student who can easily jump to collaborate.

With humanities, shared online documents allow tutors to virtually work side-by-side with students, reviewing, suggesting, and correcting all in real-time.

Standardized test prep? Almost exactly the same. Test prep has often functioned as a process of independent student work own followed by sessions with their tutor to review. Whether sharing screens, collaborating on Google Docs, or reviewing Test Innovators practice tests together, the process is very nearly the same now.

In general, one unexpected positive of tutoring remotely is that students have to assume more ownership over note-taking and additional annotation. Our students are given more agency and that translates to more investment in their own learning.

Of course, not everything is as it was. Navigating behavioral issues and refocusing students can be a challenge when you’re not in the room. This is why working on executive functioning and having a supportive learning environment are particularly important right now.

There are challenges to tutor-student bonding as well, something which only occurs over extended periods of time spent working together. We’re still learning and improving on that front and we’ll report back when we have a larger body of experience matching new remote tutors to new remote students.

All-in-all, we’re encouraged by the first phase of full-time remote tutoring. Aided by past experiences and ever-evolving video tools, our tutors have found ways to continue building strong academic foundations and developing intellectual minds.

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Interested to see how we can help your student? Contact us today.

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Special thanks to Claire, Hemel, and Lori for their input on this Insight.

Remote Learning Support & Navigating COVID-19

Many parents, myself included, are looking for ways to make this time out of school as manageable as possible and, hopefully, constructive. I know that the journey ahead is a long one. With that in mind, I want to let our community know how Intelligentsia can help during these uncertain and unscheduled times.

In addition to moving our regular tutoring to remote services, we’re introducing two online seminars focused on the college application process; offering meaningful discounts on daytime remote learning support; and announcing a partnership with Test Innovators, a fantastic online test prep platform.

As a company, we have always incorporated distance learning and video sessions into our standard work with students and feel confident that we can help make time spent learning online more efficient and more impactful.

Read on for a full suite of remote learning services offered and take care of your families during this time.

– Hilda Seidman, LP, Founder & President

I. College Application Seminars

For students…

Writing Yourself: The Personal Essay and Why it Matters // $350 for five weeks, beginning July 7, 2020 at 11 a.m. ET.

Geared towards high schoolers, this seminar will introduce students to the fundamentals of writing a personal essay. The ultimate goal of this course is to have students think about themselves and their experiences in terms of narrative, and reflect deeply on the best way to render those narratives on the page. The skills garnered during this seminar will be examined in the broader context of the College Application and we will pay close attention to how a keen grasp of writing fundamentals puts you at a significant advantage when applying to schools.

Meets once a week for two hours and will include assignments.

::: SIGN UP HERE :::

For families…

College Application Crash Course // $400 for four weeks, beginning July 29, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Join Intelligentsia’s head college process strategist, Colin Garretson, as he breaks down the college application process into its four main categories: 

1. Search & Selection: crafting thoughtful school lists & how to visit colleges remotely 

2. Tests, Recommendations & Transcripts 

3. Essays, Activities & Portfolios

4. Navigating the Common App & Submitting Your Application 

A great survey course for any family interested in learning more about the application process as a whole, particularly amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Meets once a week for 90 minutes.

::: SIGN UP HERE :::

II. Test Prep

Intelligentsia is fortunate to have recently partnered with Test Innovators, an online test prep platform that gives our tutors the ability to administer full-length mock tests for the SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, SAT & ACT remotely, in addition to providing: 

• Core reports with highly accurate stanines and percentiles, placing them in the context of target schools.

• Diagnostic tools categorizing questions by subject type and difficulty to quickly identify areas for improvement.

• Practice monitoring and strengthening test-taking skills, such as time management.

• Personalized Prep Plans, recommending the best next steps as you prepare for test day and targeted practice based on your actual test results.

Intelligentsia clients who sign up for test prep utilizing Test Innovators will receive a 20% discount on their Test Innovators membership.

Additionally, Intelligentsia is offering 20% off all Test Prep tutoring bundles for a limited time, whether using Test Innovators or not. Contact us to learn more or to sign up!

III. Remote Learning Support 

Intelligentsia is offering support to help structure or supplement your home learning environment. With this new learning environment, we’re offering special rates throughout the shutdown on a variety of services:

• Assistance keeping learning on track and schedules regulated 

  • Setting up and monitoring home school schedules

  • Designing custom curricula

  • Consulting on best practices for effective home learning environments 

  • Remote cultural enrichment 

• Academic subject tutoring & homework help

  • Focus on executive functioning 

  • One-on-one lesson explication

• Extracurricular Expansion & Enrichment

  • Virtual music instruction  

  • Instruction in coding, graphic design, physical fitness, and more

Special rates will apply during “school hours,” 9 AM to 3 PM, Monday through Friday, and we are offering the first hour of consultation and assessment at no cost. Contact us for more information on specific offerings and pricing.