This is my second review for Dominique. She helped my daughter with her SAT 3 years ago, and she just helped my son with his SAT. Dominique is professional and does a great job tailoring the lessons to each student's needs. For us, as I'm sure it is for most students, time is a big factor. It makes all the difference when your tutor understands how to make the most of the lesson time and homework. And Dominique gave great test day advice and followed up with us as tests were cancelled and rescheduled because of Covid. Both of my kids got their score with one sitting. We're so thankful for Dominique's help. read more

We had a wonderful experience with Powerful Prep. From the first time I contacted them, they were clear and professional and helpful. My daughter's tutor, Gloria, came to our house and was incredibly well prepared, insightful and diligent in helping her study for the SAT, efficiently focusing on her specific strengths and weaknesses. My daughter took the SAT again after just 6 sessions and her score jumped up 150 points! I give Gloria and the whole program my highest recommendation. read more

We are very happy with our choice to go with Powerful Prep for my daughter's ACT preparation. Before choosing Powerful Prep I researched several recommended alternatives. We chose Powerful Prep because it seemed like the best fit for my daughter. The weekly tutoring combined with self-paced recommended practice was what she needed. She met weekly with her tutor Gloria. Gloria was a great fit for my daughter. She identified my daughter's weaknesses, built her confidence, and gave her the tools she needed to get better and improve in those areas of need. Despite test cancellations and a break in her practice, my daughter was able to raise her ACT score 6 points. It was easy to set up appointments and when I had a question it was answered promptly. That personal touch is something that I value in a company. read more

Jamasb was my daughter's SAT tutor. Matt also tutored her on one occasion. Their sessions were productive and they provided her with all of the material she needed. Her score increased from a 1310 to a 1430 with 8-10 sessions. We are very pleased with Powerful Prep. read more

Eugene is a GREAT tutor and person! Due to COVID, Eugene and my son were not able to meet face to face but instead had online tutoring sessions for the ACT Test. Eugene is very patient and knowledgeable re: the ACT Test. Eugene's education, degrees and experience really stood out and we were very fortunate to have Eugene as a tutor. Moreover, Eugene is a super nice person and got along with my son very well! Eugene even checked in with my son after the ACT Test to see how he did, felt, etc. Just a great guy! Powerful Prep has many great tutors (their education, degrees, scores on ACT/SAT, etc.). Powerful Prep was/is a great choice; thank you, again, Eugene! read more

After spending a couple of months and few grands with a run-of-the-mill test prep center and gaining few ego hurting scores from practice tests over past summer, we decided to give Powerful Prep a try for our daughter based on a casual Google search. Fast forward less than a year, and we have her score well above the 99th percentile in both SAT and ACT. Matt and his philosophy of customized tutoring based on the student's specific needs coupled with an iterative approach to increasing precision is rock solid, and a must for any aspiring student to do well in standardized tests. Please do yourself a favor, and make the investment that would pay off well in the long run for your child. Thank you Matt, and Powerful Prep. read more

I have been very happy with Powerful Prep and especially with Lauren. She has diligently and strategically tutored both of our kids, and they have both achieved the scores they targeted. After many cancellations, our youngest daughter finally got to take the SAT and achieved a score on her first try that she was very happy with because it opened up the door for her to apply to the most selective schools in the country. Thank you Matt and Lauren. We so appreciate the service you offer. read more

This program is excellent and I would highly recommend it to all parents of students who will take the SAT or ACT. This fall, my son Peter, who is a Sophomore, took a practice ACT and scored well, but not up to his Ivy League ambitions. We thought we would have to go and sacrifice his entire summer at a place like Elite to get the scores up, but then we heard of this company. We called them in late February, and they claimed that with once a week sessions, they could get Peter ready by June, which astonished us. The service was absolutely excellent, our tutor, Mary, was incredibly skilled and professional, and they even provided all the necessary instructional materials. In the end, Matt's service surpassed our dreams. In April, after just five sessions, Mary gave Peter the go-ahead to take the ACT. He took the shot, and we were overjoyed when the scores came back. He had gotten a 35 on the ACT, a 3 point improvement on just over a month ago. He is now able to have a chance at any college whatsoever in just the tenth grade! I would eagerly recommend this service, and Mary in particular, to the family of any student who has to deal with these things. read more

they said they could get us 300 points, and they did Three months of regular meetings with our tutor lead our daughter to a much higher score. Originally I thought that one and a half hours a week wouldn't be enough, but the lessons seemed very concentrated and focused, and the homework was well thought out as opposed to the hours and hours of busy work that I've heard about from other programs. I recommend this program completely read more

We used Powerful SAT Prep for our daughter and couldn't have been happier with the results. When Matt started tutoring our daughter her score was in the high 1700s, and after weekly sessions with Matt she just got over a 2100 - a huge improvement and directly attributable to Matt's excellent and personalized tutoring sessions. Matt is very professional, personable, punctual and informed. He customized the tutoring to suit our daughters strengths and weaknesses and motivated her to spend extra time preparing for the test. At the end of the session our daughter is delighted with Matt as a person and a tutor. We plan to engage Matt's services again for our son. Highly recommended and you won't be disappointed. read more

Powerful Prep provided outstanding ACT prep to my son. We were considering a number of other test prep companies but ultimately decided on Powerful Prep because of the customized curriculum, the impressive tutor backgrounds, and the long history of point gains for students starting with our son's score. When the tutor first arrived, I realized I'd made the right choice. The tutor's style was efficient, motivating, and relational, so my son was always engaged. Also, I got an email after each session letting me know my student's progress. The curriculum and homework were well thought out, and the results proved it. In a matter of only a few months with only once-a-week meetings my son's score shot up from the 20s to the 30s. For any parents with busy students who aren't able to spend hours and hours every weekend in a test-prep classroom, or who just need those extra points that only one-on-one prep can offer, Powerful Prep is the only choice. read more

Our tutor was awesome. In just eight, 1.5 hour sessions, she took our son from a 28 to a 32 on the ACT. Mary was always pleasant, always on time, and very patient with our son. I would highly recommend this service! read more

We could not be happier with Powerful Prep. Our daughter's tutor was Lauren and she was fabulous. She focused on areas that needed improvement and gave great feedback. More than anything, she increased my daughter's level of confidence. Her SAT score jumped 100 points on the first try - and it was already VERY high! We are very thankful and would recommend to anyone looking to get that extra boost! read more

My daughter had a terrific experience with Powerful Prep, raising her score by 300 points after just 12 sessions. She really responded well to the one-on-one tutoring at our home, targeted homework and review to bolster her weak spots, and the overall well-organized approach. The tutor (Elise) was very personable, responsive, professional, and punctual. In addition to improving my daughter's test-taking skills, Elise gave my daughter a much needed confidence boost. We give our highest recommendation to Powerful Prep! read more

We are very happy with our experience with Powerful Prep. Our daughter's ACT tutor was Negah. She had a very good rapport with our daughter. She was always on time and made the most of their weekly one-hour sessions. She focused on areas where our daughter can improve the most. She also assigned appropriate amount of homework. The lesson plans, exercises, test-taking strategies and practice exams helped our daughter achieve her target score. Thanks again, Negah! read more

My son worked with Daniella who did an amazing job teaching him test taking strategies as well as ACT content. He made a jump from 28 to 32 in his ACT score. read more

The Powerful Prep program was convenient, efficient, and helped get a significant point increase for my son. George was very professional and strategic in his approach. we couldn't be happier. read more

Powerful Prep is definitely worth checking out for ACT or SAT prep. Matt Larriva, the founder and owner, is super sharp and committed to tailoring his company's prep services to meet your child's needs. He listens and responds right away. He is super supportive and experienced with getting students into top colleges. I interviewed many local test prep services in orange county and found Powerful Prep to be a leader. Importantly, Powerful Prep uses its own proprietary teaching packets which this sets them apart from all of the other run of the mill prep tutors. Thank you Matt! read more

Extremely professional, results-driven SAT Prep. The personalized attention and willingness to adapt to my learning style made a huge difference in my score. Highly recommend! read more

My daughter just got her ACT score today and it went up by 3 points already. Thank you, Dominique!

My daughter took her 1st ACT test in her sophomore year and her 2nd test (recent test) in her junior year for which Matt tutored her and she raised her score by 6 points (perfect ACT score is 36 vs. SAT 2400). He gave her pointers on how to analyze the questions and homework which she was supposed to work on until the next session. He has a pleasant demeanor and knows how to encourage teens. He is enthusiastic and really wants your child to succeed. Rather than to simply give ways on how to outsmart the test, Matt also personalizes materials to your student's need based on what section they are least prepared for, helping with strategies to assist your student in staying calm during the test itself. read more

Not happy with the results at all. My child's SAT scores dropped after being tutored by Powerful Prep. The website suggest that on average scores go up by approximately 300 points. During the time when my child was being tutored, the tutor was giving practice SAT tests, and she was telling me that his score was improving. I was very dissappointed when I found out that his score dropped on the official SAT test. A lot of time and money wasted. read more

We are extremely happy with the results our son has seen working with Matt and the Powerful Prep program. During the time Matt tutored our son he was able to increase his score by 500 points. A direct result of Matts ability to assess our son's learning needs and apply the Powerful Prep techniques to meet our son's needs. This is a results driven program and Matt ihas the utmost professionalism. I highly recommend Powerful Prep! read more

Our son began his ACT preparation process last year, and with a baseline of 23, we knew he was capable of improving. We engaged Matthew at PP, who went to great effort to profile our son and find the right match for his temperament and study habits so as to find the appropriate tutor. Elise was recommended, which served as the perfect fit. Elise was very process oriented and focused on addressing areas of strength and coaching areas of opportunity. After twelve sessions our son tested and scored a composite 28, a five point improvement. We were thrilled with the results, but it wasn't until he started hearing back from schools in which he had interest that we realized the value of the investment. He was accepted to 10 of 11 of his applicant schools, and received a $14,000/year merit scholarship from his #1 choice. Thanks to the team at Powerful Prep for a great job!! read more

Unfortunately I agree with reviewer jk. This program costs a ton of money - after you sign the contract, you learn they expect your child to be saddled with hours of powerful prep homework every night - i don't know about your child, but mine has a full day of school and a pretty full plate of school homework every night. the recipe for success seems pretty basic - do hours of pp homework every night and review your mistakes. I don't think one needs to pay that much money for that kind of tutoring. the practice ACT and SAT tests at the hotel were very beneficial. my child's scores did not significantly improve - my daughter's college prep counselor was irritated that the owner tried to count my daughter's at home ACT/SAT practice tests as legitimate scores to try to suggest there was improvement. Even if you have loads of money to spend on tutors, I would suggest another company. I debated whether or not to leave a negative review, but once I indicated I no longer wished to have my daughter tutored, Matthew went from friendly to pretty curt and distant. Says a lot about the company. read more

Powerful SAT Prep provided excellent SAT prep service and exceeded our expectations. We considered Elite's boot camp in Irvine for but are very glad we used Powerful Prep because our tutor, Dominique, was fantastic and conducted sessions in our home based on our schedule. Together, she and our daughter generated strong results from 12 private 90-minute SAT prep study sessions over ~ 3 months before her 10/2013 SAT exam. She scored a 2200 on first try and will test again in 10/2014 for potential increase. Our tutor prepared structured lessons and updated/adapted them as needed, provided all materials with verbal feedback and formal email assessments to parents after each lesson. The tutor was never too pushy but extremely efficient at covering the material and grading the work. The bonus was the tutor's low key personality made her so easy to work with and learn from. Matt prepared a college planning presentation listing suitable colleges based on GPA, SAT and other factors with invaluable insights and prep options. read more

Matt and Kevin (Tutor) are excellent! My daughter went to Orange County School of the Arts, so she had long days with Visual Arts Conservatory everyday after school and she is a competitive softball player on a travel team. She had no time to take those long programs or big group general seminars. After 4 sessions in about 3 weeks, Kevin worked with her and gave her personalized strategies and study plans. She immediately improved 200 points on her next SAT test and then later took it again and self studied to gain another 80 points. She got into Swarthmore College and has just completed her first semester (Fall 2016) and is very happy and doing great! With hindsight now writing this review, I realize that this was a huge part of her success - the individualized training, home environment, and super positive tutors gave her that boost of confidence and strategic coaching she needed without adding to her stress. Powerful Prep is unique in the level of personalization. Not the cheapest program, but the most effective and the most humane for these busy, stressed young scholars. Thanks! read more