Caddell Prep offers 1-on-1 SAT tutoring online and in person at our Staten Island office, in packages of 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours. Packages run from $1,380 to $4,800, and every package can be paid in three installments. This page covers how many hours a given score improvement normally takes, what each package costs, and when tutoring is a better fit than a class.
Table of Contents
How Many Hours of Tutoring Do You Need?
This is the question most parents are actually asking, so here is the answer first.
Based on the students we’ve worked with and the scores they received, a 70 to 130 point improvement normally takes approximately 40 hours of studying. A 130 to 250 point improvement normally takes approximately 80 hours.
Keep in mind what those hours include. They cover everything a student does: tutoring sessions, homework between sessions, and practice tests. The hours in a tutoring package are instruction hours only. A student who buys 24 hours of tutoring is signing up for approximately 40 hours of total work.
| Package | Instruction Hours | Approximate Total Study | Typical Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Hours | 12 | 20 hours | 40 to 70 points |
| 24 Hours | 24 | 40 hours | 70 to 130 points |
| 36 Hours | 36 | 60 hours | 100 to 190 points |
| 48 Hours | 48 | 80 hours | 130 to 250 points |
These are estimates from our own students, not guarantees. Two students who buy the same package don’t get the same result.
The biggest variable is how much work a student does on his own. A student who completes every assignment between sessions needs fewer instruction hours than a student who doesn’t. A student who is starting at a 900 has more room to gain than a student starting at a 1400, and the last 100 points are always harder than the first 100.
SAT Tutoring Packages and Pricing
All four packages include the same materials and the same tutors. The only difference is the number of hours.
| Package | Price | Save | Hourly Rate | Installments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT Tutoring (12 Hr) | $60 | $115 | 3 installments of $460 | |
| SAT Tutoring (24 Hr) | $240 | $110 | 3 installments of $880 | |
| SAT Tutoring (36 Hr) | $540 | $105 | 3 installments of $1,260 | |
| SAT Tutoring (48 Hr) | $960 | $100 | 3 installments of $1,600 |
The standard rate is $120 per hour. Every package is discounted from that rate, and the discount grows with the size of the package. The rate drops by $5 per hour at each step up, from $115 an hour at 12 hours to $100 an hour at 48.
Call (917) 722-0677 to get more information or to get started.
What Happens in an SAT Tutoring Session
Tutoring starts with a diagnostic test. That gives the student a score, so we know how far he is from his target, and an assessment showing which topics are costing him the most points. Sessions are planned around that list.
In a session, the tutor works through questions with the student rather than lecturing. If a student hits a wall on a question, the tutor helps him figure it out without giving away the answer. The goal is that the student understands the question well enough to answer a similar one on his own later.
Homework is assigned between sessions. Most of the improvement happens there, not in the session itself. The session is where a student learns how to approach a question type. The homework is where it becomes automatic.
Practice tests are given throughout the schedule. They serve two purposes. They show whether the score is moving, and they show whether the sessions are still covering the right topics. A student’s weakest topics change as he improves, and the plan changes with them.
When Tutoring Is the Right Choice
Tutoring is not the right fit for every student. Here are the five situations where it normally is.
- The student needs specific topics rather than full coverage. A student who is strong in most areas and losing points in a few gets more from targeted work than from a class covering everything.
- The schedule doesn’t allow for fixed class times. Classes meet on set days. Tutoring is scheduled around the student.
- The student learns better one-on-one. Some students follow along fine in a group and some don’t.
- The student won’t ask questions in a group. We see this often. Students will admit they’re unsure of a topic in tutoring when they would not say so in front of seven classmates. That matters, because a student who doesn’t ask doesn’t get help.
- The student needs accountability. A tutor who checks the homework every week is harder to put off than a study plan a student made for himself.
Should You Take a Class Instead?
Tutoring costs more per hour than a class. That’s the honest starting point, and for a lot of students the class is the better buy.
The short version: a class covers the whole test at a much lower cost per hour, so it wins unless a student would sit through a large share of it reviewing material he can already do. That depends on how many of the 32 topics are actually costing him points.
See SAT tutor or prep class, which works through the arithmetic and gives a rule for deciding.
How Do You Know Which Package Size You Need?
The table above gives a range for a given point gain. It doesn’t tell you how many points you need, and it doesn’t tell you which topics to spend the hours on.
Both of those are specific to the student, and both can be measured before anyone spends money.
Start With a Free Diagnostic SAT
A free diagnostic SAT gives a student two things. The first is an accurate score based on College Board scoring, which tells you the gap between where he is and where he wants to be. The second is an assessment showing which of the 32 topics are costing him the most points.
The gap tells you which package size fits. The topic list tells the tutor where to start. Without both, the first few sessions get spent finding out what should have been known before they began.
The diagnostic can be taken online or in person at our Staten Island office, and there’s no charge.
Online or In Person?
Both formats use the same packages at the same price, with the same tutors and the same materials. What differs is the commute and how a student works.
Online SAT tutoring has the wider scheduling window, because there is no travel on either end. A session can happen before school or after practice, which is normally what decides it for families with a full week.
SAT tutoring in Staten Island puts the tutor next to the student, working problems on paper. Some students focus better that way, and a session you cannot drive to can still be taken online with the same tutor at the same time.
Tutoring for SAT Math Only
Students can focus on math only if that’s the score they want to raise. When a student signs up for tutoring, the sessions can be used for any section, so SAT math tutoring is available at any time during the scheduled sessions.
Most students need both sections. Even a student who feels competent in both will normally find topics worth working on once the diagnostic comes back.
Tutoring for SAT Reading and Writing Only
If a student is satisfied with his math score from a previous SAT or a diagnostic test, he can focus on SAT reading and writing tutoring instead.
Keep in mind that a student should keep practicing the section he isn’t focusing on. Scores slip when a section is ignored for months.
What Is Tested on the SAT
Targeted tutoring only works if the topics are defined. We categorized every question on the released College Board practice tests into 32 specific topics, 17 in math and 15 in Reading & Writing, and measured how often each one appears.
See the full breakdown of the 17 Digital SAT math topics and the 15 Digital SAT Reading & Writing topics, including how often each is tested.