Prior to attending the Duke University School of Medicine, Miriam completed her Bachelor of Science in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has three years of tutoring experience, including being a summer instructor for Breakthrough Atlanta, a CHEMpossible assistant instruction at UNC, and an anatomy and physiology supplemental instructor.
Miriam is passionate about tutoring because she believes in the power of education. She was fortunate to participate in several enrichment programs as a child, which nurtured her love of learning and boosted her confidence to pursue her dreams. She specializes in tutoring Anatomy, Physiology, Algebra, and English at any level, including AP, and ACT tutoring.
Miriam aims to empower students through one-on-one academic support. She believes personalized tutoring can be pivotal in helping students study according to their learning styles, tackle academic challenges, and build confidence in their abilities. When tutoring, one of Miriam's top priorities is helping students understand the reasons behind the concepts they are learning. Her typical session starts with a brief explanation of the topic, followed by practice problems to apply concepts. Each session ends with the student teaching the concept back to her, solidifying their understanding and confidence.
When topics are difficult or uninteresting, she finds it helpful to zoom out and show how the concept fits into the broader subject. She also makes connections to students' interests to increase engagement. For instance, she might relate physiology to sports for a student interested in athletics. Her tutoring style focuses on creating a supportive and interactive environment that allows students to thrive. She empowers students through active participation, setting achievable goals, and providing constructive feedback.
One of Miriam’s greatest strengths as a tutor is her encouragement and active involvement in student learning. She celebrates all their successes and supports them through any challenges. For her, tutoring is not simply about understanding concepts but about building foundational skills that can be utilized in all phases of learning. She excels at helping students develop effective strategies for approaching new concepts by adapting to their learning styles and preferences. She always gives 100% effort while providing holistic support, guiding study skills, time management techniques, and exam preparation strategies.
Outside of tutoring, Miriam enjoys running, weightlifting, reading, and doing Lagree. She has also been interested in language learning in the past, having studied German throughout middle and high school, earning a German language diploma. She even had the opportunity to attend college in Germany!
Claudia holds a Bachelor’s from UCLA and a Master’s from Georgetown University. She has been a professional SAT/ACT tutor for almost 10 years. Students she has tutored have gone on to attend several top-tier universities, including UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Georgetown, Princeton, Columbia, and Yale.
Professionally, Claudia is a Clinical Research Consultant for the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In this role, she embarks on various projects with her team so that up-and-coming medications and scientific devices can enter the market. Despite having a fulfilling career in research, Claudia dedicates time to education because she wants to nurture academic interests in young students.
In college, Claudia discovered her love for traveling. She studied abroad in England for two months and then backpacked through various European countries for a month. She also volunteered in Guatemala to provide medical care for the local community, where she discovered that she would like to pursue healthcare as a career.
As a tutor, Claudia is personable and friendly. She prioritizes establishing a relationship with her students and believes a good relationship between the tutor, student, and parent/guardian is necessary for trust and effective communication. She understands that each individual is unique, so she adjusts her teaching methods to accommodate each student.
Outside of her academic and professional pursuits, Claudia spends most of her time exploring the outdoors, discovering great restaurants, practicing yoga, playing the piano/guitar/saxophone, reading fiction novels, or watching anime. She is always looking for new anime to watch, so if you have recommendations, let her know!
Abhiram has a Bachelor of Arts in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics from Lafayette College. His exceptional academic record and research contributions were recognized with the Excel Scholar award at Lafayette. He also completed his master's at the University of Colorado at Boulder and his postgraduate education at Columbia University. With over 5 years of tutoring experience and a background as a TA, Abhiram is driven by his passion for teaching and aspires to become a professor in the future.
Abhiram finds tutoring to be a fulfilling pursuit, as it enables him to play a role in shaping the future generation of thinkers and leaders. He specializes in ACT and SAT prep and physics, mathematics, statistics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, chemistry, and computer science at all levels, including AP and IB.
Abhiram is known for his patience, thoroughness, and hard work. He is diligent in his tutoring, providing extra support and assistance with any questions students may struggle with. Abhiram is also recognized for his approachable and easy-going demeanor, as he infuses humor into his sessions and offers words of affirmation to build students' confidence.
Abhiram excels at sparking students' curiosity to actively engage them in their learning process. He frequently incorporates real-world examples to illustrate how seemingly simple concepts are applied at the forefront of deep tech and cutting-edge research.
Outside of tutoring, Abhiram enjoys playing music and pushing his boundaries—he has even won a spicy food eating competition three times!
While the HSPT is similar to the SSAT and ISSE, its structure is different; students have 2 hours and 30 minutes to finish five exam sections:
Some Catholic schools may also include an additional writing test, as well as three other sections:
Your tutor will understand the test format of the Catholic school you’re applying to.
While we help students learn and retain knowledge to expertly navigate HSPT content, we also focus on helping them develop test-taking strategies they can use in high school, college, and beyond.
We welcome parent involvement and always strive to keep students, families, and tutors in the loop with our detailed progress tracker. The tracker allows families to check student progress as they work through their HSPT tutoring program.
Our matching process ensures students are paired with their best-fit HSPT tutor based on student/family preferences, goals, and needs.
The HSPT is made up of five timed sections: 60 Verbal Skills questions (16 minutes), 52 Quantitative Skills questions (30 minutes), 62 Reading questions (25 minutes), 64 Mathematics questions (45 minutes), and 40 Language Skills questions (25 minutes).
You can learn more about the HSPT by visiting the HSPT website here.
The HSPT tests students in Reading, Math, Quantitative Reasoning, and Language. Your percentile rank compares you to all other HSPT test-takers – for example, if you’re in the 75th percentile, you scored higher than 75% of test-takers. You will see a local and national percentile ranking. Stanines are reported on a scale of 1 to 9, and these scores also compare student performance to other students in a simplified way.
The HSPT is directly offered by schools – there is no national administration. Test dates can be scheduled from October to January.
The best plan for your child depends on what you’re looking for from our programs. If you’re unsure which program works best for your child, our expert team is ready to guide you – set up a call with us today to learn more!