Every student I have referred to Harvey has reported back a great experience. Not all have gotten the scores they want – it depends on student motivation and how willing you are to practice. But for those that work hard, Harvey has helped so many get stellar SAT scores as well as acceptance into some of the most prestigious schools in the country.
After nearly 4 years of being Harvey's student, I can personally affirm that his absolute devotion to his work is unparalleled. He has accompanied me from a mere high school freshman all the way to a Stanford freshman. Harvey has assisted me not only dramatically increase my SAT score by 270 points, but also with revising college essays that directly helped me be admitted to the university of my dreams. Dreams do come true, especially with Harvey's help.
I called Harvey to tutor my twin girls on the SAT. Then I discovered he also helps with college application essays, and he offered to read them over to see if he thought they were strong. Keep in mind that Harvey never asked for nor did I ever pay him a dime. He called me a bit frantic about the essays, because he thought they were awful. When Harvey discovered I had paid a so-called "expert" $9000 for them, he was really appalled and spent hours on the phone with me, coaching me on what I should say to demand at least half my money back. And Harvey trained me well! Because I was able to tell the other consultant that, "someone important in your industry is appalled by the quality of the essays we paid you for," the consultant gave us a full refund. Then, when Harvey realized that even with a refund of the $9000 (which had been charged on our credit card in the first place) his own much more modest fee would stretch our budget, Harvey just gave us all his materials for free and wished us well. I'm sharing this with any parent who might think Harvey is "too good to be true." Based on my own experience with the other consultant, I know better than most that you need to be careful to whom you trust your child's future. But I can assure you that Harvey is the real deal.
I have dreamed of going to Yale ever since I was little, and Harvey, thanks to you, my dream has just come true. I could barely believe it reading my acceptance letter. So thanks for being an incredible teacher, for your amazing set of rules that guided me to a 1580 SAT, your great advice on essay topics and the unique business you helped me to start. I cant thank you enough.
All Harvey does is force you into practicing SAT (which is why people have been seeing results) and give you gimmicky, cheesy tips such as "picking the shortest answer". His Skype lessons are unreliable and he constantly disconnects. The only thing he did was go over my wrong answers, and waited for me to fix the answer on my own. Under Harvey, I was advised to not guess and skip the questions I did not know. I ended up with an 1830. I decided to stop going to him for lessons and self-study. Please do this instead of wasting $2400. Self-studying is the same as his lessons, if not much more better--Harvey is utterly useless.
I ended up with a 33 ACT and 2110 SAT in the end, without his help. Waste of money.
UPDATE: After reading your response, Harvey, I have to admit that you're a class act--buttering up this negative review to somehow make it seem like a success story. Funny point there about my internet connection. I love it. I've had numerous Skype videos with others and they were flawless, unlike yours. But you can blame it on me, that's perfectly okay. I'm fine with that. I'm just glad I'm not suffering through your meaningless lessons anymore.
Also, a tip for the future: you should provide some form of evidence for your ballsy claims-- I am appalled that from your "years of analysis', you have gone through every SAT question and analyzed every single response to conclude that when students guess, they get it wrong "over 90% of the time".
I'm also appalled at your ability to mind-read. How else you would know if a student is completely guessing, or simply calculating an incorrect answer?! Amazing!
Another tip: You should stop wearing a dirty white T-shirt during lessons. Try to be a little more professional.
I wish you the best of luck in your excuse of a business. I hope more parents are eager to waste their money on you. Happy New Years.
I think it is common knowledge how insanely competitive getting accepted to an Ivy is these days. You really need someone like Harvey to help navigate the process. We were actually a little bit skeptical initially, because Harveys package price seemed to inexpensive for everything he is offering. But he is an exceptionally bright, compassionate and dedicated person. He first helped Liam go up from 1290 to 1520 on his SAT. Then Harvey helped him set up a unique charity. And finally, he spent a lot of time making sure all of Liams college application essays were as good as they could be. I recommend Harvey to any family with Ivy League dreams.
Harveys passion for what he does was obvious from the first time we spoke by telephone. My daughter is a little bit shy, but Harvey made her instantly comfortable. He also motivated her to practice regularly, which was really quite astounding because she has not been disciplined about schoolwork in general. With regular meetings with Harvey, Megans confidence grew and so did her scores on practice tests. After 2 tries, she saw her score go up from a 23 to 29. We have great respect for Harveys expertise.
Living in a small town, our test prep options are very limited. I discovered Harvey through an internet search and my son felt very comfortable working with him right away. We really appreciated the convenience of Skype lessons versus having to drive all the time to a test prep center. After only a few months of working with Harvey, Jareds ACT score increased from 26 to 32, which is even more than we had expected.
I am writing this review for the benefit of other parents who might be as skeptical as I was. Although I felt very comfortable having Harvey tutor my daughter after speaking with him on the telephone, I was worried about hiring someone I had found on the internet. Harvey reassured me by offering a mini-lesson on Skype with my daughter before we signed up. Getting a chance for both my daughter and me to meet Harvey on Skype made the choice much easier. My daughter loved working with Harvey and he really motivated her to study. Seeing the excitement on my daughter's face when she broke 2000 (that was her goal and she had been devastated scoring only 1510 on her first try) was immensely satisfying for my husband and I.
Nicole has always been an excellent student but a poor test taker. We were worried that so many of the standard test prep companies like Testmasters and Kaplan would not be able to address her specific issues, because we felt that Nicole really just needed someone to guide her in how to take the test. Thats exactly what Harvey did. Nicole got really motivated and excited right from her first meeting with him. She was inspired to practice diligently. After four months of working with Harvey, Nicole saw her score go from 1250 to 1480.
For an athlete with a packed schedule like my son, Harvey's Skype lessons made it easy to find the time for SAT prep. Jason has always hated to read, and I knew that would be a problem. But since he only needed 600s on critical reading and math for his scholarship, Harvey gave him the strategy of only answering two thirds of the test. That let Jason skip the questions that were too hard or with words he didn't know. Jason ended up with 1860, compared to the 1420 he started with.
After a disastrous experience with Huntington Learning Centers, Harvey was an absolute godsend for us. Instead of offering basically useless review, Harvey taught our daughter how to master the SAT itself. And the results were spectacular: a gain of 280 points from 1230 to 1510 in three months.
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for everything you've done to help my daughter, Lindsey, achieve her academic goals.
Your guidance and expertise have been invaluable to us, and I truly believe that Lindsey wouldn't be where she is today without your help.
When we first came to you, Lindsey was struggling to achieve the SAT scores she needed to get into her dream schools. But after working with you for just a few short months, Lindsey's score increased by over 350 points, and she was ultimately accepted to both Vanderbilt and Georgetown!
Your personalized approach to test preparation and college counseling made all the difference for Lindsey. You took the time to get to know her as an individual and tailor your approach to her unique needs and strengths. Your unwavering support and encouragement also helped her stay motivated and confident throughout the entire process.
I cannot thank you enough for your dedication and commitment to helping students like Lindsey achieve their academic dreams. You truly are a wizard when it comes to college admissions, and we feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you.
Thank you again for everything you've done for our family.
We come from India just three years ago and we don't know a lot about the American system. Mr. Harvey gave our daughter a lot of help and showed her the tricks to get a good score. He was very patient and he was always easy to get a hold of. My daughter liked working with him a lot and scored 2250 on SAT. Mr. Harvey also read the college essays and gave a good project that helped her get into a three Ivy League schools.
With so many options for SAT and ACT prep, it can be nerve wracking for parents trying to choose the best option for their child. Based on our experience, Harvey The College Wizard is a premium priced service that delivers above and beyond what you pay. We were immediately impressed by Harvey's extensive knowledge of the testing process, as well as his obvious passion for teaching. We didn't have particularly high expectations at the beginning, which is why we were so pleasantly surprised when our daughter went up 320 points after only about 8 lessons. Harvey's system is definitely unique, and based on what we have observed first hand, worth every penny.
Harvey, just wanted to say thank you for everything you have done to help Nicole fulfill her dream of getting accepted to Columbia. When we first contacted you and Nicole was so discouraged over her 27 ACT score, you calmed us all down and gave us a lot of hope. We couldnt believe our eyes when we saw her nearly perfect 35 ACT just three months later. Then, your help with the application process and reviewing Nicoles essays I am sure helped make the difference. Keep on doing what you do!
Harvey is definitely a wizard how else to explain him helping my son achieve admission to Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth? When we contacted Harvey, Julian was stuck around 1300 on his SAT, even after working with a local tutor for six months. With Harveys tricks and a strong practice effort on Julians part, he raised his score to an astounding 1580! To top it off, Harvey showed Julian how to start a surprisingly easy business to impress college admission officers, not to mention steering Julian to the perfect topics for his college essays. We could not be prouder of our son!
Harvey, I honestly dont think I would have gotten accepted early decision to Brown, my dream school, without your help. You not only taught me the tricks to get my SAT score up to 1560, but you also helped me start my own business which I really think made me stand out to the admissions officers. Thank you so very much!
Now that my daughter is safely admitted to her dream school (Brown), as I reflect back on our journey through the college admissions process, I really have to thank Harvey for telling us things that nobody else did. It took my daughter longer than other tutoring companies had suggested for her to hit her ultimate score (1560) and Harvey was right on about this, as well as the fact that the 5 SAT tries she took did not prevent her from getting accepted when nobody else from her school was. Clearly, the SAT is the most important component of admissions, despite what we were told on college tours. I highly recommend that you work with Harvey if you need a true and honest expert to help you navigate what can certainly be a very stressful process.
My son Jonathan started with Harvey a little over a year ago. I was very impressed right from the beginning, especially with the amount of motivation Harvey was able to inspire in my son. Little by little, we watched the practice test scores go up (from 1650 at the start). Setbacks along the way, including an SAT that Jonathan did very poorly on. But by the third try, Jonathan hit 2040 and we couldn't be happier.
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The College Wizard has a rating of 4.5 stars from 79 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with The College Wizard most frequently mention early decision, act score and dream school. The College Wizard ranks 52nd among Tutor sites.
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Brandon, you may be surprised to learn two things. First, I congratulate you and I am thrilled that you achieved 2110 on your SAT and 33 on your ACT. I am happy when a student achieves significantly higher SAT and ACT scores with or without my help.
Second, I have to consider you one of my success stories. When you began working with me in October 2014, your initial SAT score was only 1620. You completed the first four lessons with me, during which time I taught you all the strategies needed to achieve a perfect SAT and ACT score. You seem to credit me with your initial jump to 1830 (210) points but not your eventual score of 2110. Evidently you still remember my writing strategy: Choose the shortest answer as long as it does not contain one of nine grammatical errors. I suppose we simply differ on the characterization of my strategies. While I consider my techniques powerful because they all fit on a single page (which is why I am able to teach them all in the first four lessons), ridiculously simple, easy to remember and yet 100% effective, you call them “gimmicky and cheesy”.
I will be the first to admit that enough self-practice in and of itself can produce almost any score desired. Unfortunately, self-practice without any outside guidance can require many more hours to achieve success than practice following guidelines that an expert has spent years developing and refining. Since most of my students are somewhat overburdened with school work and extracurricular activities, they would prefer not having to “reinvent the wheel” if I can simply direct them to practice in the most efficient way possible.
Assuming that you achieved your final 2110 SAT score relatively recently, it would mean you took 14 months to go from 1620 to 2110. I believe you might have achieved that score somewhat more quickly had you taken advantage of ongoing lessons with me. It would have given me a chance to teach you that a phrase like “much more better” which you used in your review is grammatically incorrect.
To clarify your claim that I taught you “not to guess and skip questions you do not know”, it is true I have advised students preparing for the old SAT to avoid guessing. The reason for this strategy is that the old SAT incorporates a guessing penalty for each wrong answer. And while probability theory might suggest that guessing is a good idea, my own years of analysis demonstrated that because the SAT creates wrong answers to be more attractive than correct ones, students will choose the wrong answer – even in a 50/50 situation – over 90% of the time. But since the new SAT no longer has a guessing penalty, this issue is no longer relevant.
I checked back on our chat logs relative to the “constant disconnecting” you refer to. First, while I do see a handful of starts and stops in our Skype sessions, I don’t know that I would call them “constant”. Second, while I do have the highest commercially available internet speed in my office, the overall quality of a Skype call can be diminished by slower internet speed on the other end.
I try to use any feedback I receive to improve the quality of my service. I know that your parents did not take advantage of my initial Skype lesson, which would have been an opportunity for you to get an idea of the kind of strategies I teach (and therefore whether or not you felt they were “cheesy”) as well as the quality of Skype calls we could have given your home’s internet speed. As a result of your feedback, I plan to be even more adamant about having new clients take advantage of my free Skype lesson prior to signing up to work with me.
I wish you all the best as you await your college acceptances.