TESTIMONIALS

COLLEGE ESSAY

Two girls are studying together and one is writing.

Cracking the Code

“Kevin helped us tremendously with our daughter’s college essay. She wouldn’t let us anywhere near it and she was procrastinating which was creating much panic and unrest in our household. Somehow Kevin cracked the code. She was extremely happy with his input and with the way her essay turned out, which gave her confidence to complete the application process. She wound up getting into most of the schools she applied to and she’s headed to Bennington College in the fall. Thanks, Kevin!”

Craig Elkins

College Application

“College application season is one of the toughest few months for parents just because it is the most difficult time to have any meaningful conversation with the kids. I feel the school workload + college app rat race brings the worst out of the kids. As parents, it is important to make sure our are kids are not unduly stressed out. Seeking help from someone who has the patience to listen to the kids, understand their view points and nudges them to take nice strides. The key is to find the right person, and for us that person was Kevin. He connected very well with my son, listened patiently and proposed suggestions. Once the conversation started, ideas began to flow and pretty soon he had decent amount of material for the college app. The college app process is not over yet, but I thought I would thank Kevin and share our experience with him. Overall Kevin is a terrific guy and we are glad we connected with him.”

Bay Area Parent

Personal Insight Essays

“Kevin helped my nephew edit his Personal Insight Essays for applying to UC schools. His editing suggestions really improved the essays. He supported my nephew through multiple drafts. His suggestions were extremely thoughtful and thorough. Thanks in part to his help, my nephew was accepted into UC Berkeley and UCLA. Highly recommended!”

Jaime de la Garza

Ivy League Colleges

“Kevin worked with  my son to write his college essays to several Ivy League colleges. Kevin was extremely supportive, understanding, flexible and knew how to help my son get all his essays done with a high quality writing style. Kevin is the best and I am extremely thankful to him for his help!”

Ione G.

Forming Excellent Essays

“Quick at strategizing ideas and helping in forming excellent essays, Kevin expands bunched-up words into broad insights through his questions and advice. He is very quick to notice grammatical errors and bends his own time to help! The best tutor ever.”

Jess M.

SAT AND ACT TEST PREP

SAT Score

“Kevin was very encouraging at our sessions. He provided plenty of material, but I never felt overwhelmed. When we reviewed questions, we talked about the wording of the College Board and types of questions. We quickly narrowed in on what I needed to work on, and he was very considerate of how I wanted to spend our time. Each practice test, I improved and felt more confident. I looked forward to each meeting because I knew my effort was worth it. I’m very thankful to Kevin, and I’m happy with my SAT score!”

Naomi K.

ACT Readiness

“Kevin is a great tutor! He continues to help my daughter improve her ACT readiness. He has identified and is working through the areas that she needs the most support. He comes prepared and is very patient. My daughter is comfortable with Kevin and feels like he is really helping her.”

Christine S-B

ACT Formula

“I just finished studying with Kevin for the ACT; we focused on the ACT essay, reading section, and English section (grammar).  He is one of the best tutors I have had.  He puts so much preparation into the session.  On our first meeting he brought a binder with ACT practice tests.  He continued to do this through the length of our meetings.  In addition, I was having particular problem with punctuation questions on the English section, so Kevin created grammar exercises for me.  Kevin was very prepared and went the extra length in creating writing prompts.  He helped me come up with a “formula” for the essay, which was essential when I was taking the test.  Also he helped me figure out the timing that was right for me.  During our tutoring sessions he really worked through sections of the test with me; he helped me understand why I got each question wrong and how to prevent it from repeating.  He helped me boost my score so much (about 4 points on the English section).  He has an obvious passion for teaching and is a truly genuine person.”

Melissa W.

SAT and ACT

“My daughter took the SAT and ACT her junior year and did well, but she still needed higher scores for the colleges she was applying to. So, based on a friend’s recommendation, she started working with Dr. Cooney this fall. He turned out to be a very knowledgeable tutor, and helped her become more confident in the math section by giving her strategies for the problems that gave her the most difficulty. And he also helped her improve her score in the English section (her strength). This fall, my daughter raised her score on the ACT by 3 points and on the SAT by 300. She is now in a great position to get into her top choice schools. Thanks, Dr. Cooney!”

Tracy N.

SAT Top 1%

“If you are looking for a tutor to improve your SAT score, look no further because Kevin Cooney is the one.  My son took the March 2015 SAT and scored 2060.  He started working with Kevin in May to improve his SAT score. Through his persistence, coupled with Kevin’s professional tutoring and specialized test-taking methods, my son took the SAT in June and achieved a score of 2320, which places him at the top 1% nationally of all students who took the SAT and enables him to apply to nearly all top tier schools in the country.  We are happy to be able to praise Kevin for his invaluable work.”

Spotty S.

ACT High Score

“I’ve been using Kevin from Write Start Prep for my daughter’s ACT preparation. She has definitely improved her practice test scores with his help and ended up with the same high score on her official ACT. This was an important gauge because there were no surprises. Kevin was very flexible in accommodating my daughter’s busy schedule. I was so happy with Kevin’s service, that I again hired him to assist and provide guidance for her college essays. I would highly recommend Kevin and by the way, he was referred by a student that got accepted to UChicago.”

Chelsea W.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SAT AND ACT TEST PREP

GROUP CLASSES

TOEFL and SAT Group Classes

“Kevin did a great job helping our students prepare for the TOEFL and SAT Exams. His expert guidance really helped their analytical reading and writing. Kevin is a dedicated, responsible and thoughtful tutor–all my students enjoy his classes very much!  Highly recommend.”

La L.

SAT Group Classes

“We were looking for the right person to effectively tutor our basketball players, we wanted someone who was experienced in helping students prepare for the SAT exam and improve on previous scores. Kevin was definitely the right choice for us. He is very professional and well organized, he communicated very well with the players, the players could understand and follow him, if they had questions or struggles Kevin takes the time to go over issues and he provides the opportunity for players to watch over the classes so they can really grasp everything in their own time. This year our  players achieved very high scores on the SAT exam. Kevin is great to work with, and we look forward to continuing to work with him in the future. Highly recommended.”

Athletes Abroad University (NY)

LEARN MORE ABOUT WRITING THE COLLEGE ESSAY

ACADEMIC TUTORING

A girl is reading in the library with books.

Life Long Skills for Success

“My 6th grader started working with Kevin in January and by the end of the school year her average went from an 85 to 98! Her most impressive achievement was learning to love math! Kevin is not just focused on academics but on the life long skills for success. He takes care and initiative to give her practice worksheets for her personal time that help develop her thinking and test taking skills – which she will use forever. Kevin is kind, understanding and the ultimate professional. His respectful nature is certainly something any student will recognize, appreciate and emulate. I could not recommend him more!”

Rabia C.

High School Admission

“My daughter was prepping for SHSAT. She was struggling a bit with reading comprehension. We reached out to Mr. Cooney. He is an exceptional tutor, always punctual, reliable and very clear in his teaching methods. He patiently went over the different strategies to use. My daughter scored very well and was able to get into Stuyvesant, which is her dream school. She was comfortable with Mr. Cooney and was able to understand and apply his strategies on her test. If you are looking for a good tutor, Mr. Cooney is a very good choice. I highly recommend him.”

Vinitha S.

Vocabulary and Test Prep

“In September, my daughter was studying for the TACHS exam (Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools).  I was worried about how well she would do on her vocabulary, so I contacted Kevin.  He was very friendly and worked with my daughter on vocabulary and reading as well as the other sections of the test.  She took the TACHS in November, and she did extremely well.  She was offered admission to every school and even was offered a scholarship. I would definitely recommend Kevin and Write Start Prep.”

Nelson O.

Academic Tutoring

“I did a few Skype sessions with Kevin to help my daughter prepare for the Hunter High School entrance exam. He was very flexible, a great listener, very patient and really knew his stuff. It was great working with him.”

Charles M.

Full Scholarship

“Kevin was a wonderful tutor for my son. Real nice personable guy, always on time for his lessons.  He helped my son with several H.S. Entrance exams, including TACHS,  SHSAT, &. COOP [Cooperative Admission Program for Catholic High Schools]. So far he has been accepted into every school he applied for,  with a full scholarship to one of the elite private  high schools. Kevin turned out to be an excellent choice for my son, we highly recommend him!”

Ray M.