Test Prep
For the SAT or ACT, Regan consults with your family to create a program tailored to your student’s goals, learning style, and schedule. Throughout the program, students gain a deeper understanding of test content, the patterns inherent in questions and answer choices, and strategies for each section and question type. Ultimately, students learn to make the most of the repetitive nature of the test and build the confidence and skills they need to maximize their scores.
Students will also learn how to put their strengths to work while targeting current weaknesses. Regan conveys to her students that weak areas are not fixed attributes but temporary gaps that they have the power to strengthen with the right tools and focused attention. SAT and ACT programs require a commitment to homework and occasional full-length practice tests, but Regan places a premium on efficiency and works with families to make sure the program is carried out in a sensible and low-stress manner. When students put in work in a consistent and focused way, they achieve far better results than they would by completing a heavy workload inattentively. Understanding that a consistent, high-quality effort is more easily promised than achieved (for people of all ages), Regan follows up with students in between lessons to keep them accountable, reinforce the specific goals of their assignments, and open a dialogue to address scheduling challenges.
For students taking the ISEE or SSAT, programs are designed to minimize stress and anxiety as well as improve scores. Students of all ages learn best when they feel their strengths are seen and appreciated. This principle applies especially strongly to younger students, who may be worried about standardized testing and what their scores say about them. Regan takes a calm, caring approach, cultivating an environment where children can feel good about the new skills they are building and see the connection to what they are learning in school. In addition to score increases, families can expect to see improvement in students’ vocabularies, reading skills, problem solving and computational skills, and writing abilities.
Admissions Essay Coaching
Regan’s essay coaching prepares students to showcase their strengths using the technical and creative tools of excellent storytelling. Brainstorming exercises help students understand what aspects of their lives to write about and how to tell their unique stories. In meetings and chats in Google Docs, Regan offers support through every stage of the application process. Students will ultimately learn how to make each element of their applications contribute positively to a cohesive picture.
Just as importantly, Regan keeps students on track and on schedule. As they research the programs and culture of selective colleges on their lists, students will develop a clear sense of what makes them competitive applicants, as well as the opportunities available to them on campus.
Regan typically begins with students in the late spring or early summer before senior year, though she will gladly help students who are farther along in the application process.
Summer Writing Program
Many students dislike writing, and no wonder: while schools teach math by providing tools to solve equations and detailed instructions about how to use them, writing is usually presented as a skill that must be picked up naturally through trial and error. Students often feel frustrated with the process before they can reach a level of competence that would allow them to write with ease and pleasure. Yet the ability to communicate with clarity, meaning, and persuasiveness remains critical across a broad spectrum of disciplines and careers.
The goal of Regan’s summer program is to demystify the process of writing well. Through creative exercises that illustrate the practical distinctions between writing that sinks and writing that soars, students gain a stronger grasp of style guidelines and rhetorical techniques. They come out of the program with a robust set of tools they can wield confidently on any writing project, from a short written response on a test to a thesis paper. Whether students lack confidence in their skills or already enjoy writing and want to nurture their abilities, Regan will help them reach their goals with a collaboratively designed reading list and exercises that take their writing to new levels. Regan has led writing programs for students from middle school through college and beyond.