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Insight Into Yelp Reviews

    • A C.
    • West Springfield, VA
    •  0 friends
    •  1 review

    3/21/2020

    Kate is an incredible teacher and tutor!  She is a hidden gem in the NOVA area and has been helping students for over 30 years!  Kate helped my 3 children over the past few years, and did in a few weeks what other places try to do in months, to prepare students for the ACT and SAT.  In addition to practicing & reviewing the tests every week, Kate teaches students how to read, think, analyze, and answer questions properly!

    All my 3 children scored in the upper 30’s on the ACT, the highest being 35 (out of 36), an increase of 5 – 10 points per child.  And at least a couple of hundred points higher on the SAT each.  Kate is truly magical and transforms children’s thought process and improves their critical thinking skills with her vast knowledge and experience!

  • Cindy G.
    • Cindy G.
    • Great Falls, VA
    •  0 friends
    •  8 reviews

    5/13/2017

    A trusted friend had enrolled her daughter with Kate Dalby a year or two earlier (the daughter, who is extremely intelligent in any case, got 800s on her SAT).  She recommended Kate to us and we have enrolled our three kids, one for Spring 2017 (now underway), two for the summer (have not begun).

    After one session, our daughter’s ACT average went from a 31 to a 34.5; after a few sessions, a session later her math SAT was up to a 780 and she knew exactly why she had missed the two questions that cost her a perfect score.  Her verbal had increased slightly to mid-700s – both are still works in progress.  We have found Kate always available to consultation in person and by phone – and our emails have been answered almost instantly, even over the weekend.

    We began the process with complimentary, no-obligation practice ACT tests, diagnosis and recommendations for each of our kids.  The tests were graded immediately and the feedback was interesting and useful.  A friend of ours had his two kids take the test and was amazed at how quickly and accurately Kate was able to identify the specific areas where they needed help.

    The office is small and comfortable, and Kate teaches all the classes herself.  Her maximum is 12 students per class; my daughter’s Spring class has two students (one Langley, one TJ), very personal attention.  We have yet to see class size for the other two.  I am writing this review a bit early in the process because, but for our trusted friend’s recommendation, we would not have known about Kate and thought others might like to consider her.  We will update when all the classes are complete.

  • Karen A.
    • Karen A.
    • Oakton, VA
    •  40 friends
    •  1 review

    5/6/2016

    Kate helped my older child with TJ admissions and PSAT test prep. It helped a lot, I credit kate for the extra boost that helped achieve National Merit Scholar Semifinalist and an 800 on Math SAT and  TJ class of 2015. My younger child also found Kate’s course offerings helpful and thinks that extra boost helped secure admission to TJ class of 2020 to great relief, because child was really determined to follow older sibling and has no doubts about wanting to excel at TJ. My kids looked forward to sessions with Dalby and Inspiring Test Prep and always found them enjoyable.

  • Ahkar P.
    • Ahkar P.
    • Falls Church, VA
    •  202 friends
    •  1 review

    12/20/2015

    Ms. Dalby is not only knowledgeable, but also very helpful. If you do not get a concept she will explain until you achieve perfect clarity. When I came to her my senior after I took the ACT and was at a 25 composite. After only a couple of weeks, the next test I got a 28. Only in a few weeks I improved by 3 points and the best of all my super score was a 30. From a 25 to a superscore of 30, I have came a long way. It would not have been possible without her. She makes learning fun and exciting.

  • Niles R.
    • Niles R.
    • Arlington, VA
    •  12 friends
    •  1 review

    10/8/2015

    I started with a 29 act composite and got a 32 on my first test, 35 on the second one. She really helps, and she knows the tests inside and out. She will give you one on one review for all the tests you take, and prepare you as best she can

  • Nate L.
    • Nate L.
    • McLean, VA
    •  0 friends
    •  1 review
    10/8/2015
    Great tutoring service. I came in with a 29 ACT composite and left with a 31 after only a few weeks of tutoring. Ms. Dalby knows her stuff and gives you practical tips that really do help when taking the test. I’d recommend Inspiring Test Prep to anyone who wishes to improve either their SAT or ACT score.
2020-04-06T16:46:51-04:00

A Thank You Note from a Client

To Dr Weinstein:

From: MIA MCINERNEY <miaxxxxcom>

Sent: Monday, October 7, 2019 7:53 AM

To: Aimee Weinstein

Subject: Amazing – we have progress and thank you

Hi Aimee,

I don’t know what magic potion you gave Alex when you met with him yesterday, in jut an hour no less but he came out of there more enthusiastic than ever!!  He asked me not to talk on the way home because he had all these thoughts in his head about his essay (a great thing) and then he walked in and banged out over 650 words.  I did not ask him to read it bec I want this to be his own thing but I wanted to THANK you for nudging him along. I think it’s a wonderful sign.  He has only one application he is turning in on October 15th (Georgia Tech) and then they also have a short essay question that he is working on – basically “why do you want to come to GA Tech”?  After common app essay is finished, I asked him to check in with you about the 2 Princeton essay supplements he has to do for November 1st.

I just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you.  You have unloaded about 500 pounds of pressure from all of us – single handedly in an hour!!   Let me know if there is anything I can do to help going forward otherwise, I’ll watch from the sidelines 🙂 and we can keep in touch by email.  He seemed to really enjoy working with you.  Thank you again.

Mia McInerney

Sent from my iPad

2019-10-13T11:53:12-04:00

Another Thank You Note

Dear Ms Dalby
My daughter Bhuvana Pandalai was one of your students . She and I have been helping a lot of parents and students through college application process and preparation during high school. Most of these parents and students don’t even know ACT tests agreed and they have been asking where Bhuvana did her ACT tutoring. I have recommended your center to multiple parents.   I think couple of them have taken your course. One parent came back and said their son get a near perfect score.
I strongly believe Bhuvana’s top ACT scores were the results of your  excellent tutoring and would like to officially put your website as a reference site in our presentation and on our website. Please let me know if you are ok with us doing that.
Sindhu  Rajan

2019-10-12T19:16:58-04:00

TJ 2nd round; class of 2023

We have heard from 39 students so far who made it to the 2nd round. Of those 39 students, 24 gained admissions (20) or were waitlisted (3).

Of these 39 students, 25 prepared for the test/SIS, and 14 prepared only for the SIS with us. Of the 25 who prepared for the test, 14 were admitted/waitlisted. Of the 14 who took only the SIS, 10 were admitted/waitlisted.

Many students want to know how much the SIS math question affects admissions. We don’t have access to those statistics, but we do keep a tally of how many students get the practice SIS math question correct.

Of 33 students who answered our practice SIS math question, only two students who got it correct were refused admission. Of 19 students who gained admission, 10 got the question correct and 9 were incorrect. None of the three students who were waitlisted got that question correct (in practice).

The take away: getting our SIS math question correct is an strong indicator of admissions. Missing it still means a 50/50 chance of admission.

Once we get all the results (we still are waiting to hear from four class students and 18 SIS workshop students) we will update this page with the new information.

To see video explanations of previous SIS math questions click on the links below:

2016 – Helicopter

2017 – Penguins

2018 – Staircase

2019 – Oysters

If you like a video, give it a thumbs up. If you subscribe to our youtube channel, we will try to produce more videos to help you prepare.

Click Here to download your free math diagnostic (email is required). Make sure pop-ups aren’t blocked!

2019-03-29T15:07:52-04:00

ACT/SAT Reveal Concordance Table

SAT vs. ACT – The classic battle between the two giants of standardized testing has long since been a concern for any student making their foray into preparation for college. After years of conflict, the SAT redesigned its test in 2015 to make it more similar to the ACT’s model. Despite this, ACT did not allow convergence from the new SAT due to the lack of data.

College Board developed and posted a concordance when it first released its latest SAT, but ACT objected to the unilateral effort because ACT believed there was insufficient data to draw conclusions. After two plus years of data on the new SAT, the ACT organization has decided that it has been long enough, and an ACT/SAT concordance table has been published on the ACT website. You can find the link here. This means that there is now an official ACT/SAT way to compare the two standardized tests. The table below shows a sample of the data in the convergence tables.

Note: For the sake of brevity, only ACT Scores from 26-36 will be shown. For information such as other scores and subject-specific convergence tables, please view the full document here.

SAT Total Range ACT Composite
1600-1570 36
1570-1530 35
1520-1490 34
1480-1450 33
1440-1420 32
1410-1390 31
1380-1360 30
1350-1330 29
1320-1300 28
1290-1260 27
1250-1230 26
In effect, this joint effort by the ACT and the SAT reduces the stress placed on the student by making them choose between the two tests. To all the folks at the ACT and the SAT, well done.

2020-05-21T22:11:26-04:00