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Free first hour (SAT and ACT)
Draft, sample content

The SAT asks the same forty things.
Your student is missing six of them.

The digital SAT asks a few dozen question types in a thousand costumes, then adapts to how you answer. The free first hour finds which types are yours. The program spends every week on exactly those.

Book a free first hourGiant SAT DrillsFree

First hour free, then $180 an hour. Full 14-week program $4,032. Giant SAT Drills included.

Taught by Rick, founder, 99th percentile. One tutor in every session.

Where our students have goneSample
PrincetonMITHarvardStanfordYaleCaltechDukeJohns HopkinsNorthwesternPennCornellUChicagoBrownColumbiaDartmouthUCLAUC BerkeleyRiceNotre DameVanderbilt
Still life for the SAT program.

What the SAT rewards.

To recordRick at a whiteboard working one hard-module algebra question (nonlinear functions), showing the read-the-question-first habit. 60 to 90 seconds. End to camera: "this is the move."

Precision over volume

Reading and Writing asks 54 questions from roughly a dozen templates. Transitions, rhetorical synthesis, boundaries and words in context are the same move every time. Learn the move, not the passage.

The hard module

Your first-module performance decides whether you see the hard second module. Top scores live there, so the plan is built around what the hard module actually asks: advanced algebra, nonlinear functions, and reading math out of word problems.

Pace as a skill

Roughly 71 seconds per Reading and Writing question, 95 for Math. Top scorers don't read faster. They decide faster, because they recognize the question type before they finish reading it.

The SAT, section by section.

SectionQuestions and timeWhat it testsWhere points leak
Reading and Writing54 q, 64 min
2 modules of 32 min		Craft and structure, information and ideas, Standard English conventions, expression of ideasTransitions, rhetorical synthesis, punctuation boundaries, over-reading the passage
Math44 q, 70 min
2 modules of 35 min		Algebra, advanced math, problem solving and data analysis, geometry and trigNonlinear functions, systems, percent and ratio word problems, careless errors under time

Format from collegeboard.org. Pink marks where students most often lose points.

Where SAT points go.

Your diagnostic shows which of these are yours. Usually two.

  1. 1

    Treating it like a reading test

    Reading and Writing is a question-type test. Students who read the whole passage first lose a minute per question and still miss the transitions.

  2. 2

    Not knowing the hard module exists

    The adaptive second module is where 1500+ is decided. If you've never practiced the hard version under time, test day is the first time you'll see it.

  3. 3

    Grammar by ear

    Boundaries and punctuation questions have rules, about eight of them. "It sounds right" is a coin flip on exactly the questions designed to sound right.

  4. 4

    Careless math

    Most students miss more Math questions they knew how to do than ones they didn't. Accuracy is a trainable skill with a checklist, not a personality trait.

What a SAT program looks like.

Week 0 to 1

First hour and diagnostic

The free first hour, then a full-length digital test under proctored conditions, read question by question. You get the pattern report: four or five leaking question types and why.

Weeks 2 to 6

Close the gaps

Two private sessions a week on your specific leaks. Grammar rules as a checklist, question types as templates, hard-module math from the ground up. The app serves the same types between sessions.

Weeks 7 to 11

Speed and the hard module

Weekly proctored tests with hard-module exposure. Pacing drilled to 70 seconds a question. Every test reviewed line by line on Monday.

Weeks 12 to 14

Rehearsal and protocol

Two full dress rehearsals, a written test-week protocol, and the first-90-seconds routine for each module.

Who teaches it.

Rick [Last name], founder. I scored in the 99th percentile on the tests I teach, and I am the person in every session. There is no roster and no "whoever is free." The tutor who reads your diagnostic is the tutor at the whiteboard in week fourteen.

SAT score[Rick: official score, year]
FormatOnline with a shared whiteboard, or in person in Austin

More about Rick

What SAT tutoring costs.

One rate. Commit to ten sessions and it drops 10%. Commit to the full program and it drops 20%.

SATFirst hour free
The full 14-week program28 sessions, two a week$4,032$144 an hour, you save $1,008
Ten sessionsprepaid$1,620$162 an hour
One sessionno commitment$180an hour
Group sessionssmall online groups with Rick, waitlist. First session Monday, February 1, 2027, 8 PM Central.$45an hourJoin the group waitlist
  • One tutor, 99th percentile on the SAT, in every session
  • The pattern report: your leaks, your target in writing, your week-by-week plan
  • Two private sessions a week
  • A proctored full-length test every week, reviewed question by question
  • Giant SAT Drills between sessions, with your tutor seeing what you did
  • A written test-week protocol and a score-day debrief call
  • The written promise, at right
Book a free first hourNo card. Bring the most recent score report.

Between sessions, Giant SAT Drills does the drilling.

Giant SAT Drills is free for every student. A three-stage diagnostic finds the skills beating you, every session serves more of what you miss, and every question that beat you comes back until it doesn't. In a program, your tutor sees exactly what you did between sessions, and you can flag any question or ask Rick about it from inside the app.

Open Giant SAT Drills

One SAT student, start to finish.

Sample case
SAT score reportJunior, Westlake
Diagnostic1190
Official, after 12 weeks1510
Scale400 to 1600
1190 → 151012 wks

Maya, SAT

The pattern. Strong student, mediocre score. Sixty percent of her misses came from four question types: transitions, rhetorical synthesis, and two advanced-algebra patterns that only appear in the hard Math module.

The fix. Two weeks closing those four gaps, then weekly proctored tests so the adaptive hard module felt normal. Reading pace rebuilt around the question, not the passage.

“I stopped reading passages and started reading questions. That was the whole trick.”

SAT students, in their words.Sample quotes

The first hour was the moment it clicked for her. He read her October score report and said, "It's the same six things every time." It was.

Catherine M.Parent, Westlake

I'd done Khan Academy for months and stalled. Almost all my misses were transitions and the hard-module algebra. We fixed those and nothing else.

Jordan P.Student, class of 2027
Sample text
Catherine M.Mom, Westlake
Today 9:42 AM
SCORES ARE OUT
1530!!!!! She's crying. I'm crying.
She earned every point of that.
Her brother is next 😅
Score-day texts, shared with permission. A real screenshot replaces this.

SAT questions.

What happens in the free first hour?

Rick reads the student's most recent score report or practice test with them, live, or runs a short diagnostic set. By the end you know the four or five question types costing the most points and what a realistic target is. No card, no obligation.

Is the digital SAT easier than the old one?

Shorter and, for most students, friendlier: fewer questions, a calculator throughout, shorter passages. But the adaptive module makes the top of the scale harder to reach by accident. A 1500+ now requires a near-clean first module.

SAT or ACT?

If you're undecided, we'll run a short diagnostic of each in the first hour. Strong readers who hate time pressure lean SAT; fast, steady students who prefer straightforward questions lean ACT. Colleges don't prefer one.

When should we start?

For a spring junior-year test, start in November or December. For an August or October senior-year test, start in May. Most programs run 12 to 14 weeks. If your date is closer than that, book the first hour and Rick will tell you what's realistic.

Do you use real College Board tests?

Yes. Practice tests are official Bluebook tests and College Board-released material, taken under proctored conditions on the real cadence.

Online or in person?

Both. Online on a shared whiteboard, or in person in Austin at [Rick: location]. Sessions run [Rick: days and hours].

Do you run group sessions?

Starting soon. Small online groups with Rick at $45 an hour, built around the same pattern report and weekly proctored test. The first group session is Monday, February 1, 2027, at 8 PM Central. It's waitlist only until then; pick the group option in the form below.

Book the free first SAT hour.

One hour with Rick, no card, no obligation. Bring the most recent score report or practice test. You leave knowing the question types costing the most points and what a realistic target is.

To recordRick to camera: when he replies, how the first hour or the diagnostic runs, what to bring. Same desk and light as the other videos.
Free first hour, SAT
Format
Test date

Rick replies by text or email within one business day. No mailing list.

SAT guides.

All 10 guides
Score plateauHow to go from 1400 to 1500 on the digital SAT: the six-mistake budget12 min readTutor vs class vs appIs a private SAT tutor worth it? A cost-per-point answer11 min readAustin pricingSAT tutoring in Austin: what families pay and what to ask10 min read
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