Partnering with you to achieve your college admissions goals.
About Ivy West Page
About Ivy West
Established in California in 1989, Ivy West pioneered one-on-one, in-home test prep. Since then, we have earned a reputation among college counselors, parents and students as the leading provider of one-on-one, in-home, in-person test prep for college and high school admissions tests. Today, Ivy West is proud to make our test prep expertise available to students and families nationwide with our Online SAT Programs.
Our Mission
Ivy West’s mission is to partner with families to help students achieve their college admission goals. We accomplish this by preparing students for their college admissions or high school admissions exams with our proven curriculum, professional, certified tutors, and personalized service. We continue to develop and provide new and improved methods for test preparation with innovations like our proprietary PrepMap Assessment™ which is the most detailed and prescriptive diagnostic tool available in the test prep industry today.
Our SAT Programs
Maximizing your child’s performance on the SAT is our number one objective, and our programs are designed fit your budget, your time frame, your child’s learning style and your family’s priorities.
Our SAT programs have been built over almost 20 years of helping students succeed, and we believe that there are four key components that are fundamental to success and maximizing scores:
- One-on-one, in-home tutoring --- Ensures that your child is getting the individual attention that they need
- Use of professional, trained, certified tutors who are matched to your child’s needs --- Optimizes the learning interaction
- Custom-developed and time-tested curriculum --- Teaches the key test-taking strategies needed to succeed
- Practice tests --- Using actual College Board samples, these tests benchmark your child’s progress, and prepares them to perform at the peak of their ability
Ivy West has three SAT test prep program options:
- Ivy West Custom
- Ivy West Standard
- Ivy West On-Line Only
No matter which program you choose, you are assured that what we’ve learned over almost 20 years will be harnessed to help your child learn to succeed. The fundamental "building blocks" of success, the core components --- one-on-one tutoring, professional tutors matched to your child’s needs, proprietary curriculum and practice tests --- are provided in every Ivy West program.
The program you chose is based on your budget, the amount of time your child has before their test, your need for a customized curriculum, the amount of supervision and support your child needs, and the amount of time you have available to be involved in your child’s progress.
The following section provides overview highlights of our SAT test prep programs. However, the best way to explore your options and discover which program is "right" for your child and your family is to talk with an Ivy West Enrollment Advisor. We invite you to call us today: 1.800.IVY WEST (1.800.489.9378). If it’s more convenient, complete the Request For More Information form on the home page of this website, or send us an email at info@ivywest.com
Program Highlights
Ivy West Custom
Who it's designed for:
Students who prefer, or have a need for a customized program tailored to their unique needs. For example, students who believe they are particularly strong in one area (Math, Critical Reading, or Writing) or have scored exceptionally high in one section of a practice test, but want to raise their scores in other areas. Based on our exclusive PrepMap Assessment tool, the curriculum of the Ivy West Custom program consists of 13-19 lessons that are specifically tailored to ensure that students focus on the areas where they need the most work to optimize their scores. Ivy West Custom is available as an online option for those students who prefer or need the convenience that on-line learning provides.
Unique Features
PrepMap Assessment™ - Ivy West's proprietary PrepMap Assessment is the most advanced diagnostic tool available for understanding your specific and unique test prep needs. It scientifically identifies your strengths, weaknesses, and testing propensities and is the tool we use to build the most customized and effective prep program. A more complete description of PrepMap Assessment follows below.
Free Additional Future Lessons – Should you decide to take another SAT test in the future, students of Ivy West Custom can take up to three refresher lessons at no additional cost.
Program Monitoring and Reporting - Bi-weekly
A dedicated Ivy West Program Advisor is assigned to monitor your child and to interact with the tutor to ensure that your child is optimizing their learning, and provides bi-weekly check-ins with you on their progress.
Ivy West Standard
Who it's designed for:
Students who need a comprehensive program that provides preparation across all areas of the SAT. This 16 lesson package provides students with the complete set of skills, strategies and the preparation they'll need to optimize their scores across all areas of testing --- Math, Critical Reading and Writing. Section specific programs for Math, Critical Reading and/or Writing are also available. Ivy West Standard is available as an online option for those students who prefer or need the convenience that on-line learning provides.
Program Monitoring and Reporting - Monthly
A dedicated Ivy West Program Advisor is assigned to monitor your child and to interact with the tutor to ensure that your child is optimizing their learning, and provides monthly check-ins with you on their progress.
Ivy West On-Line Only
Who it's designed for:
Students who need, or prefer a comprehensive three section, off-the-shelf program and prefer to work on-line rather than having an Ivy tutor come to the home. This 16 lesson package features the same certified Ivy West tutor who conducts test prep lessons in an interactive, online format. Just like in-person lessons, online lessons take place one-on-one, on the student’s schedule, in the convenience of their home, or at any other remote location where they have access to the Internet. As an online student, you receive course book materials, practice tests and score reports. Headset and writing tablet provided for an $80 fee. This program is not available in a section specific format.
How It Works
In online programs, students and tutors communicate one-on-one in real time (versus, self-directed programs, or passive online programs that have a student watch a video) via headset and interact with the course material and each other via a shared computer screen and an electronic writing tablet. (The headset and writing tablet are included in the cost of the on-line program.) Your Ivy West tutor works with you one-on one, sees exactly what you see, controls the lesson content that appears on the screen and can adjust the content or pace of lessons based on your learning speed.
The PrepMap Assessment™
Ivy West's PrepMap Assessment is the key to test prep success on the SAT. It is the most advanced diagnostic tool available for determining and understanding student’s specific test prep needs. It is the basis on which Ivy West is able to provide our most customized and most targeted prep programs to help achieve the best preparation possible. Just like a map, it indicates a starting point and provides a uniquely customized syllabus or set of "directions" that will help get from that starting point to optimum performance on the SAT.
Our PrepMap Assessment works by systematically and scientifically identifying strengths, weaknesses, and testing propensities from a practice SAT test. The PrepMap Assessment goes beyond total SAT score and even individual Math, Critical Reading, or Writing scores to provide information about performance in terms of the following:
- Problem type
- Question category
- Difficulty level of question
- Relevant academic concept
- Relevant Ivy West strategy
- Likely cause of wrong answer
Ivy West is able to provide this exclusive PrepMap Assessment to our students because we have exhaustively analyzed every question and problem in our repertoire of practice SAT tests and matched them to specific exercises and strategies within our curriculum. The result is that PrepMap Assessment prescribes exactly what a prep program should look like, where the emphasis of prep time should be spent, which lessons are needed and which Ivy West strategies will best improve performance. The combination of knowing exactly which prep sections to focus on, and having them taught by our expert tutors provides a powerful and effective test prep experience.
With PrepMap Assessment, students receive a unique custom syllabus and a detailed, 6-page report that includes:
- Answer breakdown and summary for each section of the SAT
- Performance detail by difficulty and question type for each section of the SAT
- Concept area strengths for each section of the SAT
- Concept area weaknesses for each section of the SAT
- Potential cause of error for each section of the SAT
- Relevant Ivy West strategies needed for improvement in each section of the SAT
- Essay Critique:
- A two-paragraph critique written by the person who reviewed your essay
- An essay score on a scale of 2-12
Download a PDF sample PrepMap Assessment™ with sample Writing syllabus.
Our Tutors
Ivy West prides itself on the quality of our exceptional family of tutors. We carefully screen, perform background checks and hand-select only the most professional and experienced tutors who not only have achieved high test scores themselves, but also exhibit a passion and talent for teaching, have an engaging personality, and a genuine interest in helping students succeed. Tutors who meet these criteria are trained by Ivy West and then tested in dynamic teaching scenarios to ensure they effectively deliver our proprietary lesson material with our proven teaching methods. Only tutors who achieve our high standards, complete our training and demonstrate exceptional teaching skills become certified Ivy West tutors. Furthermore, every Ivy West tutor receives ongoing training from Ivy West to ensure they continue to provide the focused and effective test preparation for which we are known.
While we are proud that Ivy West tutors attended some of the most reputable educational institutions in the world including Harvard University, Cambridge University, New York University, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, Princeton University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Southern California, etc., their educational background is just one facet of their profile as Ivy West tutors. They have engaging personalities and are natural teachers even before they are trained and certified by Ivy West.
Our Program Advisors
At Ivy West, if you choose a program that includes a program advisor, your test prep program receives oversight supervision and care. From your initial consultation through the test date, your Program Advisor is there to:
- Identify specific test prep and program needs
- Match your child with the most effective tutor(s)
- Help plan which tests to take and when to take them
- Provide feedback on your child’s progress
- Explain your child’s score report, PrepMap Assessment or essay feedback
- Adjust lesson pace
- Resolve any concerns you may have