SAT Tutoring – 5 Tips to Choose the Best SAT Tutor For You

There are several ways to get ready for the SAT exam. One of the most popular ways is getting ready with SAT tutoring. However, there are several points to consider when choosing the best SAT tutor. A perfect SAT tutor for others might not be a good fit for you. In this post, we have gone through the 5 important tips when choosing the best SAT tutor for you.

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📌 Hint: Do not skip this article; you will find FREE SAT Prep resources throughout the article.

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Step 1 – Determine Your Current SAT Score Level

Before you start looking for SAT prep options, first, see where you stand. You can take an SAT practice test and see your current SAT scores. If you are already scoring high scores, or at least the scores you are aiming to get in your actual SAT exam, you may not need to work with an SAT tutor. Instead of spending time with SAT tutoring, you can consider practicing with more SAT practice tests and improving your test skills for the exam day.

👉 We offer a Free SAT Practice Test. You can consider enrolling in our full-length FREE SAT Practice Test and see where you stand!

If your current SAT scores are around 1300, and if the college you are dreaming of is accepting students with an SAT score of 1450, then you need to improve your scores by 150 points. Take a look at the colleges’ SAT score percentiles you are planning to apply to. You can look here for Colleges’ SAT Score Percentiles and Acceptance rates.

Step 2 – Consider Your Budget for SAT Tutor

There are several teachers, math lovers, college students, and others in the SAT tutoring business. Typically, SAT tutoring hourly rates range from $25 per hour up to $200 per hour. The average SAT exam preparation is 3 months.  Consider how many hours of SAT tutoring you will need to improve your SAT scores. If you are planning to study for 4 hours every week with an SAT tutor, this makes around 48 hours in total during an average SAT exam prep. Considering the hourly rates, SAT tutoring can cost you $1,200 to $9,600. Note that this is a range, and it can cost lower or higher depending on the number of SAT tutoring hours and the hourly rate of the SAT tutor.

Free Digital SAT Prep Course

SFBS offers a Free Digital SAT Prep Online Course. The course goes through particular skills and knowledge testing points and improves your problem-solving skills and test-taking strategies.

SAT tutoring is an effective preparation method if the SAT tutor is helping you one-on-one. In some cases, there are SAT prep classes or SAT tutoring groups where several students attend an online session. These group sessions are less effective, and you may need to spend time on the topics you already know, since the group needs to see those. However, in one-on-one sessions, you will have the opportunity to focus on your weaknesses, and this will improve your SAT scores.

Consider SAT Prep Online Courses

If you have budget constraints, you can consider enrolling in a Digital SAT Prep Online Course. There are live and self-paced SAT prep courses; self-paced courses are much affordable. By the way, the self-paced courses are preferred by most of the students as they follow the lectures at their own pace. Depending on the training provider and content, these programs range from $50 to $950.

San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive Digital SAT Prep Online Course taught by 99th-percentile SAT Instructors and exam experts. The program cracks down on each content domain, skills, and knowledge testing point through 1,000+ realistic Digital SAT Exam questions. You will see all the different types of questions that may appear in the Digital SAT.

Step 3 – Shortlist SAT Tutor Candidates

After determining your SAT score level and considering your SAT tutor budget, find SAT tutors available for you. There are several SAT tutors providing online lessons, or you can choose an SAT tutor near your location. After listing a few SAT tutor candidates, look for the following.

Do not hesitate to ask the SAT tutor about the previous students’ score improvement tracks. How many students did the SAT tutor work with? Can the tutor provide previous students’ exam reports, how they started, how they improved,  what kind of materials the tutor provides, etc? If possible, even talk with the previous students and ask how the tutor was during the SAT tutoring sessions.

Step 4 – Take a Sample Lesson with the SAT Tutor

Instead of buying a package, consider buying a few lessons first. Maybe the SAT tutor is good, but his or her teaching style is not good for you. If you pay the package price, you may not be able to switch to another SAT tutor later. Some SAT tutors offer a demo 25-30-minute lesson. You can take a demo lesson and pick a topic for the SAT tutor to teach you. If the sample lesson goes good, you can consider booking other sessions with the SAT tutor.

Step 5 – Pick the Best SAT Tutor For You

After reviewing the past performance of the SAT tutor candidates and having a sample lesson, you can choose the best SAT tutor for you. Note that, SAT tutor will guide you through your SAT exam prep; however, the main actor and performer will be you. So, a good SAT score will mostly depend on your hard work. Read the following tips to get the most out of your SAT exam.

Prepare a SAT Study Plan

Pick the target SAT exam date, determine your current SAT exam score, and prepare a study plan until the SAT exam day. Take a SAT practice test and see your current level.

👉 Take our full-length FREE SAT Practice Test, see where you stand!

Determine Your Weak Spots

If your scores are typically high in the SAT Math Practice Test in the Algebra content domain, and lower in the SAT Geometry and Trigonometry content domain, studying and making more practice tests in the Algebra content domain will not improve your SAT Math scores. Getting better in your weak areas will make a difference in your SAT score. Let’s examine this through the journeys of two SAT exam prep students.

Journeys of Two SAT Exam Prep Students

Consider two friends, Jen and Noah, who are good at Algebra. They each score around 12 out of ~14 Algebra questions on a full-length SAT Math Practice test of 44 questions. Both of their Advanced Math content domain are weak, and they score around 6 out of ~14 questions. During their Digital SAT Math Prep journey, they choose different paths.

Like the majority of the SAT exam prep students do, Jen focuses on the content domains she knows better, and feels better as she scores higher on these content domains. So, she studies and practices more Algebra.

On the other hand, Noah goes through his weak areas, studies more Advanced Math topics, and practices more on this topic.

On their actual SAT exam, Jen improved her Algebra scores and answered all Algebra questions correctly. So, she improved her scores by 2 more questions correctly. Noah improved his SAT Advanced Math scores while his level for Algebra remained the same. He improved his Advanced Math scores by 5 more questions correctly.

In total number of correct questions for Algebra and Advanced Math, Both Jen and Noah started with 18. Jen improved to 20, and Noah improved to 23. Most probably, Noah’s SAT Math Score will be higher than Jen’s.

List your weak content domains and skill and knowledge testing points. Do as much practice as possible to improve your results in your weak areas. Improvement in your weaker areas will bring you the highest score improvements. You can use our Digital SAT Score Calculator to calculate your scores in SAT practice tests and quizzes.

Guide the SAT Tutor on Your Weak Areas

Inform your SAT tutor regarding your weak areas, and ask the tutor to provide guidance on those areas. For instance, if you have issues with the SAT grammar, you can ask the SAT tutor to focus on this domain rather than other SAT reading and writing domains. Similarly, if you have issues with SAT Geometry and Trigonometry, you can ask the SAT tutor to focus on this domain more.

Take Notes During Your SAT Exam Prep

There are several SAT Math Prep cheat sheets, formulas, or guides. However, none of them will be as good as you will prepare for yourself.

When studying for the SAT, take notes on important points. Go through your notes every week or at least a month. Going through your notes will keep your memory fresh on those topics. Some students take notes in their notebooks, and some write on sticky notes and paste them on the walls in their rooms. Choose your own way, and you will know the best one for you.

🗎 Download the 15-page Digital SAT Math Formula Sheet.

🗎 Download the SAT Vocabulary Words.

Practice with As Many SAT Questions As Possible

The biggest tip we can give you for a higher SAT score is to do as much practice as you can. Actually, this is not a tip only for the SAT exam, for any kind of exam, practicing with as many practice questions as possible is the key to success.

👉 Take our full-length FREE SAT Practice Test, see where you stand!

Most of the SAT exam prep students look for Free SAT Practice tests on the web. However, most of these exams might be outdated, giving wrong answers or rationales. Moreover, the difficulty and the skills, and knowledge point distribution of the questions may not resemble the actual SAT exam. Free SAT exam prep materials not only lack the comprehensive SAT exam prep content but also guide you inappropriately during your SAT exam study. Therefore, be careful if you will use free SAT exam prep materials during your SAT exam study.

You can consider enrolling in our 10 Full-Length SAT Practice Tests. There are 10 Full-Length SAT Practice Tests, 2 Reading and Writing, and 2 Math Modules in each, just like the real SAT. Each test is a true-to-format structure of the actual Digital SAT, created by expert test writers who understand the structure, timing, and question styles you’ll face on exam day. From the moment you begin, you’ll feel like you’re taking the real test—so when the big day comes, nothing feels new or overwhelming.

After each SAT Practice Test, you’ll receive a detailed score report showing your strengths and the areas that need more attention. Every question includes a step-by-step explanation, so you don’t just see the right answer—you learn why it’s right. This transforms your mistakes into powerful lessons that push your score higher with every attempt. The more you practice, the more confident, accurate, and fast you’ll become. Whether you’re aiming for your dream college or pushing for a top percentile score, these 10 practice tests will be your most powerful prep tool.