Frequently Asked Questions

Your company and courses sound good so far, but do you have any sort of guarantee for your SAT courses?

We certainly do. The 30-hour SAT course comes with a 220-point guarantee (unless you are starting with an 1810 or higher), and the 40-hour SAT course comes with a 280-point guarantee (unless you are starting with an 1810 or higher). The 40-hour course has a sliding scale for the guaranteed score for starting scores above 1800 (all the way up to a 2290!). And these are all MONEY-BACK guarantees, providing at least a 20% refund of the course fee if you meet all the guarantee conditions (compare this to other companies, which often only offer a 10-point score improvement guarantee).

I have never heard of your company.  Why shouldn’t I go with another company that is national and has a more established name?

First of all, we are a well-known SAT and ACT private tutoring company in the area and we’ve been around for close to 10 years; students at many of the best high schools in Western New York are quite familiar with us and use our courses. There’s a very good reason for this. We deliver on our promises, and we have the best results of any course in the area (and we can back this up). We have had many students who initially took a course from a national test preparation company, got minimal or no results, and used us afterwards to achieve or exceed their target scores. Sometimes, a more established brand name truly signifies a higher quality, but sometimes, unfortunately, the name is simply a cover for less-than-ideal results and service. We are willing to bet (in fact, we back it up with a money-back guarantee!) that we get our students better results on any day.

How do I know your tutors are great?

Again, all of the tutors must have demonstrated very high scores themselves on the SAT.  But that is not all: they must possess good communication and interpersonal skills to ensure that they can relate well to high school students and are able to teach the vital strategies and content that are the hallmark of our SAT courses. And don’t forget that every tutor has been intensively trained, and we monitor each tutor’s results to make sure that every single tutor is performing up to our strict and extremely high standards. Each tutor underwent roughly at least 150 hours of training initially (assuming the tutor is responsible for all three sections of the test). In fact, the initial training program for the latest groups of tutors lasted more than 250 hours. (Every tutor also receives periodic follow-up training to strengthen certain skills or keep up with the latest trends on the exam or changes in our courses throughout the entire term of his or her employment with the company.) Additionally, each tutor is required to score at least 770 or 780 (depending on the section) on each section for which he or she tutors on an officially administered SAT. In short, I believe our tutors are the best in the area. Other companies, in contrast, often have lower standards (say, scores in the 90^th percentile or even lower) for their tutors or instructors. And their training programs – if they train their tutors or instructors at all – usually last no more than 16-20 hours. 

What exactly do you teach in the course, and what materials do you use?

Infiniva does not only teach strategies or “tricks” for the exam, nor do we focus exclusively on content. Our course combines the best of both worlds, as we believe that both the content AND strategies are vital to achieving great scores. And each course is customized to the student’s specific needs, their strengths and weaknesses, in order to maximize the improvement, so that no two courses are ever taught in exactly the same way. That is one huge advantage of a one-on-one private tutoring course over a classroom course. We also use a collection of the best books we’ve found on the SAT – 5 to 8 books in all with each student, not just one or two books, like most courses, because no book is perfect and no one book (or even two or three books) can offer the complete and precise blend of strategies, content, and practice that is necessary to achieve the phenomenal improvements that we strive for with each student. One of these books is the Official SAT Study Guide, by the College Board (the organization that administers the SAT), the ONLY official guide for the SAT issued by the College Board. Amazingly, some national test preparation companies actually do NOT use this book at all; we, however, insist on using official exams to give our students realistic practice material, and all of our diagnostic exams (weekend proctored simulated exams that provide the students with realistic practice and feedback on their progress) are drawn from OFFICIAL College Board exams, not fake ones written by the test prep companies themselves, which can yield wildly inaccurate scores (and inflated score improvements). By the way, all the materials (including a watch to time and pace yourself on the exam) and proctored diagnostic exams are included in the course price (some companies do not offer proctored exams at all and others charge extra for them).

Do you offer a flexible schedule?

The very nature of one-on-one private tutoring allows our tutors to customize the schedule to your needs (as long as you maintain a reasonable frequency to the sessions throughout the course). Whether you need to meet during the day, in the evenings, only on the weekdays, or mostly on the weekends, whether you wish to have a regular weekly schedule or schedule the session dates week by week, we can usually work with your schedule. (And our courses always run up to the week of the exam, unlike some courses that end MONTHS before the actual exam date!)

How can I be assured that our child will achieve good or great results?  What else takes place “behind the scenes” that I should know?

You already know about the content of the courses and the score improvement guarantees. You also know about the top-notch tutors who are extremely qualified and well-trained.  The tutors write and submit reports periodically for individual tutoring sessions and the progress in courses overall. Virtually each student also takes at least 5 to 7 diagnostic exams, proctored practice exams held on the weekends. Not only does each diagnostic exam provide a student with essential practice and rehearsal, but we can also, through the results, assess how the student is performing and gain valuable and detailed insights into his or her strengths and weaknesses, allowing us to tailor future sessions to best address the issues and needs that become apparent. The scores are also included in the session reports, and serve as one of many ways for us to evaluate the tutor’s effectiveness with each student and in each course. After reading session reports and course updates and occasionally observing tutoring sessions, we give the tutor constructive feedback, meet with him or her to discuss the progress in one or more courses, and provide supplemental training to strengthen certain areas and polish his or her skills, if necessary. In other words, we do NOT simply assume a tutor, even with his or her impressive credentials and the arduous and comprehensive training we put him or her through, will do an excellent job with each student without any supervision, feedback, or assistance. Doing all of this means significantly higher expenses (not to mention a much greater time investment) to run our courses. Do you think that most other companies or courses go to such lengths to maximize results and make sure each student does well?? Hardly! You would be lucky to find a course that even offers 5 proctored realistic diagnostic exams! We could cut out all of this extra work and expense to reduce costs and increase our profits. But that would mean compromising our students’ results, and we are simply not willing to do that. Our mission is to have each and every student achieve significant, if not stellar, scores and improvements, and we are willing to put in all this work, time, and money to accomplish this mission.

What are typical results like in your SAT courses?

In the 30-hour course, which carries a 220-point guarantee, the average improvement is about 260-300 points (over all three sections combined), with the more exceptional students improving by 350 points and more. The average improvement in the 40-hour course, which has a 280-point guarantee, is about 320 to 360 points. And students with higher starting scores (1940 or higher) often end up with scores in the 2150-2300 range within 30 to 40 tutoring hours! We have had SAT students score as high as a 2370 and ACT students score as high as a 36 (a perfect score)! In comparison, most other companies and courses, especially classroom courses, can perhaps achieve improvements on the order of 60-120 points (NOT per section, but over all three sections of the exam combined) with most students, to my knowledge!

Can’t my child just study on their own and achieve the same results?

First of all, very few students have the discipline and motivation, let alone the know-how (they probably would not even know the best materials to use), to design their own study plans and schedules and stick to them. Second, there is simply no substitute for the expertise, experience, and insights – not to mention the structure and motivation – that a good professional tutor and course can bring. Your child, as bright as they may be, is not an SAT or ACT expert. We are experts, and we have been helping students achieve fantastic results and honing our skills for years. Most students would probably be very lucky to improve their scores by anywhere close to 150 points purely through self-study. Even if your child could raise their score by 200 to 350 points on their own (something that almost never happens – if students could routinely do this, the SAT or ACT would not be so daunting to most students!), we can help them achieve the same score improvement or better in much less time and in a far more efficient way.

We have already signed up with or are currently working with a different course or tutor, and we are pretty happy so far.

If you are truly happy with the progress and actual results (as measured on the official SAT, not diagnostic tests) so far (you should expect and demand at least a 200-point overall improvement), then all the power to you and we wish you the best. But before you brush the idea of a very effective Infiniva SAT course aside, I implore you to consider and answer the following important questions. 

Is the course you are currently doing a classroom course? 

Classroom courses are generally (and studies have shown this) nowhere near as effective as one-on-one private tutoring courses.  It should hopefully make sense to you that we can accomplish more in less time and completely meet the student’s needs and answer their questions in a one-on-one private tutoring course versus in a classroom course. 

If you are taking a classroom course, how many hours of instruction time are included? 

If the number is between 12 to 24 hours, I can tell you that that amount of time is insufficient for a truly comprehensive coverage of the exam. In comparison, our shortest comprehensive one-on-one private tutoring course for the SAT lasts 20 hours (and we usually recommend at least 30 hours to most students). (Preparing for and learning to do really well on (and teaching) the SAT takes time, both on the part of the tutor or instructor and the student. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying, ignorant, or incompetent or simply wants to make a lot of money while cutting costs dramatically.) 

Does the course last no longer than 4 to 6 weeks? 

It is much more difficult to achieve large improvements over such a short time frame (for one thing, there is often not enough time to do sufficient homework or practice), and we usually conduct our courses over 2 to 5 months to maximize the score gains.

Does the course include proctored diagnostic tests? And are these tests official or real College Board SAT tests? 

Some courses do not provide proctored diagnostic tests at all, which is an essential part of any good course. And the courses that do provide proctored tests often do not use official exams. This means that the scores from these exams can be very inaccurate (think 100-200 points’ difference from the true scores!). (Don’t trust the scores your child may be getting from “fake” exams at all!) We only use official or real exams to provide the most realistic testing experience and extremely accurate scores. 

What has the instructor or tutor scored himself or herself on an actual SAT? Has he or she taken an official SAT within the past few years? 

First of all, if you don’t know the scores, ASK (and ask to see official score reports for proof). If the score is any lower than 740 (per section) (or a 2300+ composite), you are not dealing with someone who knows the test inside and out and can walk the walk. 

Is there any sort of significant score improvement money-back guarantee? 

Chances are, the course comes with no guarantee at all, or at best a 10-point (or “higher score”) guarantee, which doesn’t even provide a refund (but instead gives you the same classroom course again for free). Are you really going to be happy if your child improves by 30 points overall?? Infiniva provides free additional tutoring hours and then a refund if necessary, and we guarantee at least 220 points of improvement in most courses!

It is not too late to switch to an Infiniva SAT/PSAT or ACT course if you realize you are currently working with the wrong person or company! Tell us this when you call us about a course, and we can perhaps offer you a discount to cushion your previous financial loss!