I. About Our Test Preparation Programs

1. Where does the tutoring take place?

Tutoring sessions take place in the student's home or at Marlin's offices. In New York City, our office is located in Midtown-West. In Bangkok, our office is located in Siam Square. Other options may be available as well, for example the student's school. In addition, special tutoring arrangements such as remote tutoring can be made through our New York City and Bangkok offices.

2. How and when should my son or daughter start tutoring?

Virtually all students begin our program by taking a diagnostic test. We utilize the diagnostic test to analyze strengths and weaknesses, to help us select an appropriate tutor and to give us a sense of how the overall program should be structured. We strongly recommend that students preparing for the SAT, for example, work with a tutor for an academic year or more before they take the official test. Students preparing for an SAT Subject Test usually meet with a tutor for several months before the scheduled test date. For details about getting started, please visit our HOW TO ENROLL and CONTACT sections.

3. What does a typical Marlin Education Consulting test preparation program look like?

The precise length of a program depends on several factors:

1. when the student begins working with us
2. the student's goals
3. the student's tutoring needs, as demonstrated on the diagnostic test on practice tests, and in related academic pursuits
4. the number of meetings the student has with the tutor each week
5. when the student plans to take the official test

Each tutoring program is designed to address the particular needs of the individual student. While there are no prescribed or mandatory programs, there are typical schedules that we have found to be efficient and productive. Our tutors usually meet with students weekly. For further details, please click on OUR SERVICES at the top of this page.

4. What are the typical results of your programs?

Our past clients have noted that the score increases of their children were impressive. These strong results are the product of one-on-one tutoring directed by our belief that every student should and can be considered individually. Each program is unique, tailored to the specific needs and aspirations of the student. We have no arbitrary benchmark point increase that we would consider a satisfactory result. Nevertheless, judging by our student evaluations and questionnaire, the vast majority of our students (approximately 99%) are overwhelmingly happy with their tutors, their learning experience, and their final scores. Most important, our students report experiencing a heightened sense of confidence and mastery when approaching other academic and intellectual challenges in high school, college, and beyond. Families have especially appreciated the long-term benefits of our program.

5. Do you offer a guarantee of results?

Yes - the score improvement and admissions guarantee depends on the type of package purchased by our clients and on the initial performance levels of each of our students. Learning is a complex process, and standardized tests are designed to be challenging for even the strongest students. Many factors affect the score improvement guarantee of our programs: the length of the program, the number of meetings and tests, the student's starting point, hours of studying, and others. We control these variables as much as possible while addressing concerns throughout the process. We also monitor scores carefully through practice tests, so that we can gauge progress and predict test performance with some accuracy. More important than our guarantee, is our professional and personal commitment to seeing every student perform his or her best on test day and succeed in the admissions process.

6. Would scores improve anyway without tutoring?

Of course maturation and classroom education can help improve scores. But it is not true that scores will inevitably or significantly improve for all students. On PSAT score reports, for example, the College Board projects a likely SAT score range with numbers both slightly lower and slightly higher than the equivalent PSAT score. Standardized tests are designed to yield relatively consistent resultsnot constantly improving results.

Nor does it seem to be in the student's best interest to encourage complacency when faced with an academic gauge. As the New York Times Magazine puts it, "Indeed, the best way to improve the SAT's might be to give up the pretense that students can't improve their scores through tutoring or coaching."

7. Do you believe in teaching short-term tricks to help students improve on their tests?

No. Our test preparation programs are long-term. They consist of learning ideas, information, and approaches in a logical, meaningful way. We neither take nor recommend an approach that favors "cramming" or "tricks". Shortcuts such as these tend to yield erratic score increases at best and negative life lessons at worst. We set a high academic standard for students that they in turn usually meet. Our approach is academic and rigorous; 98% of our students have described their experience with us as "educational." Evidence abounds that this educational experience is the most effective way to raise scores.




II. About Marlin Education Consulting

1. What do private tutors do?

We teach. We respect and complement the curricula and high standards of teaching at local schools. We have dedicated our careers to helping students develop their math, reading, logical reasoning, and writing skills, along with a host of other abilities for tests and academic subjects.

Furthermore, the SAT program often inspires students to work harder at school. It is our goal to enrich our students' intellectual growth both within and beyond the scope of standardized tests.

2. What training do your tutors receive?

Our tutors are all Ivy-League graduates and receive intensive test-specific training by our directors and senior tutors prior to working with students. The training program is comprehensive, incorporating all relevant academic materials and approaches that we have developed over the last ten years. In addition to explaining the material in detail, we engage tutors in simulated teaching scenarios and offer guidance for shaping students' strategies. Ongoing informal and formal assessments, along with constructive criticism and open discussions, ensure that tutors continue to develop their craft as they work with us.

3. How are your rates determined?

Our rates reflect the professional nature of our services, the qualifications of our tutors, their careful training, our painstakingly developed materials, our results, and the fact that Marlin Education likely consists of the most highly evaluated group of tutors in America and Thailand. Individual tutors' rates depend on several factors, including student evaluations, score increases, and levels of experience.

4. Isn't high-quality private tutoring expensive?

Yes. We recognize the costs, we realize that they are daunting for many. If families can and choose to pursue private education, to say that the overall expenses are high is an understatement. The cost of an independent high school and college education can amount to more than $300,000. Add to this amount the cost of a private grade school, and the total can exceed $500,000. The amount families spend on Marlin Education's services represents a small percentage of that total, while many if not most of our students regard their one-on-one work with our private tutors to be among the most important educational experiences of their lives.

Teacher compensation in the United States is lower, as a fraction of our GNP, than it is in virtually every other major industrialized country in the world. The number one expense at Marlin Education is teacher salaries. The fees we charge are comparable to, not higher than, those of leading professionals in other fields. The rationale? Private tutoring by exceptional teachers can have a profound effect on a student's confidence, ability, and attitude.

5. Do you offer financial aid?

Yes. Please visit our SOCIAL INITIATIVES page for details about our programs. Since its inception, Marlin Education has worked hard to make its educational and counseling services accessible to students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. To that end, the group has provided pro bono instructional help and financial support to a variety of individuals and public service organizations, offered generous financial aid packages to students with demonstrable need, and donated tutoring services to charity benefits and school scholarship funds. We also hold small group lessons for which we offer significant financial aid to families that qualify. It is our explicit goal to enroll motivated students in our programs regardless of their ability to pay.

We are continually developing new programs to improve access to our services. We welcome any ideas from within and beyond our group that will help make Marlin Education accessible to families of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

6. What standardized tests do you offer tutoring in?

We teach a number of standardized tests including the SSAT, ISEE, SAT, SAT Subject Tests*, LSAT, GMAT, GRE and TOEFL. In addition to providing standardizes test preparation tutoring, we also provide admissions consulting for students who are applying to high school, undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. For more details, please visit OUR SERVICES page for more details.

*We will discontinue SAT Subject Test tutoring in the beginning of 2010.

7. What role can tutoring play in improving education on a national level?

As an approach to the problem of educational disparity, tutoring has enormous potential. We believe that tutoring can be an active, integral part of the solution for bridging achievement gaps. As adaptable as it is effective, tutoring requires few investments beyond the right instructor and a quiet room, making this approach suitable for all students.