About Our Courses
(updated August 25, 2024)
THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED IN EARLY FEBRUARY 2025
GENERAL COURSE SUMMARIES
Students taking our Comprehensive SAT/ACT/PSAT Preparation Course are taught both the academic content and the advanced test-taking strategies necessary to beat the test-makers at their own game. We will not pass you off to someone who was simply given a crash course in our methods; students enrolled in our course will work directly with Dr. Rothkopf, who wrote the curricula, usually attains perfect or near-perfect scores on the exams, and has been preparing students for the test for over four decades. Through their training, students learn how to master the skills needed for all sections of the SAT, ACT and PSAT exams. In recent years, our students have seen an average SAT score increase of over 200 points; the highest increase one of our students achieved (on the now-retired three-scores version of the test) was an astounding 900 points (which would translate to a 600-point increase on today's version of the SAT)!
All of our Comprehensive Prep courses cover the same material and simultaneously prepare students for the SAT, ACT and PSAT exams. Each course offers over 67 hours of in-depth preparation; additionally, students are welcome to remain after class to ask for clarification or further explanation on any lessons from that day's class -- this should help to prevent any students from feeling like they are falling behind. You can view the schedules and reserve your space for any of our courses on our Schedules/Registration page.
We are currently taking enrollment for our 2024-25 November-to-May Comprehensive Prep Course, which begins on Sunday, November 3 in preparation for the April 2025 ACT and May 2025 SAT exams...students are also encouraged to consider taking an additional exam along the way (such as the February ACT and March SAT exams), as well as to take one or both of those exams on future dates as well. The tuition for the course is $1495. All students will be required to have a scientific or graphing calculator and to purchase the most recent versions of two books: "The Official ACT Prep Guide" and "The Official Digital SAT Study Guide"; students will also need to bring a laptop, tablet or iPad to a few classes toward the end of the course.
There are two options for attending classes: (1) in person in the conference room at Comfort Suites (located at 3901 SW 117 Avenue, just off the Turnpike at the corner of Bird Road (SW 40 Street) and SW 117 Avenue) AND (2) remotely through Zoom. Students/parents can choose which of the two formats they feel most comfortable with (unless the in-person option reaches maximum enrollment). The Zoom option allows both local and out-of-town students who view the class remotely to still hear/see the instructor and the white board clearly and to participate & interact with the instructor just as if they were attending in person; the Zoom option is also available for students who normally attend in-person but who occasionally cannot attend at the in-person location. If a student is unable to attend class on a particular date through either method of attendance, the student can arrange to view a recording of the missed class on YouTube for an additional $10.
Since we record every class and upload it to the internet on a private page, students who enroll late can still catch up on what they've missed by viewing the recordings of the previous classes.
If you already know you want to register for our course, you can click here. If you'd like more guidance, please read on or contact us (see the bottom of this page).
COURSE / TEST RECOMMENDATIONS
First, three important notes:
(1) Unlike 30 years ago, most students now take the SAT and/or ACT 2 - 4 times (sometimes more), wisely taking advantage of the widespread use of “super-scoring”. For example, if the student takes the SAT exam in June and scores a 660 in the verbal sections and a 400 in the math sections, and then that same student takes the SAT again in October and scores a 520 in the verbal sections and a 680 in the math sections, most schools (and scholarships such as the Florida Bright Futures scholarships) will combine the high verbal score (660) from June and the high math score (680) from October, leading to a 1340 score, which, beginning with the Class of 2023, has been the scoring level necessary for the highest level of the Bright Futures scholarships.
(2) Whereas some students have been advised to take their first SAT and ACT exams without preparation, "just to see how you'll do," we do not recommend this. As it says on our FAQ page, before taking their first driving test, most students enroll in a driver's education course...they would never consider taking the test without training. You should never take an important exam inadequately prepared, and getting professional training prior to your first SAT and ACT allows more time to further enhance your test-taking skills should you later decide to retake the tests. If you have ever taken the PSAT or PreACT, or if you’ve taken a published previously-administered SAT or ACT exam, you already have a feel for the tests. "Getting a feel for the SAT and ACT exams" is one of the primary benefits of the PSAT and PreACT exams, respectively.
Given the above, our recommendations are as follows:
For students who are in 12th grade in the 2024-25 school year, your last opportunity to take our complete course before the application deadlines for most colleges is our ongoing 2024 July-to-October Comprehensive Prep Course. That course is already well underway, but if you are a student (such as a homeschooled student) with enough time to catch up on the classes you've missed, it is still possible to enroll. For the purpose of scholarships and for schools with deadlines that allow for spring test-taking, our 2024 November-to-May Comprehensive Prep Course is your best choice, particularly as the course ends prior to the Bright Futures Scholarship deadlines. As the number of test dates still available to you are limited, we recommend that you take the exam twice before the end of 2024 (for the purposes of college admissions), and then twice again in the spring of 2025, toward the end of the course, for the purposes of scholarships and schools with later application deadlines.
For students who are in 11th grade in the 2024-25 school year, our next course, which begins in November 2024, is the best one through which to begin your SAT/ACT training, so it would be a good idea to reserve your space in our 2024-25 November-to-May Comprehensive Prep Course as soon as possible, while there are still spaces available. We always recommend that 11th grade students should plan to sit for at least two SAT exams and at least two ACT exams during their junior year, so we would encourage you to plan to take the ACT and SAT in April and May 2025, respectively and at least one other time soon before or after those dates. While neither the SAT nor the ACT is inherently more easy or more difficult than the other, some students will find, after they have completed practice tests during the course and have taken both the SAT and ACT twice toward the end of their training or soon thereafter, that they will be scoring significantly and consistently better on one test than on the other. Thus, in the first few months of your senior year, if you wish to further raise your scores, we recommend that you should focus on your stronger exam and register for test dates from July through December 2025.
For students who are in 9th or 10th grade in the 2024-25 school year and who wish to get an early start on their SAT and ACT preparation, our Comprehensive Preparation courses are absolutely available to you, too. Note that you should not feel pressure to have to take the SAT and ACT, nor our course, during your freshman and sophomore high school years...most students don't take those exams until 11th grade and usually begin their preparation as they enter their junior year. However, you might want to consider enrolling in our course if you are wanting to get an early start. Note that freshmen and sophomores who take our course should definitely plan to take the SAT and ACT exams immediately after the course has been completed, while the material is fresh...do not take the course and then wait several months or longer to take the tests. Alternatively, you can wait for one of our future courses and not focus upon the SAT and ACT exams during the 2024-25 academic year.
----> READY TO REGISTER? GREAT!! CLICK HERE! <----
If you have questions you'd like to ask -- about the course, about payment, about the exams, or about anything else -- you can email Dr. Rothkopf at [email protected] or you can call/text Michele at 305-969-2012; either one of us will be happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Since we only have a very limited number of seats for the in-person location, we strongly encourage you to reserve your space or contact us with your questions as soon as possible to make sure to secure your spot in our course.
Again, thank you so much for your interest in Higher Standards for your test prep. We look forward to working with your family!
Sincerely,
Dr. & Mrs. Jeff & Michele Rothkopf
Students taking our Comprehensive SAT/ACT/PSAT Preparation Course are taught both the academic content and the advanced test-taking strategies necessary to beat the test-makers at their own game. We will not pass you off to someone who was simply given a crash course in our methods; students enrolled in our course will work directly with Dr. Rothkopf, who wrote the curricula, usually attains perfect or near-perfect scores on the exams, and has been preparing students for the test for over four decades. Through their training, students learn how to master the skills needed for all sections of the SAT, ACT and PSAT exams. In recent years, our students have seen an average SAT score increase of over 200 points; the highest increase one of our students achieved (on the now-retired three-scores version of the test) was an astounding 900 points (which would translate to a 600-point increase on today's version of the SAT)!
All of our Comprehensive Prep courses cover the same material and simultaneously prepare students for the SAT, ACT and PSAT exams. Each course offers over 67 hours of in-depth preparation; additionally, students are welcome to remain after class to ask for clarification or further explanation on any lessons from that day's class -- this should help to prevent any students from feeling like they are falling behind. You can view the schedules and reserve your space for any of our courses on our Schedules/Registration page.
We are currently taking enrollment for our 2024-25 November-to-May Comprehensive Prep Course, which begins on Sunday, November 3 in preparation for the April 2025 ACT and May 2025 SAT exams...students are also encouraged to consider taking an additional exam along the way (such as the February ACT and March SAT exams), as well as to take one or both of those exams on future dates as well. The tuition for the course is $1495. All students will be required to have a scientific or graphing calculator and to purchase the most recent versions of two books: "The Official ACT Prep Guide" and "The Official Digital SAT Study Guide"; students will also need to bring a laptop, tablet or iPad to a few classes toward the end of the course.
There are two options for attending classes: (1) in person in the conference room at Comfort Suites (located at 3901 SW 117 Avenue, just off the Turnpike at the corner of Bird Road (SW 40 Street) and SW 117 Avenue) AND (2) remotely through Zoom. Students/parents can choose which of the two formats they feel most comfortable with (unless the in-person option reaches maximum enrollment). The Zoom option allows both local and out-of-town students who view the class remotely to still hear/see the instructor and the white board clearly and to participate & interact with the instructor just as if they were attending in person; the Zoom option is also available for students who normally attend in-person but who occasionally cannot attend at the in-person location. If a student is unable to attend class on a particular date through either method of attendance, the student can arrange to view a recording of the missed class on YouTube for an additional $10.
Since we record every class and upload it to the internet on a private page, students who enroll late can still catch up on what they've missed by viewing the recordings of the previous classes.
If you already know you want to register for our course, you can click here. If you'd like more guidance, please read on or contact us (see the bottom of this page).
COURSE / TEST RECOMMENDATIONS
First, three important notes:
(1) Unlike 30 years ago, most students now take the SAT and/or ACT 2 - 4 times (sometimes more), wisely taking advantage of the widespread use of “super-scoring”. For example, if the student takes the SAT exam in June and scores a 660 in the verbal sections and a 400 in the math sections, and then that same student takes the SAT again in October and scores a 520 in the verbal sections and a 680 in the math sections, most schools (and scholarships such as the Florida Bright Futures scholarships) will combine the high verbal score (660) from June and the high math score (680) from October, leading to a 1340 score, which, beginning with the Class of 2023, has been the scoring level necessary for the highest level of the Bright Futures scholarships.
(2) Whereas some students have been advised to take their first SAT and ACT exams without preparation, "just to see how you'll do," we do not recommend this. As it says on our FAQ page, before taking their first driving test, most students enroll in a driver's education course...they would never consider taking the test without training. You should never take an important exam inadequately prepared, and getting professional training prior to your first SAT and ACT allows more time to further enhance your test-taking skills should you later decide to retake the tests. If you have ever taken the PSAT or PreACT, or if you’ve taken a published previously-administered SAT or ACT exam, you already have a feel for the tests. "Getting a feel for the SAT and ACT exams" is one of the primary benefits of the PSAT and PreACT exams, respectively.
Given the above, our recommendations are as follows:
For students who are in 12th grade in the 2024-25 school year, your last opportunity to take our complete course before the application deadlines for most colleges is our ongoing 2024 July-to-October Comprehensive Prep Course. That course is already well underway, but if you are a student (such as a homeschooled student) with enough time to catch up on the classes you've missed, it is still possible to enroll. For the purpose of scholarships and for schools with deadlines that allow for spring test-taking, our 2024 November-to-May Comprehensive Prep Course is your best choice, particularly as the course ends prior to the Bright Futures Scholarship deadlines. As the number of test dates still available to you are limited, we recommend that you take the exam twice before the end of 2024 (for the purposes of college admissions), and then twice again in the spring of 2025, toward the end of the course, for the purposes of scholarships and schools with later application deadlines.
For students who are in 11th grade in the 2024-25 school year, our next course, which begins in November 2024, is the best one through which to begin your SAT/ACT training, so it would be a good idea to reserve your space in our 2024-25 November-to-May Comprehensive Prep Course as soon as possible, while there are still spaces available. We always recommend that 11th grade students should plan to sit for at least two SAT exams and at least two ACT exams during their junior year, so we would encourage you to plan to take the ACT and SAT in April and May 2025, respectively and at least one other time soon before or after those dates. While neither the SAT nor the ACT is inherently more easy or more difficult than the other, some students will find, after they have completed practice tests during the course and have taken both the SAT and ACT twice toward the end of their training or soon thereafter, that they will be scoring significantly and consistently better on one test than on the other. Thus, in the first few months of your senior year, if you wish to further raise your scores, we recommend that you should focus on your stronger exam and register for test dates from July through December 2025.
For students who are in 9th or 10th grade in the 2024-25 school year and who wish to get an early start on their SAT and ACT preparation, our Comprehensive Preparation courses are absolutely available to you, too. Note that you should not feel pressure to have to take the SAT and ACT, nor our course, during your freshman and sophomore high school years...most students don't take those exams until 11th grade and usually begin their preparation as they enter their junior year. However, you might want to consider enrolling in our course if you are wanting to get an early start. Note that freshmen and sophomores who take our course should definitely plan to take the SAT and ACT exams immediately after the course has been completed, while the material is fresh...do not take the course and then wait several months or longer to take the tests. Alternatively, you can wait for one of our future courses and not focus upon the SAT and ACT exams during the 2024-25 academic year.
----> READY TO REGISTER? GREAT!! CLICK HERE! <----
If you have questions you'd like to ask -- about the course, about payment, about the exams, or about anything else -- you can email Dr. Rothkopf at [email protected] or you can call/text Michele at 305-969-2012; either one of us will be happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Since we only have a very limited number of seats for the in-person location, we strongly encourage you to reserve your space or contact us with your questions as soon as possible to make sure to secure your spot in our course.
Again, thank you so much for your interest in Higher Standards for your test prep. We look forward to working with your family!
Sincerely,
Dr. & Mrs. Jeff & Michele Rothkopf