Rutledge Learning Academy
Philosophy of SAT Preparation

Hello!

My name is Brian Rutledge and, as a former recipient of a full academic scholarship, I am writing this to let you know about my beliefs in preparation for the SAT examinations. My belief in the necessity to prepare appropriately is embedded in the structure and design of my SAT preparation course, available at Archbishop Ryan High School, and also in New Hope, PA.

Perhaps the biggest reason for your child to prepare to take the SAT is that the SAT changed formats in March of 2005. The new format of the SAT now incorporates grammar skills, concepts of algebra two, and essay writing. The design of my course that is made available will allow students to learn the strategies and review the skills necessary to earn the highest possible scores on this new format of the test.

One of the key components that allowed me to earn a full academic scholarship upon graduation from Archbishop Ryan was my combined SAT score. For this reason, I truly understand the importance of this test for your child’s collegiate application. Over the course of my fourteen years in the field of education, I have seen numerous students who have excellent grade point averages struggle to score well on the SAT due to a lack of appropriate preparation specific to this test. The SAT is not written and formatted to be a fair reflection of the knowledge that your student has acquired while in high school. Learning time management strategies and being able to look for the traps built into the test are important skills that kids need to have going into the test. Enrolling your child in one of my courses will allow them to take the test prepared to succeed.

My philosophy for SAT preparation is that kids should ideally complete any SAT class work that they wish to pursue prior to October of their junior year.  With that in place, they will be in position to take the PSAT in October of their junior year, and then they can gear up to take the SAT twice as an 11th grader, ideally in March and June.  Given that planning, if there is still a portion of the test that the student would want to strengthen, they can work on that area alone in the summer between 11th and 12th grade, and take the test one final time in October of 12th grade.  The ultimate hope here is that the student would get a good enough score to not need to take the SAT again in their senior year.  

The biggest part of any standardized test preparation program is the practice that the student does with the skills and strategies that are taught.  I really recommend completing the test prep in a timely manner that will allow the student to complete several practice tests after the course is completed, but before taking the actual test. This can still be accomplished by juniors who take the courses that I offer starting in September, October, December, or February of their junior year.

I also have had students increase their scores, or have a good showing on the first time taking the SAT by sitting for one of my courses that ends within days of taking the SAT, but the best results of those who have prepared for the SAT are usually by the students who leave some time to take the practice tests independently prior to taking the SAT. I have also had several seniors as a last resort before sending out their college applications come to me and successfully boost their scores on their last sitting of the SAT by taking the course in September of their senior year.  

Those are the potential timelines for SAT preparation and testing as I see them. Please contact me to discuss which of these would be appropriate for your child. Again, the SAT preparation program I mention here is the entire course designed to maximize your child’s SAT scores. This is a course has been proven successful by frequently improving the scores of repeat test takers and by allowing first time test takers to perform well above normal expectations.

I am very pleased that you are researching a quality SAT preparation program for your child and are considering allowing me the opportunity to make this program available for your child this year. If I can provide any additional information, please call me at 215-343-9642, or e-mail me at info@rutledgelearningacademy.com, and I will be sure to answer any of your questions personally. Registration information is available online, but please call if you will be registering your student onsite on the first day of class so I can bring appropriate materials.

Best wishes to you for success on the SAT.


Sincerely,

Brian Rutledge