Trumbull Grad Lends SAT Expertise this Summer

Recent alumna Katy Donahue is giving back to her hometown this summer, helping Trumbull students achieve the SAT score of their dreams.

Donahue, a rising sophomore at Georgetown University, returned this June to manage the Trumbull branch of Revolution Prep’s Ivy Insiders SAT prep program.

“No matter whether people decide to do private tutoring, use prep books, or anything else, I think it is important for people to prepare for the SAT,” Donahue said. “I’d like Trumbull to take a more proactive approach to the SATs.”

Ivy Insiders recruits current undergraduates from the country’s top colleges precisely because these students have recently beaten the test themselves.

Donahue, like most Ivy Insiders summer instructors, scored in the 99^th percentile on the SAT.

Graduating in the top two percent of THS class of 2010, Donahue was a member of the Bicentennial team, tutored fellow students, and helped to found the school’s peer mediator program.

As a senior, she served as president of the Student Council and captained the field hockey team.

When Donahue was a junior preparing to take her SATs, she worked mostly on her own, using a Princeton Review book her mother bought for her.

But Donahue said it was not until she got to college that she became aware of the existence of an intense SAT prep culture.  At Georgetown, everyone she asked, regardless of their home state, said they had either taken a course or had been privately tutored.

SAT courses have become the norm in the world of U.S. college admissions, and, according to Donahue, Trumbull would benefit from having more of these courses available, as they are fast coming to be seen as essential in the admissions process.

This last school year, Trumbull High's Guidance Department subscribed to the Naviance service, which, among other college prep materials, offers free SAT practice exams online.

For the last several years, the has offered free Kaplan SAT tutoring sessions. There are also private tutors and commercial prep services throughout the area.

However, Donahue said, statistically, the SAT “hasn’t been shown to be the best predictor of freshman success.” Ivy Insiders sees college admissions offices as placing too much weight on SAT scores.

Donahue said that standardized tests like the SAT can seem like a more reliable criterion to admissions boards than even the GPA because “getting a 4.0 GPA at a random public school in Idaho is different from getting a 4.0 at Choate.”

Donahue said that according to Ivy Insiders, “any test that can be taught is a bad test,” and, she said, the SAT qualifies in that regard as it is very teachable. “As a company, we shouldn’t have to exist, but the reality is we do,” Donahue said.

Rather than simply rote memorization, Ivy Insiders’ teaching philosophy goes beyond teaching to the test; it involves demonstrating fundamental strategies that help students learn how to study better and harder.

Donahue said Ivy Insiders students learn “how to attack math problems and to read and understand what [they] read,” skills that will be applicable not only for the SATs, but throughout their lives.

According to the Ivy Insiders website, students, on average, improve their scores by more than 250 points.

The hiring standards at Ivy Insiders are rigorous. Besides exceptional high school and college transcripts, the program requires an SAT score in the 95^th percentile or higher (2040 and up), with most instructors scoring in the 99^th percentile (2200 and up).

The class’s basic curriculum structure consists of a three-week- long session with two three-hour classes each week and five four-hour practice tests. The courses have an average of five students in each class, with a limit of 15 students.

While Donahue admits there is an unfair advantage for those who can pay for prep courses, Ivy Insiders offers quality SAT prep programs at prices lower than their competitors at Princeton Review and Kaplan, which, she said, allows the company to make these programs more widely available to people of all income levels.

The first session is already underway, but it is still possible to sign up for the July session. A diagnostic test for the July class will be held on the 15^th, and classes begin on the 19^th.

Donahue will also offer private tutoring sessions throughout the summer. Discounts and financial aid are available.

For more information, visit revolutionprep.com or send an e-mail to katy_donahue@ivyinsiders.com.