NYC-Based Ivy Tutors Network Acquires Atlanta-Based Alexander Academy to Offer Expanded Online SAT/ACT Programming & Local Atlanta In-Person Tutoring

, a leading New York City-based tutoring and test preparation company, has acquired Alexander Academy, an Atlanta-based test preparation provider specializing in the SAT and ACT exams. With this acquisition, Ivy Tutors Network will adopt Alexander Academy’s high quality test preparation materials, provide in-person tutoring to Atlanta residents and schools, and double its roster of expert and caring tutors.

“Ivy Tutors Network’s mission is to empower K-12 students to succeed through personalized education and mentorship – because the right team makes all the difference.”

Ivy Tutors Network has been operating in New York City for more than 20 years and is well-known as an industry leader in tutoring and test preparation, emphasizing a personalized approach for each individual student. With undeniable results leading to higher test scores, increased confidence, and “dream school” admissions, IVY has garnered a loyal following of families, students, and educators alike.

Over the past 5 years, IVY has broadened the scope of its mission by providing high-impact tutoring to under-served communities in the NYC area through its work in public and charter schools. This year, IVY worked extensively with schools to shore up basic math skills. Students all over the city are struggling to keep up due to inequality and setbacks within the education system – of the 870,000 New York City public school students in grades 3 through 8 who took a math statewide test last year, only 38% were at grade level. IVY’s team of 90+ tutors are in a unique position to help by providing these students with the attention and high-quality instruction they need and deserve.

IVY’s tutors fall within the venn diagram of ambitious achievers and engaging educators, able to connect with students both as teachers and mentors/role models. Take 

, who scored a 1580 on the SAT and got 5s on 16 AP exams: they teach about 8 hours per week with IVY, both with private school students trying to ace their SAT and at a public high school in the Bronx, where 97% of 9th graders failed a standardized math test last year. “I feel extremely grateful that our team of tutors chooses Ivy Tutors Network,” says IVY’s founder, “I am so proud of the incredible results they deliver every day.”

The recent acquisition will allow Ivy Tutors Network to expand their well-established business model to the Atlanta area and beyond. By adopting Alexander Academy digital assets – their 

 and SAT/ACT materials – IVY hopes to grow its impact exponentially in the wake of many standardized exams moving online (most notably, the SAT in 2024). There is also the opportunity to scale their mission-driven work in public schools through the use of innovative tech solutions, in addition to the high-dose tutoring that has proven so effective.

“We are very pleased to see our company in such good hands,” said Matthew Schuck, founder of Alexander Academy. “It’s been a pleasure to work with Lisa and her team at Ivy Tutors Network, and envision how our app and test-prep materials can impact a larger audience in the future. We are excited to see these tools continue to grow under IVY's stewardship, serving more and more students."

“This acquisition further strengthens IVY’s presence by expanding our footprint and adding a new pipeline of work” said Speransky. “Ivy Tutors Network’s mission is to empower K-12 students to succeed through personalized education and mentorship – because the right team makes all the difference. It is with great excitement that we enter into this next phase of our business.”

Founded in 2003 by Lisa Speransky, Ivy Tutors Network has empowered students to succeed through personalized education and mentorship for over two decades. Speransky started the company while still a student at Columbia University. She ran the company as a 2nd job for 13 years after joining corporate America, where she worked in innovation-driven consumer products, including stints as the CEO of divisions at two baby product brands, BabyBjorn and BÉABA. In 2019, Speransky returned as full time CEO of Ivy Tutors Network, passionate about improving education outcomes for children in the United States. IVY is known for the quality of educators in their network and offerings that include private tutoring, data-driven test prep, small group classes, and school partnership programs. IVY is a certified woman-owned, disability:IN business, an immigrant-owned company, and a vendor to the Department of Education. IVY is proud to work with thousands of clients each year, from private clients to students in underserved districts, helping to expand much-needed access to high quality educational services to all children. For more information, visit 

Ivy Tutors Network Acquires Atlanta-Based Alexander Academy

, ACT Math consists of only one section, and you’re allowed to use your calculator for any math question. That being said, when you get your score report back, you’ll notice that your math score is broken down into nine subscores. These subscores correspond to the content and skill areas covered on the test. The main content areas are:

 This topic constitutes 7-10% of the ACT Math section. It covers the building blocks of algebra, before the incorporation of variables: real and complex numbers, vectors, matrices, exponents, roots, and so on.

 This topic requires students to solve, graph, model, and interpret a variety of equations, inequalities, and systems of equations. The kinds of relationships that students might encounter here include linear, quadratic, polynomial, and exponential expressions. This topic alone covers 12-15% of the ACT Math section, and is closely tied to other topics, such as functions.

  This topic tests students’ understanding of function notation, definition, interpretation, representation, transformation, and application. In addition to foundational algebraic relationships, students may also encounter piecewise, radical, logarithmic, and exponential functions, as well as those representing conic sections. It covers 12-15% of ACT Math content.

 The ACT includes questions on coordinate, planar, and solid geometry. These topics cover 12-15% of the Math section and draw on concepts such as congruence, similarity, area and volume, trigonometric ratios, conic sections, and finding missing values in triangles and other figures.

This topic, covering 8-12% of the ACT Math section, tests students’ ability to understand and analyze data and data collection methods. You should be able to understand and compute statistics of center and spread of distributions, to model relationships in data, and to calculate probabilities.

The skills area subscores on the ACT measure aspects of your performance that extend beyond and between content areas. 

 is essentially a score of how well you’ve learned all the content areas above, which cover mathematics that you’ve likely recently learned in school. 

 is a measure of your ability to combine and synthesize mathematical tools to tackle complex problems. Often, these questions require a student to solve problems that require longer chains of steps, to apply their knowledge to a new context, or to understand connections between areas of math. 

 reflects a student’s ability to understand, interpret, evaluate, and produce models: graphs, charts, and equations that reflect real-world relationships.

The timing on the ACT is often one of the primary factors that students use to differentiate it from the 

. In general, the ACT is a faster paced test than the SAT, and this is certainly true for the math section. On the ACT, you have 60 minutes to answer 60 questions, so you should be averaging no more than one minute per question. Since the questions vary in difficulty, you’ll need to be able to answer easier questions much more rapidly than that, to give yourself more time for the toughest questions.

The biggest obstacle for most students aiming to ace the ACT Math section is the time crunch. The content should primarily cover information that you’ve learned or are learning in school, and, unlike the SAT, you’re allowed a calculator. Conceptually, the questions on the ACT Math section tend to not be as challenging as the SAT no-calculator section, which often require a deeper understanding of the concepts at play. If you had unlimited time, the ACT Math section might not seem so hard. Its fast pace can lead to sloppy mistakes, anxiety, and unattempted problems. Purposeful preparation will help you master not only the content but also the pacing of this section.

Like the other sections on the ACT, the ACT Math section is scored out of 36. Your raw score – the number of correct answers out of 60 questions – is converted to a scaled score, which accounts for the difficulty of each particular test to make scores consistent and comparable. The translation from your raw to scaled score therefore varies from test to test. Broadly speaking, though, if you want to score in the 30s on the ACT Math section, you’ll likely need at least 50 correct answers out of 60.

As is the case for all standardized tests, a “good” score depends on your particular goals and strengths. The best way to start making a score goal is to determine what kinds of scores the colleges and universities you’re applying to tend to accept. It’s a good idea to aim somewhere above the average ACT score of first-year students at the schools you’re applying to. That being said, more competitive universities usually prefer to see composite scores in the 32-36 range, so it’s a good idea to aim near that range for all sections.

To perform well on the ACT Math, you’ll want to make sure you’re comfortable in all the content areas described previously. However, this alone isn’t enough. Standardized tests like the ACT are difficult not because they test difficult concepts, but because they test relatively simple concepts in unusual ways, integrate multiple simple concepts to create more complex scenarios, and add the pressure of a time crunch! Questions you see on the ACT probably won’t look exactly like the kinds of questions you’re used to seeing in school. It is crucially important to practice problems from official tests given in the past, since this is the best way to get used to the particular ACT question style.

 Top tips for the Math Section of the ACT

Take official practice tests: The best way to prepare for ACT-style questions is to practice ACT-style questions.

Study your mistakes: Make sure you understand 

 you got a particular question wrong, and look for trends in the kinds of questions you tend to get wrong.

Start studying early, frequently, and in short sessions: The most effective students start studying well in advance of the test, and don’t try to cram everything into a few long sessions.

Make a score goal, and track your progress towards it: Without having a particular goal in mind, it’s hard to know when you’re ready to take the test. Look into what kinds of scores the colleges you’re interested in will accept.

Practice for speed as well as accuracy: Take timed practice tests to make sure you are on pace to finish the entire section in the allotted time.

Identify and fill content gaps: Some of the topics covered might involve concepts you have forgotten or didn’t learn in school. Make sure you’ve covered all areas that might appear on the test.

Try a question twice before reading given solutions: The best way to learn is by doing.

If you can, aim to finish with extra time: Give yourself a buffer in case of particularly hard questions, and to double check your answers.

Make sure you know what you can bring, and what you can’t: For example, make sure that you have an accepted calculator model.

Memorize common formulas and facts: Unlike the SAT, the ACT doesn’t provide a formula sheet. Make sure you know what you need to answer the questions.

If you have to guess, guess strategically: Even if you can’t answer a question with certainty, try to eliminate answers to raise the probability that your guess will be correct.

Work with a tutor: at IVY, our experienced 

 can help you build a study plan, learn testing strategies, identify and fill content gaps, and empower you to reach your score goals!

ACT Math Tips

To some extent, a good PSAT score depends on your goals and reasons for taking the 

. Many students take the PSAT merely as practice and a benchmark in their journey studying for the 

. In this case, while it’s obviously great to get a high score, there’s no need to put pressure on yourself to reach a particular score. Still, it’s helpful to understand where your PSAT score places you relative to other students. A score of 1150 or higher typically means that you’re in the top 25% of test takers as a junior, which is a great place to be as you’re planning for the SAT. If you’re hoping to use your PSAT score to qualify for National Merit and other scholarships, though, you’ll want to aim even higher, as NMSC only recommends students in the 99th percentile as semifinalists.

What is a good PSAT score for a sophomore?

If you’re a sophomore, you’re not yet in the running for scholarships, so the PSAT is really just a practice run for taking the PSAT in your junior year and/or the SAT later on. For the most part, scoring in or above the 75th percentile means you’re in a great position to do well on later tests. In 2021, sophomores needed a score of at least 1060 to fall in this range.

The average PSAT score is around 1000 for juniors, and 920 for sophomores.

What is a good PSAT score for a freshman?

For freshmen, it’s a bit harder to say what your goal scores should be, since you’re two years from taking the test for scholarships and may not have encountered all the material covered in school yet. That being said, the 75th percentile for freshmen is around 1000, so if you get a score above that, you’re in a great position.

What PSAT score qualifies for national merit?

The qualifying score for National Merit will vary depending on what state you live in, and changes year to year. The top 3-4% of all test takers typically qualify as commended students, and the top 1% are recommended as semifinalists. So, you’ll likely need a score of at least 1460 to be considered as a semifinalist. Becoming a finalist will ultimately depend on your ACT or 

The PSAT overall score is a sum of its two main section scores for Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. Each section is scored on a scale of 160-760, making the overall score fall in the range of 320-1520. These scaled scores are converted from your raw scores, using a scaling system that accounts for variations in the difficulty of different versions of the test, so the same raw score might not always achieve the same ultimate score. If you’re taking a practice test, you’ll need to use a conversion chart to calculate your scaled score.

What do the percentiles on the PSAT score report mean?

Your PSAT score report will include percentiles that compare your performance to that of other students at your grade level. So, an 11th grader who scores in the 80% percentile performed as well as or better than 80% of a nationally representative group of 11th graders. Generally, scoring at or above the 75% percentile is considered to be good, as it means that you’re performing better than about ¾ of the students at your grade level.

Since the PSAT and SAT have different score ranges, it can be confusing for students to understand what their PSAT score means as they prepare for the SAT. Because both tests rely on a score scaling system that takes variations in particular tests into account, there’s no way to precisely map a particular PSAT score to a particular SAT test. That being said, there are some conversion charts online that can give you a rough translation. It’s also very useful to look at your percentile rank. For example, a score of 1150 tends to be around the 75th percentile rank on the PSAT, so it probably translates to an SAT score around 1200, which tends to be close to the 75th percentile on the SAT.

While you can compute a rough estimation of what SAT score is equivalent to your PSAT score, this doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to get that SAT score if you were to take the test right away. These conversions assume that you continue to learn and perform at a similar level relative to your peers. Since the SAT is typically taken by older students, and covers material that is a bit more advanced than the PSAT, it is somewhat harder to achieve those equivalency scores without extra preparation. In other words, these conversions are a good predictor of what you might score on the SAT, 

 you continue to study and prepare for it.

Students can typically get their PSAT scores about 6 weeks after the test is administered. For example, in 2022, the PSAT was administered on October 15 and students were able to access their scores by December 6. The exact date often varies by region.

On the day of the test, your answer sheet will have space for you to provide your email address. If you do so, you will receive a notification email when the scores are available. Whether or not you provided an email address, you can access your scores via your CollegeBoard account.

In short, you cannot get your PSAT score early. All PSAT scores are released within the same 2-3 day window.

If your PSAT score is pending, it means it has not yet been released. The scores are released in batches throughout the day, so don’t be alarmed if yours isn’t available first thing on the day you’re expecting it to come out.

To score well on the PSAT, you need to have a good command of the content, as well as being comfortable with the formatting and timing of the test. The best way to grow in both of these areas is to take official practice tests. There aren’t as many official tests or practice resources for the PSAT as there are for some other standardized tests, but SAT tests and study guides are another great source of study material.

When you’re studying for any standardized test, it’s important to have a good study plan and study habits to set yourself up for success. Study early, frequently, and in short sessions, rather than cramming at the last moment. Have a goal score in mind, and pay attention to what areas you need to improve in order to get there. Make sure you understand the questions you missed: why the answer you chose was wrong, how the right answer is deduced, and what tools could help you identify the right method in the future.

Especially if you want to be considered for National Merit and other scholarships, consider getting a tutor. At Ivy Tutors Network, our experienced PSAT tutors can help you review challenging content, identify areas of weakness, and get the most out of your study time!

PSAT Scores EXPLAINED

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