TESTIMONIALS

Hi Marlee, I hope this message finds you well. I came across this e-mail from you urging me to look into the CH department at Tufts as a high school senior. Fast forward four years and you'll find a CH and Spanish double major, accomplished thesis writer (I interviewed 20 hispanic backstretch workers-- 10 H-2B and 10 undocumented in Spanish and determined whether or not the H-2B guest worker program, in its current model, could serve as a large-scale national program for our nation's undocumented workers--soon to be published (fingers crossed), and departmental award winner. I decided not to delete this e-mail in my comprehensive inbox purge and instead reflected on the impact you have had on my academic and life trajectory. I've never been able to articulate how your guidance throughout my senior year not only helped improve my SAT scores, but more importantly forced me to look inward and really discover my own interests and passions and begin to formulate my "life plan". I am now at graduate school at tufts, pursuing an MPH. I am applying to medical school next fall. I work as a volunteer interpreter at the Parker Clinic in Red Bank and at a free clinic here in Boston. Honduraide is still up and running and I'm focusing on procuring funding for a new burn unit. This fall, I TA-ed Intro to community health. This is a long-overdue thank you but I hope you are doing well and enjoying getting to know another Johnson family member (only one more left after Alessandra…!). As an extension of our verbal sessions, I continue to barrage Alessandra with SAT vocab (she may not be the biggest fan BUT she did state that my continued use of "egregious" helped her decide between gregarious and egregious on the SAT). PS: At Tufts, I developed a relationship with the admissions counselor who read my application. I will forever be known in the admissions department as "nalgene girl." Best,

Sophomore year, I was grateful to accept Vanderbilt’s offer to play for their Women’s Lacrosse program. I knew that the offer came with high expectations, expectations I was determined to meet. But, after many stressful months of SAT classes, and different SAT tutoring sessions, nothing seemed to be working and I soon began to lose some faith in myself. This all turned around when I first met Marlee. She not only became one of my biggest supporters but she ultimately gave me back my confidence and my drive to get the scores I needed. Marlee devotes 110% of herself to her students, and I couldn’t be more thankful for her dedication. Her approach with me was much different than my past experiences with other tutors. She knew right off the bat my strengths and my weaknesses, and focused directly on those weaknesses turning them into even more strengths. In the end, this improved my score dramatically. I will never forget the day when I finally received my scores on that June SAT. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I finally could breathe again. Going into senior year I will constantly be reminded how lucky I am for the opportunities I have been given, and especially for Marlee who stuck by me and helped me to make my opportunities a reality!  

Dear Wavelength, Andrea Goldman is the best teacher ever!  I know a lot of students say that about their SAT Math teacher, but this one is not like any other I have had. My previous teacher I had was not good at all.  She told me to do a lot of with barely an explanation on the answers I got wrong.  Andrea gives a good amount of work considering it is a summer course that ends in about 3-4 weeks.  She is also reasonable if you are not able to complete it all because right now I am starting my college processes for Nursing and it is time consuming.  Also, Andrea gives great explanations on the answers I got wrong if I did not understand it when I went back to redo. Andrea uses great resources to make us understand why our answer is right or wrong.  Her system works very well for my fellow classmate and me.  If she were in a Math SAT teaching tournament, she deserves a 1st place ribbon for the way she teaches and the way she makes us understand what we did wrong in our practices. Andrea Goldman is the best SAT WaveLength teacher ever!

WaveLength was the best thing that ever happened to my college preparation. I learned so many things about the SAT and was able to significantly increase my score in every section to a total of 2260. In addition to tips and tricks, WaveLength gave me the confidence to succeed on the test. Marlee was amazing and significantly helped me with writing and critical reading. Matt was awesome and helped me realize that I knew the answers. WaveLength was very helpful, but more importantly it motivated me to achieve the highest possible score. WaveLength was so much fun! Marlee and Matt were very friendly and easy to talk to. We enjoyed ourselves even when we were studying. The program helped me conquer the SAT. My high score is critical to my acceptance at the University of Pennsylvania where I will be attending this fall. Thank you WaveLength! :-D

Wavelength has profoundly impacted my college journey. Through its caring and individualized process, Wavelength has helped me attain admission to my top choice university. I cannot thank Matt and Marlee enough for their time, patience, and unique approach to test-taking.

I spent the summer prior to my junior year of high school confined to a chair in the dining room solving basic geometry problems out of Barron’s SAT Math Workbook and passage based critical reading questions out of The Official SAT Study Guide. Little did I know, I was teaching myself the wrong techniques and ultimately setting myself up for mediocrity. In September I decided to sign up for the PSAT to see where my self- studying would take me. That Saturday morning I walked out of the PSAT testing center and knew I had done something terribly wrong. Several months after my scores came back, my guidance counselor suggested I give Wavelength Tutoring and Test Prep a call. A week or so later I met Ms. Andrea Goldman and she made a huge difference in my approach to the SAT. Andrea came over twice a week to help maximize my score. Tuesday’s were always exciting because we used dry erase boards. If I performed well on the homework Andrea would give me a brightly colored marker and when I was spectacular I got to choose which colored marker I would like to use. Throughout high school I took advanced math classes and thought solving algebraic equations would come to me as naturally as it did in middle school - I was wrong. We would spend hours correcting my algebraic imperfections and deciphering complex word problems. Andrea broke up verbose word problems and never failed to remind me to show all of my work. On Thursday’s we would take out The Official SAT Study Guide and work on passage-based reading. Critical Reading was a struggle for me and it reflected in my SAT results. My poor performance was a direct result of my lack of interest in reading. My peers told me that critical reading is the most difficult section to improve relative to the other sections. Andrea was able to share her knowledge of the test and dissect sentences in order to help me focus on what the writers were trying to convey. She supplied me with shortcuts to solving sentence completions and taught me how to make effective flashcards. Within a month I was able to improve my critical reading score by one hundred points. She also took the time to teach me the basics of writing an essay. Andrea customized her approach to best teach me the material. We would often share laughs over our favorite movies and novels as she helped me come up with examples to support my thesis statement. On late nights Andrea would even bring snacks to help me focus and bagels on Saturday’s just to say “good morning.” Often times I was Andrea’s last student of the day and she liked to stay a couple minutes later to help me get over my fear of taking the SAT. When my scores came back I was so excited! In just over a month I was able to increase my score by one hundred and seventy points. Thanks to Andrea and the scores she helped me attain, I will be attending Cornell University in the fall, and was accepted into Johns Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Wake Forest University. During that stressful month of preparation, Andrea was as my cheerleader. Her enthusiasm was liberating and her confidence in my abilities encouraged me to work harder than I ever have in high school. Andrea loves to teach, her instruction is both content and strategy based, and her personality is warmer than anyone I have ever met.

Wavelength was a great experience. I learned the strategies necessary to succeed and felt myself improving with every class; This ensured that I was always motivated to do the work for the course. The classes themselves were actually quite enjoyable. Marlee is a pleasure to be around and so much can be learned from her, and that isn't limited to SAT information. With her help I achieved an 800 in critical reading! Matt is an awesome teacher who instills confidence in his students. With their help I got a 2200 and into Cornell University!

My experience with Wavelength was great overall. Not only did I see an increase in my score, but I actually enjoyed going to the after school classes. The program teaches some different and eye-opening techniques that help make the problems much more approachable. The insight that I gained with Wavelength’s classes and private tutoring helped me increase my score by 230 points. While starting out in the classroom, I quickly learned that the tutors are extremely dedicated and qualified. They not only have a comprehensive understanding of the SAT, but also a gift for working with young adults. Their group can relate to students well. Knowing that each student is different, they set aside time one on one to figure out the individual problems that the students face. The tutors get to know each student on a personal level, allowing them to draw connections to how they think about the SAT problems, with how they face problems in the real world. On the English side, I learned how to find the right answer with more accuracy and simplicity, while simultaneously cutting down the time it takes to do so. In Math, I was taught how to break down the tests into sections and how to find the most direct route to the correct response. All of it required much practice and hard work, but I was so thrilled with my Wavelength experience, that once the classes ended, I continued with private tutoring in Math to increase my score. Applying to some of the best and most competitive undergraduate business schools in the country, I knew that I needed to have a high math score in order to be accepted. And I knew exactly who to call. Matt, having had me in the class before, understood my obstacles. We delved deeper to figure out how to receive the score I needed. Matt discovered that my problems were all mental, and worked with me as a coach would. We spent hours, often overtime, to increase my speed, build confidence, and approach each problem with the Wavelength strategy that significantly increased accuracy. I could really feel how he was rooting for me and truly cared about my success. After much practice, my math score increased by an additional 100 points, helping me land a spot at my number one school choice. For that, I will be forever grateful. Most SAT tutors drill students with problems and lectures, teaching all of the vocabulary, grammar, and math that is needed on the SAT. With that said, however, students taking the SAT have already learned most of what is on the test. Everyone needs a refresher, so Wavelength of course provides that, but it is mostly about strategy and practice. If a student puts the work in that the program demands, he or she can expect an excellent outcome.

Andrea deserves all of the praise she can get- I jumped from a 25 to a 30 on the ACT! Andrea not only taught me strategies I needed to improve my Science, Reading and English scores, but she also gave me the confidence I was lacking. When she saw me improving during our sessions, she told me that I could replicate the same results on test day and she made me proud of the progress I was making. Lessons were fun, motivating, and productive. She helped me see the test as "smaller" than it is, which made me less anxious. I would definitely recommend Andrea to anyone who needs a score and confidence boost! :)

Marlee Napurano and Matthew Makrinos have changed my life. I always classified myself as a hard working student, but I never saw myself as smart. It was not until I met Matt and Marlee did I realize my capabilities. The SAT is a funny thing. It is a test given to us on one Saturday morning where we are expected to perform at our best for four hours straight and yield a score of four perfect numbers- talk about a pressure cooker. My struggle with the SAT was not the material on the test itself, but with the mindset I brought to the test. I would enter the test room and think of my future and not the test before me. This mentality caused my scores to serve as a poor reflection of my comprehension of the material. I took out my frustration by forcing myself to take practice tests every week and sometimes twice in one week. Marlee and Matt are not only the most interesting, impressive, intelligent, and inspirational people I have ever met, but also the most insightful. Matt and Marlee soon recognized my inefficient study habits. My way of absorbing information had hurt me rather than helped me. I had to re-evaluate and change who I was and how I learned. This was no small feat. I can honestly state that without Matt and Marlee I would not be the scholar or the person I am today. I learn because I am curious and not because I need a 2400 (although it would be nice). Wavelength never failed to remind me of the bigger picture- my life and all of the tremendous things I would accomplish. Without their constant encouragement and support to guide me through not only this SAT process, but also my educational career I would not be the confident, smart, and empowered young woman that I am today. Yes, Wavelength is a phenomenal tutoring and test prep program. That is evident with my 370-point jump on my SATs and a score I am so proud of, but Wavelength gives one so much more than that. Marlee and Matt have provided me with lessons and ways of approaching not only the test but also life, which I will always carry with me. Sincerely,