Success Stories
-
“Prior to working with Breakthrough, I was already an excellent test taker, but I wanted to push my SAT score up a notch. Standard SAT prep courses couldn't provide the specialized help necessary for me to do this. Working intensively with a customized tutoring program, I achieved a perfect score on my SAT!”
~A More than Satisfied Landon Student
-
"Harriet, Allen and Charles are exceptional tutors. My son has never done well with standardized testing and has ADD, inattentive type. He is a good student, but never has been a kid who reads more than Sports Illustrated for pleasure. After taking the MCPS required "practice" PSATs in ninth and tenth grade and receiving very poor scores on them, his confidence was shattered - and I was worried. The team at Breakthrough rebuilt his confidence and gave him the tools he needed to succeed and score in the 86th percentile on the March SAT. I can't thank them enough."
~A Proud Montgomery County Parent
-
“My daughter worked with BreakThrough Test Prep, and I'm so glad she did. Not only did she thoroughly enjoy her sessions with them, but she raised her ACT scores more than we had hoped - enough so that she was offered a $15,000 per year scholarship to one of her first choices, Miami University in Ohio! What an incredible ROI! So if you are on the fence about investing a little more than you had intended for test preparation, let me say that it's well worth the investment. Needless to say, I am looking forward to my second daughter beginning her preparation this summer. Also, let me add that not only did she score a 31 composite on the ACT, she also learned invaluable critical reading skills that she will certainly take with her to Miami. I thank you, BreakThrough!”
~A Thrilled GDS Parent
-
“Breakthrough has been instrumental in helping our daughter navigate the college testing process. She worked with her to identify which test was best suited for her learning style and then tailored the instruction just for her, identifying key strategies that not only helped her with test prep, but also in her daily classes. Our daughter loved working with them, felt at ease and confident going into the testing!”
~A Very Pleased George Mason Parent
-
"Breakthrough was able to cater the instruction to my son specifically which is a very valuable use of time and money."
~An Exceptionally Happy N. Potomac Parent
-
"Ms. Broder is awesome. If you want help she is the one."
~A Proud St. John's Parent
-
"Even though my son already had strong PSAT scores, Breakthrough Prep was able to help him perform even better on the SAT after attending both the English and math one-on-one sessions."
~A Very Satisfied Churchill Parent
-
“Thank you so much for everything Allen, I am so grateful and I really appreciate everthing you did, thank you sm again and I will def keep you updated”
~A recent 1480-scorer from QO
-
"They pushed me harder than any other teacher ever has, and it definitely proved worthwhile. I came into the program with one goal and achieved it. I will use my new flexible reading skills and strategies for deciphering vocabulary for many years to come."
~A Proud Northwest HS Student
-
“I just want to say how much I appreciated your wonderful advice that helped me polish my college essays. I received acceptance from 7 out of the 14 colleges I applied to, including Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, Emory University, Georgetown University, NYU Stern and a full scholarship to UMD College Park.”
~Quang N., A Very Pleased RM Student
-
"I just wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation for how you have already touched Nathan’s life. He is so excited about applying the resources you taught him to improve his reading that I can see it spilling over in his level of confidence in himself. Thank you for sharing your talent and gift of teaching!"
-
"“I remember my first lesson with Harriet vividly. I remember her giving me a passage to read, and telling me to read it as quickly as I could using a skimming technique she had just taught me. I was puzzled, as I was so used to meticulously reading every passage before answering the comprehension questions. This time, however, I would be doing something drastically different. I finished reading the passage, a short one, in a little over a minute. Harriet then asked me a series of questions, and I was both amazed and disappointed I got 7/10 questions right. Harriet, on the other hand, was pleased and told me that was exactly what I was going for. She explained to me that all I needed to get from the initial reading was more than half the questions right, and because I’d read the passage so quickly, I would have ample time to answer the remaining questions on the actual SAT. My confusion went away, as all I could think to myself was how genius of a method that was. Those were the kind of lessons I got used to learning from Harriet. Every week, she would teach me something new; some minor adjustment I could make to save time or better understand a passage. More than just techniques on how to improve my score, Harriet also gave me confidence and skills I can use in the future. The day before I took my SAT, I went to Harriet for one last quick lesson, in which we did some vocabulary and grammar exercises. She helped calm me down, telling me that I had done all the work I needed to at that point, and all I had to do was continue doing what I’d done over the past few months. The next day would be first and only time I ever had to take the SAT. Since going to Harriet for help, I’ve not only referred other students to her, but also try and teach her techniques, such as, my favorite one, finding the thesis of a passage, to people who ask me for tips. While doing well on the SAT is not the only thing that will get a person into college, I have no doubt my performance helped me get into the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Much of my strong performance on the test can be attributed to Harriet and her teachings."
-
"A tremendous benefit is how they are able to individualize the experience for each student - evaluating them and then tailoring the review and preparation for their areas of need. They' will also work with your student's schedule. My son is a swimmer and very involved in other activities. He was tutored at Breakthrough after morning swim practice on the weekends. I don't think we could have found another tutor at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays. They helped us fit in the preparation sessions in around his complicated schedule - clearly understanding busy students and families. We also used Charles to tutor our son for honors Algebra II, he really fixed some foundational concepts that our son missed somewhere along the line and now our son is sailing through precalculus without tutoring. This has been pretty remarkable. I do have several recommendations: 1. In tenth grade, take the one day PSAT prep course in October. It is not expensive and helps your student learn the rules of the test. 2. Follow the diagnostic advice about whether the ACT or SAT is best for your student. They advised that my son would clearly do much better on the SAT than the ACT. I thought he should try both. Turns out I could have saved money and my son could have saved time by skipping the ACT as predicted, he did much better on the SAT. 3. The efficient reading course for students between their ninth and tenth grade years was very helpful. My son learned a lot of pointers on how to identify the key meaning in a text. It laid a solid foundation for the next summer's work and my son reported that he thought the reading techniques really helped him during the AP Language exam. 4. The advice to use the time between the sophomore and junior year to prepare for the SAT and ACT is very wise. My son took the new SAT in March after being tutored the prior summer. Before the March SAT, I had him take a couple tune up sessions. This was enough after the prior summer. The junior year is very packed and it lowered the stress and work levels to do most of the preparation in the summer before the junior year. My son also thinks it helped with precalculus and AP Language. 5. Breakthrough Test Prep is not inexpensive, but it is worth it. Harriet, Allen and Charles know everything about the SAT and have been doing this for years. Once you hire them, as a parent, you can take a step back and let them guide you and your student through the process. I should have laid back a little more and appreciated this."
