TUTORING FOR NOW, SKILLS FOR LIFE
FIND YOUR BREAKTHROUGH
Over the past ten years, we have worked with hundreds of students in New York City and online across the country. We lead students to approach every endeavor with creative problem-solving skills and bedrock confidence, showing them how to exceed their expected potential.
OUR TUTORS
Our tutors hold Ph.D.s in a range of fields and have all scored a 36 on the ACT and a 1600 on the Digital SAT. All of us have extensive experience teaching in top-tier universities and high schools. But that is only part of our story.
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We speak like coaches: plainly, with humor and creativity. Our students are complex people with goals and dreams, even unrealized ones, and we love to uncover what drives them. Our “coach approach” provides students with fresh outlooks and mental rituals to overcome anxiety, disinterest, or procrastination.
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Each of us is a people person. The unparalleled blend of expertise, rigor, passion, personality, and good humor distinguishes our service.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Experts worldwide doubted the planners of the Brooklyn Bridge, asserting that the massive project was impossible— but Brooklyn engineers prevailed against the odds. The bridge became an international symbol for innovative approaches to "impossible" challenges. This story of resolve and ingenuity defines our sense of purpose.
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I’m Chad, and I founded Brooklyn Academics on the principle that learning is a deeply personal endeavor for each student. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bates College where I studied both English and Math, and I hold a Ph.D. in English Literature from the CUNY Graduate Center, a top program in the field.
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In over a decade of tutoring, I have learned how to imbue confidence and acumen in students by treating them as fully dimensional, complex, aspirational people while also holding them to rigorous standards and benchmarked goals. I have honed an approach to tutoring that achieves exceptional results by creating individualized study plans according to a student’s specific learning styles. From start to finish, my meticulous approach takes into account what drives students, what makes them happy, what makes them laugh, and how those core parts of a student’s sense of self can be enlivened to enrich the learning process in ways that lead to unforeseen results.
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The connections I forge with my students are also key to ensuring each learner’s accountability to our collaborative efforts. That accountability involves fostering their genuine interest in their own growth and building a well-balanced confidence in their capacity to set and achieve concrete goals.
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Whether a student is preparing for the ACT, studying for a trigonometry test, or penning a personal statement essay for college applications, these projects are learning experiences that I always view as opportunities for students to flourish academically and personally.
SAT ACT
Standardized tests do not measure intelligence. They merely test your test-taking skills. Because so much college coursework involves lengthy tests, the ACT and SAT will continue to be primary forms of assessment that determine university admissions. Universities have begun reinstating the ACT/SAT requirement. Even for the remaining “test-optional” schools, a strong score can massively increase the chance of acceptance.
Standardized tests can seem daunting or even arbitrary at times, but test-taking fosters broader learning and life skills. Students exceed their expected potential on standardized tests when they feel committed to the broader project of self-growth and skill-development.
First we help students decide whether the SAT or ACT is the ideal test for them to take. Each test weighs the same for college applications, so the question rests on which test will allow each individual student to shine, and which diagnostic test yields a higher score.
GPA Boost
Out of the entire college application, GPA matters most. Students seeking to improve their GPA may face a variety of challenges. GPA Boost may involve:
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targeting a specific course (such as Algebra II) or skill (such as essay writing); it may also involve
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executive function coaching that will strengthen study habits, task-completion skills, organization, and academic mentality.
Every student’s life circumstances differ. We assess each unique situation and customize the plan of action.
Coursework
Sometimes classroom learning environments do not meet students where they are. Our subject tutoring programs allow students to gain expert instruction in an area of difficulty so that they may improve their GPA and comprehend course material with the ultimate goals of self-reliance and enriched confidence.
Executive Functioning
This coaching program focuses on day-to-day task success, self-organization skills, goal-determination, and the strengthening of a student's academic mentality. Often combined with subject tutoring, executive functioning coaching can be key to developing college readiness,strong college applications, and preparation for life as an independent adult.
Admissions Essays
College admissions essays have one target: entry into a desired program. It's paramount to keep an eye on that prize; however, the challenges that arise in the drafting process often involve a student's broader needs as a developing writer.
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Our essay coaching curriculum trains students to hone their craft in all of the critical phases of the writing process:
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How to tell a compelling story
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Brainstorming an ideal topic
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Developing a voice of self-reflection
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Creating a logical flow of paragraphs
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Polishing the final draft
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Each year, we coach numerous students on writing undergraduate Common App essays, graduate school personal statements, summer program applications, and more. Most of our students have gained entry into their number one choice college, including Yale, Columbia, and University of Chicago.
Online In-Person
We offer both options whenever possible. While a digital interface is less than desirable for group classroom settings, tutoring via Zoom is a completely different story. Students receive the stimulation of a one-on-one tutor who asks constant questions and gives direct-action prompts. Zoom comes with other incredible advantages outlined below.
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At the same time, we recognize that some students may simply prefer in-person sessions. We currently offer in-person tutoring sessions in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.
Face-to-Face Engagement
When we meet students in person, we’re often sitting side-by-side at a crowded desk in the student’s room or a dining room table with household distractions coming and going. Zoom enables students to meet us in a quiet space that doesn’t need to accommodate two people (and all their books). Zoom also ensures strong face-to-face engagement without the awkward side-by-side angle. With our methods for keeping students engaged face-to-face, many find it much easier to focus on Zoom.
Time Efficiency
When we meet students in person, we lose time getting settled and organized at the student’s desk. We lose time greeting pets excited to see us (although we do love them!). Those 5-15 mins matter. With Zoom, everybody is ready, organized, and sitting in place by the session time.
Access to Experts
Since Zoom allows us to meet students located outside of New York City, where we are based, anyone anywhere has access to the highest quality tutors that may not be available in their vicinity.
Cost-Effectiveness
Our rates for in-person meetings are 50% higher than Zoom-based sessions.
Interactive Features
Whiteboard and Share features enable smoother interactivity between the tutor and student, where both can annotate math problems or type in the same Google Doc for college essay coaching.
Digital Familiarization
The GRE and the SAT are fully digital. ACT has a digital option. With the inevitable boom in digital testing, Zoom sessions enable students to gain comfort in these formats, which is essential for test day.
No Travel
When students travel to a tutor’s office or tutors travel to a student’s home, valuable time and energy are lost. Moreover, without the hassle of subway delays or traffic, everyone is on time. We can also maximize consistency by meeting students while they’re on vacation or traveling for other purposes.
Health
Students and tutors can meet even if someone has a cold, eliminating the risk of spreading pesky sicknesses that impede progress for all.
ISEE SSAT SHSAT
Standardized tests do not measure intelligence. They merely test a student’s test-taking skills.
We start with that axiom because it illuminates the sheer openness of possibility for students if they apply themselves to the art of test-taking. ISEE, SSAT, and SHSAT are the primary forms of assessment for admissions into private schools as New York City's Specialized Public High Schools.
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Standardized tests can seem daunting or even arbitrary at times, but test-taking is an academic skill that fosters broader learning and life skills. Approaching tests in this way also yields the best results. Students exceed their expected potential on standardized tests when they feel committed to the broader project of self-growth and skill-development.
First we help students decide which is the ideal test for them to take. Each test weighs the same for high school applications, so the question rests on which test will allow the student to shine, and which diagnostic test yields a higher score.
Master Math
High school math is the most common area where students need assistance. The sheer abstraction of math can lead to confusion and demoralization. Whether pandemic-era learning has deteriorated a student’s foundational skills or a new teacher is clashing with a student’s learning style, our Master Math curriculum corrects the course. We offer customized programs in every math topic.
Customized Plans
After an initial assessment, we customize each curriculum to suit the student’s personal needs and integrate our plan with the student’s current math course. If a student needs enrichment of math foundations that precede a particular course, we build their curriculum from the ground up.
Expert Explainers
Most math teachers stick to technical terminology and mechanical explanations of concepts. While knowing the right term is vital, we pride ourselves on our powers of description. Brooklyn Academics tutors love to innovate ways of grounding difficult math concepts in relation to the specific imagination and learning style of the student. Our creativity enables deep concept knowledge.
Master Writing
Exceptional writing skills matter more than ever to coursework, applications, and career competence. Writing well also teaches people how to engage and analyze the worlds around them; it nourishes a person’s interpretation abilities and communication tools for life. A vibrant writing brain enhances success in almost any endeavor.
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We work with students of all ages and writers of any level. This program is ideal for students who maybe struggling to craft A-grade essays or feel their regular school curriculum isn’t sufficient to advance their skills to a college-ready level.
We also tailor this program for undergraduates and graduate students grappling with the demands of writing-intensive course loads. As professional writers and expert teachers of our craft, we help students master writing through one-on-one, interactive, customized lessons.
