SAT prep
Hello Students and Parents!
My name is Henry Moss and I am the standardized test prep instructor for University Prospects. I provide all of the private and classroom lessons for the SAT for our aspiring American university student-athletes. Hailing from the U.S., I am an American university graduate (University of Georgia) with extensive experience instructing students in standardized test prep in both individual and classroom settings.
My Test Prep Background:
As a student I was always gifted when it came to standardized test taking. At sixteen-years-old, without having any formal training or receiving any private tutoring for the SAT, I was able to average over 700 points per section on the old 2400 point SAT, scoring a 2150 composite score and an 11/12 on the SAT essay. I graduated high school the following year, a full year early. I matriculated at the University of Georgia, the oldest public university in the United States, where I was awarded the Georgia HOPE Scholarship which paid the entirety of my undergraduate tuition fees.
A year after graduating from UGA with my Bachelor's Degree in History, I realized that my methodology for standardized test taking could help the next generation of aspiring university students achieve their college admissions dreams as well. I began privately tutoring for the SAT in he Atlanta area in 2013. Over the following four years I worked for three different American tutoring companies, as well as built a large personal clientele with many satisfied students. In my last two years in the United States, I was employed by C2 Education, a national private tutoring company where I received rigorous professional teacher's training to further augment my own instructional prowess. For my charismatic and engaging teaching style I was selected to serve as a company outreach teacher, and to instruct full-size SAT classes at local public high schools. After moving to Canada to be closer to family in 2016, I began working under Brian as University Prospects' SAT instructor in January of 2017.
In the past five years I have tutored hundreds of students for the SAT and ACT, and have helped my students raise their scores by tens of thousands of points. I have taught students of every skill level, background and aptitude and have helped them secure admission to elite public and private universities all over the United States. I have privately tutored students who went on to achieve perfect scores on the SAT and the ACT, and my students have gained admissions to Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Emory, Georgia Tech, and dozens of other U.S. Universities.
My Method:
The current SAT and ACT, unlike the vast majority of tests Canadian students are used to taking are what are known as 'aptitude tests' rather than the typical 'achievement tests' that students take in their school classes. Unlike achievement tests, aptitude tests gauge not only what students have already learned, but also gauge a student's future ability to learn. This makes them an altogether very different, even alien experience for Canadian students, who have rarely, if ever had to deal with such a test in their academic careers. When I begin my work with a new student, I start by demystifying this foreign test, explaining how it is different from the tests they are used to, why US university have it, and what they will have to do differently to prepare for this test relative to their past academic assignments. This demystification process is an important first step to help shed any psychological fear or doubts regarding the test.
From this point on, my lesson path is typically two-fold. The first element involves teaching all of the necessary Reading Comprehension, Grammar, and Mathematics skills that will be covered on the SAT. This is achieved lesson by lesson with simulated practice of each part of the test, using curriculum identical in format and difficulty to the real test. There are 5 basic reading comprehension strategies I teach my students, and 5 more advanced ones that they will learn as their reading comprehension ability improves. There are 15 grammar concepts that recur on the SAT that must be understood and I provide comprehensive explanations and notes for all of them along with repeated simulated practice. For mathematics, I begin assessing where the student's current math level resides and typically by reteaching any simpler concepts from algebra and geometry that they may have lost along the way simply from lack of use. Then we progress to more difficult concepts with functions, polynomials and trigonometry based questions. Once a student has reached mastery of these, we will work on the hardest 'trick questions' of the SAT mathematics. These all encompass the 'standard' element of my teaching style. The fun stuff really beings with the second element of my teaching style: gaming the test.
Most unique to my lessons, I teach students the philosophy of test-writing, so they can see the test from the perspective of the people who write tests for a living, which helps them to anticipate what a 'kind of answer' a question is looking for, and what a correct answer will 'sound like'. Your student will be amazed to learn that some incorrect answers on the SAT can be eliminated, without even reading the question! This becomes possible if you know how standardized tests are written. I help your student cultivate these skills and understanding, part of the process of 'gaming the test'. Furthermore, I teach my students the art of multiple choice elimination, how to understand wording cues, and test time management which helps to improve their scores on any multiple-choice test, not just the SAT. During private sessions we will do extensive timed practice, so that the students learn how to instinctively feel the correct pace they need to work at to finish all sections of the test on time, which is one of the greatest challenges of the SAT. In totality, these accumulated skills give my students a fundamental advantage as test-takers. The SAT and ACT, like most other standardized aptitude tests, are both written in a very predictable and formulaic way, and by teaching my students how to take advantage of this predictable and repetitive nature I give them an edge that most other students will simply not possess.
I teach class lessons for University Prospects in Richmond Hill every Saturday, with classes sizes small enough to ensure that all students participate. My teaching style is highly interactive, and as any of my past students will attest, if you attend my lesson, you must participate, and you will be called upon by name to answer questions, as well as explain your rationale for the answers you have chosen. Lessons are two hours long, and alternate each week between the three subject matters of the test (Reading Comprehension, Mathematics, and English Grammar).
Additionally, I will privately tutor any student who requests one-on-one sessions with me. In these cases I can come to you for in-home lessons, or we can meet at the Oakville Public Library Glen Abbey Branch. Additionally, if there is a library, coffee shop or some other quiet place your student likes to study, other locations can be arranged to serve your needs.
If you have any questions about SAT lessons, my teaching methodology or background, or any questions about U.S. University admissions or the U.S. University system in general, I am at your disposal. Please feel free to contact Brian to set up a free consultation at brian@universityprospects.com
Thank you for your interest in University Prospects, I look forward to working with your student-athletes!
Sincerely,
Henry Moss
