Among the colleges to which our most recent students have been accepted:



































College Counseling and College Selection
Personal Statement Assistance
Supplementary (College-Specific) Essay Guidance
Support for extracurricular activities, recommendations, and financial aid
Confidence boosting and anxiety management
College Counseling and College Selection
Personal Statement Assistance
Supplementary (College-Specific) Essay Guidance
Support for extracurricular activities, recommendations, and financial aid
Confidence boosting and anxiety management
If the new admissions landscape seems especially anxiety-provoking and confusing, you are not alone. Acceptance rates have narrowed, expectations have expanded, and selective colleges are relying on a new approach, which they somewhat confusingly call “holistic” admissions.
While the rest of the college admissions world uses antiquated models that may have worked 20 years ago, or even pre-COVID, The Krupnick Approach prepares you with methods that work in today’s admissions landscape. We guide students and parents through the three core elements of the college admissions process:
Requirements form the foundational infrastructure of the college prep process. These include good grades, solid test scores, and meaningfully rigorous college-prep courses. We help students with all of these parts of the process – from academic coursework to ACT/SAT prep – and have the best track record in the field in standardized test preparation.
Strategy is the bread and butter of what most people think of when they start “college counseling.” We do it a little differently. Strategy and Positioning starts with a plan and a systematic timeline with chronologically overlapping projects. It’s extremely useful to begin this process early, and there’s nothing wrong with completing some of these projects at the same time. You do not need perfect ACT/SAT scores before visiting colleges. You don’t need to know exactly what you want to study before making your list. In regular consultation sessions with students and parents, we help our families think through strategy-related questions:
Given my interests, what kinds of activities should I pursue – and how?
How should I think about summer programs?
Whom should I ask to write my college recommendations – and how do I ask them?
How should I think about the college essays – and what is the difference between the Personal Statement (Common App Main Essay) and each of the college-specific supplementary essays?
When I begin to design my list, how many colleges should I include – and how do I make distinctions between “safeties,” “targets,” and “reaches”?
What are my statistical odds at these different colleges–given my GPA and test scores?
When I begin to narrow down my list, how many colleges should I narrow it down to – and how do I make the most of my college visits at these schools?
How do I think about Early Decision, Early Action, and Early Decision II – and when should I ED vs. when should I not ED?
Discovery is about determining what you are interested in, where you want to apply, and what, essentially, you want to study. If Strategy and Positioning is about appealing to them (ie, the colleges), Discovery is about finding the right fit for you.
i) Extra-curricular Interest Discovery. We help you find, recognize, direct, and harness your interests – both inside and outside the classroom.
ii) College Discovery. We help you identify and narrow down your college lists into safeties, targets, and reaches. In doing so, we get to know your academic interests and help you find schools – and majors – where you will be happy and successful.
While each student has a distinctive style, personality, and set of strengths, four applicant profiles often guide our thinking:
1. After deciding on a program, students are matched with a consulting team, usually consisting of 1-2 specialists. Program hours are structured around a systematic student-centered timeline and action plan that is customized to fit strengths, weaknesses, and interests of the individual student applicant.
2. All parents and students, regardless of their chosen program, are provided with a program specification document, outlining details of their program. Each family will have full access to the following Krupnick Approach proprietary college resources:
3. Detailed progress reports are made available to students and parents on request. These reports summarize students’ progression through the college process–and allow all programs to be dynamically responsive to students’ distinctive and changing needs throughout the process.
1. After deciding on a program, students are matched with a consulting team, usually consisting of 1-2 specialists. Program hours are structured around a systematic student-centered timeline and action plan that is customized to fit strengths, weaknesses, and interests of the individual student applicant.
2. All parents and students, regardless of their chosen program, are provided with a program specification document, outlining details of their program. Each family will have full access to the following Krupnick Approach proprietary college resources:
3. Detailed progress reports are made available to students and parents on request. These reports summarize students’ progression through the college process–and allow all programs to be dynamically responsive to students’ distinctive and changing needs throughout the process.
A: The ACT/SAT doesn’t reflect what you’ve learned in school. It certainly is not an intelligence test. What it is is a test of how effectively and efficiently you can attend to details, ignore distractions, and transform unfamiliar words and concepts into ideas that make sense to you.
A: For a number of reasons. First, colleges–like most of the rest of the well-educated public–probably do not realize it’s not essentially a test of school-taught skills. Second, even if they do realize this, the ACT/SAT is important because it requires a different but equally important set of skills that you do need in college and later in life. In college, you will take courses that assign 400 pages of reading a week. It is physically impossible to read 400 pages a week per class and also sleep, get to know your roommates, lose your virginity, etc, and the training you get on the Reading section of the ACT/SAT teaches you how to distill massive amounts of prose into a few core ideas. In life, unlike in school, you will have people who don’t like you, who are out to get you, take advantage of you. That’s the central pillar of the capitalist system. It is useful, in this world, to be able to keep your composure (elan), stick to your core principles and strategies, and fight back. A third reason colleges care about the ACT/SAT is that it is the single objectively measurable standard that colleges have to compare one applicant with another. (If you’re not convinced on this last reason, please see question and answer C below).
A: Again, for a number of reasons. But let’s back up and lay some groundwork here. It is important to recognize that test optional policies are real, that they’re not going away, and that they don’t represent some kind of disingenuous stratagem on the part of colleges to lull you into ponying up $100 for an application you’ve got no chance of getting into. Colleges mean it when they say that you don’t have to submit an ACT or SAT. They also mean it when they say that they won’t explicitly hold it against you. There are two important caveats, however. First, while they do offer you latitude on whether to submit your scores, they do take the ACT/SAT seriously. Second, while they may not explicitly penalize you for not submitting, they cannot very well reward you unless you do.
Test optional was born not out of COVID but out of the diversity movement, which has been gathering steam for decades. COVID may have accelerated the process, but colleges like University of Chicago and NYU went test-optional well before the pandemic in an explicit effort to admit more equally qualified lower-income and first-generation minority students. These students, universities correctly surmise, are at a disadvantage in the ACT/SAT process because they’re less likely to have the resources to afford multiple test sittings, programs like ours, etc. If you are not a lower-income and minority student, colleges will extend considerably less latitude for you on these tests. And if they perceive you have the resources to prepare for these things, they recognize that the exams are still important differentiators that transcend geographical, cultural, and social differences. In other words, for the vast majority of working, middle, and upper-middle-class college applicants, the ACT/SAT are still important.
The second issue is that they cannot reward you unless you submit your scores. From our perspective, the function of success on the ACT/SAT is to give you as many options as possible. When you’re working with us, our goal is not merely to “keep up” with the other students at your school; we want to give you an advantage over the other kids whose profiles are, superficially at least, essentially the same as yours. Like terrific grades, a well-crafted essay, and flattering recommendations, a great score on the ACT or SAT will appreciably improve your odds of acceptance at universities across the world and maybe even help you get some scholarship money.
A: After the complimentary consultation with a team member at The Krupnick Approach, students take a full-length baseline exam: either the ACT, SAT, or both. After these are graded, we will design a recommended program around each student’s particular strengths, weaknesses, and score or school goals. We may request an additional consultation at this stage to discuss baseline results and agree upon a recommended program length. When a program package is selected, a tutor team will be assembled to cover all subject sections of the exam. We will send students and parents a Program Specification Document outlining all of the details of the program: total hours, baseline scores, official test dates, mock test dates, the assigned tutor team, recommended pacing for each section, scheduling instructions for each tutor, and the policies and procedures of the respective program. This document will also provide access to the student’s Drive folder, The Krupnick Approach ACT/SAT Database, virtual whiteboards, and student portal login instructions. Students will then schedule sessions with each tutor in accordance with the agreed-upon plan outlined in the specification document.
A: If families are unsure of which test is more suitable for a student’s strengths and goals , we will administer, score, and analyze an ACT and SAT baseline exam, on different days. We will then collect feedback from the student about their experience with each exam, and advise on the best approach moving forward. We discourage students from preparing for both exams.
A: Some tutors utilize an automated scheduling system, which will allow students to choose from all remaining available time slots for that individual tutor. Others schedule directly with students via email, text, or phone. When scheduling through our automated system, students will receive an email confirmation for each time reserved and a calendar event will automatically be created on the account they are signed in with. If the session is virtual, the link to join the Zoom meeting will be included in the calendar event and email confirmation, or the tutor will send you a unique join link before your scheduled session.
We highly encourage students to schedule their own sessions so that they appear on the student’s calendar. We find that students who take over the execution and management of their programs fare far better both in our program and in the inevitable chaos of college life and classworkwork. When using our automated system, parents can be added to the calendar events after the initial scheduling so that they know when students are scheduled to meet.
A: Students work out their schedules individually with each subject-specialist, depending on the student’s and the tutor’s schedule. Tutors do their best to be flexible and each tutor team will be selected with any scheduling restrictions in mind.
A: ACT and SAT students are expected to meet with tutors for 1.5 hour sessions, with exceptions made for students with accommodations or other extenuating circumstances.
A: Students should expect a 1:1 ratio of session time to homework. If a student meets with a tutor for 1.5 hours per week, he or she should expect to complete about 1.5 hours of homework per week. Failure to complete assigned homework can significantly impact a student’s ability to reach his or her score goals. Students are required to complete and submit all homework assignments on a ZipGrade answer sheet to ensure comprehensive data collection and analysis. This ensures that a student’s tutor team and The Krupnick Approach administrative team can track student progress and adjust priorities among and between subjects over time. Students can submit ZipGrade answer sheets via email to their respective tutors at any time. Tutors will scan these into our comprehensive grading system so that tutors and students can review overall performance and missed questions the next time they meet.
A: Mock tests are designed to evaluate student progress across the subject sections throughout the entire duration of the program. Most students will take a full-length mock test every 2-4 weeks, depending on the length of the program and the student’s goals. Regular mock testing ensures that students are able to integrate the lessons of all of the subject sections in one full exam, rather than merely as individual subject-level homework assignments. Mock test results are used to recalibrate the remainder of the program and reorient the student’s priorities in accordance with any progress made. The results of each mock test and each homework section will be accessible via the student’s unique portal, and The Krupnick Approach administrative and tutor teams keep a close eye on all results to ensure students are progressing at a reasonable pace.
Students may take their mock tests at home or in The Krupnick Approach’s downtown Chicago offices at 321 N. Clark. St. If students test at home, they need to print the entire exam and all answer sheets to mimic test day conditions as closely as possible. We recommend students take mock tests on a weekend morning, or at least not testing after a full day of school. Students should reach out to a member of The Krupnick Approach team to schedule mock tests in the office, and students will need to show a photo ID in the first floor lobby to access our 5th floor offices.
A: Students will be given full access to The Krupnick Approach’s ACT or SAT Database, which includes many dozen official, full-length practice tests, score and percentile information, individual subject-specific practice sections, strategy and systems study guides, third-party resources, and ZipGrade answer sheets for all homework. Students will have a dedicated Student Drive, accessible by the entire tutor team, for easy sharing of score reports, study guides, schedules, or other related program information. All students will be provided a personalized ZipGrade Student Portal, where they can view all past results for baseline exams and homework sections. This portal will show each individual question results and the associated concept tags for each question. These tags are diligently assigned by The Krupnick Approach’s subject specialists and allow students and tutors to consistently and dynamically address each student’s particular weaknesses as they progress over time. Some students will be given access to a virtual whiteboard for some subject sections, which they will be able to access independently for further review and independent study.
The Krupnick Approach tutors and administrative staff are available to assist students and parents throughout the test prep process via email, text, and phone call. We are happy to advise on applying for testing accommodations, when to register, how to prepare for test day, and all other aspects of the process that families should be thinking about. We provide wraparound services that can keep all interested parties on the same page and focused on the same goals.
A: Most students work with 2-3 subject specialists. Often, a single tutor will be assigned to cover more than one subject given the similarities in the sections themselves and the best strategies for approaching them. This will always depend upon the student’s unique strengths and weaknesses.
A: Students are expected to maintain a professional and punctual attitude towards their time with our subject-specialists. All sessions must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, and scheduled sessions must be canceled with at least 24 hours notice. Tutors will retain discretion to accommodate less than 24-hour notice, but reserve the right to charge the entirety of the reserved time to the student’s program totals.
A: The ACT/SAT doesn’t reflect what you’ve learned in school. It certainly is not an intelligence test. What it is is a test of how effectively and efficiently you can attend to details, ignore distractions, and transform unfamiliar words and concepts into ideas that make sense to you.
A: For a number of reasons. First, colleges–like most of the rest of the well-educated public–probably do not realize it’s not essentially a test of school-taught skills. Second, even if they do realize this, the ACT/SAT is important because it requires a different but equally important set of skills that you do need in college and later in life. In college, you will take courses that assign 400 pages of reading a week. It is physically impossible to read 400 pages a week per class and also sleep, get to know your roommates, lose your virginity, etc, and the training you get on the Reading section of the ACT/SAT teaches you how to distill massive amounts of prose into a few core ideas. In life, unlike in school, you will have people who don’t like you, who are out to get you, take advantage of you. That’s the central pillar of the capitalist system. It is useful, in this world, to be able to keep your composure (elan), stick to your core principles and strategies, and fight back. A third reason colleges care about the ACT/SAT is that it is the single objectively measurable standard that colleges have to compare one applicant with another. (If you’re not convinced on this last reason, please see question and answer C below).
A: Again, for a number of reasons. But let’s back up and lay some groundwork here. It is important to recognize that test optional policies are real, that they’re not going away, and that they don’t represent some kind of disingenuous stratagem on the part of colleges to lull you into ponying up $100 for an application you’ve got no chance of getting into. Colleges mean it when they say that you don’t have to submit an ACT or SAT. They also mean it when they say that they won’t explicitly hold it against you. There are two important caveats, however. First, while they do offer you latitude on whether to submit your scores, they do take the ACT/SAT seriously. Second, while they may not explicitly penalize you for not submitting, they cannot very well reward you unless you do.
Test optional was born not out of COVID but out of the diversity movement, which has been gathering steam for decades. COVID may have accelerated the process, but colleges like University of Chicago and NYU went test-optional well before the pandemic in an explicit effort to admit more equally qualified lower-income and first-generation minority students. These students, universities correctly surmise, are at a disadvantage in the ACT/SAT process because they’re less likely to have the resources to afford multiple test sittings, programs like ours, etc. If you are not a lower-income and minority student, colleges will extend considerably less latitude for you on these tests. And if they perceive you have the resources to prepare for these things, they recognize that the exams are still important differentiators that transcend geographical, cultural, and social differences. In other words, for the vast majority of working, middle, and upper-middle-class college applicants, the ACT/SAT are still important.
The second issue is that they cannot reward you unless you submit your scores. From our perspective, the function of success on the ACT/SAT is to give you as many options as possible. When you’re working with us, our goal is not merely to “keep up” with the other students at your school; we want to give you an advantage over the other kids whose profiles are, superficially at least, essentially the same as yours. Like terrific grades, a well-crafted essay, and flattering recommendations, a great score on the ACT or SAT will appreciably improve your odds of acceptance at universities across the world and maybe even help you get some scholarship money.
A: After the complimentary consultation with a team member at The Krupnick Approach, students take a full-length baseline exam: either the ACT, SAT, or both. After these are graded, we will design a recommended program around each student’s particular strengths, weaknesses, and score or school goals. We may request an additional consultation at this stage to discuss baseline results and agree upon a recommended program length. When a program package is selected, a tutor team will be assembled to cover all subject sections of the exam. We will send students and parents a Program Specification Document outlining all of the details of the program: total hours, baseline scores, official test dates, mock test dates, the assigned tutor team, recommended pacing for each section, scheduling instructions for each tutor, and the policies and procedures of the respective program. This document will also provide access to the student’s Drive folder, The Krupnick Approach ACT/SAT Database, virtual whiteboards, and student portal login instructions. Students will then schedule sessions with each tutor in accordance with the agreed-upon plan outlined in the specification document.
A: If families are unsure of which test is more suitable for a student’s strengths and goals , we will administer, score, and analyze an ACT and SAT baseline exam, on different days. We will then collect feedback from the student about their experience with each exam, and advise on the best approach moving forward. We discourage students from preparing for both exams.
A: Some tutors utilize an automated scheduling system, which will allow students to choose from all remaining available time slots for that individual tutor. Others schedule directly with students via email, text, or phone. When scheduling through our automated system, students will receive an email confirmation for each time reserved and a calendar event will automatically be created on the account they are signed in with. If the session is virtual, the link to join the Zoom meeting will be included in the calendar event and email confirmation, or the tutor will send you a unique join link before your scheduled session.
We highly encourage students to schedule their own sessions so that they appear on the student’s calendar. We find that students who take over the execution and management of their programs fare far better both in our program and in the inevitable chaos of college life and classworkwork. When using our automated system, parents can be added to the calendar events after the initial scheduling so that they know when students are scheduled to meet.
A: Students work out their schedules individually with each subject-specialist, depending on the student’s and the tutor’s schedule. Tutors do their best to be flexible and each tutor team will be selected with any scheduling restrictions in mind.
A: ACT and SAT students are expected to meet with tutors for 1.5 hour sessions, with exceptions made for students with accommodations or other extenuating circumstances.
A: Students should expect a 1:1 ratio of session time to homework. If a student meets with a tutor for 1.5 hours per week, he or she should expect to complete about 1.5 hours of homework per week. Failure to complete assigned homework can significantly impact a student’s ability to reach his or her score goals. Students are required to complete and submit all homework assignments on a ZipGrade answer sheet to ensure comprehensive data collection and analysis. This ensures that a student’s tutor team and The Krupnick Approach administrative team can track student progress and adjust priorities among and between subjects over time. Students can submit ZipGrade answer sheets via email to their respective tutors at any time. Tutors will scan these into our comprehensive grading system so that tutors and students can review overall performance and missed questions the next time they meet.
A: Mock tests are designed to evaluate student progress across the subject sections throughout the entire duration of the program. Most students will take a full-length mock test every 2-4 weeks, depending on the length of the program and the student’s goals. Regular mock testing ensures that students are able to integrate the lessons of all of the subject sections in one full exam, rather than merely as individual subject-level homework assignments. Mock test results are used to recalibrate the remainder of the program and reorient the student’s priorities in accordance with any progress made. The results of each mock test and each homework section will be accessible via the student’s unique portal, and The Krupnick Approach administrative and tutor teams keep a close eye on all results to ensure students are progressing at a reasonable pace.
Students may take their mock tests at home or in The Krupnick Approach’s downtown Chicago offices at 321 N. Clark. St. If students test at home, they need to print the entire exam and all answer sheets to mimic test day conditions as closely as possible. We recommend students take mock tests on a weekend morning, or at least not testing after a full day of school. Students should reach out to a member of The Krupnick Approach team to schedule mock tests in the office, and students will need to show a photo ID in the first floor lobby to access our 5th floor offices.
A: Students will be given full access to The Krupnick Approach’s ACT or SAT Database, which includes many dozen official, full-length practice tests, score and percentile information, individual subject-specific practice sections, strategy and systems study guides, third-party resources, and ZipGrade answer sheets for all homework. Students will have a dedicated Student Drive, accessible by the entire tutor team, for easy sharing of score reports, study guides, schedules, or other related program information. All students will be provided a personalized ZipGrade Student Portal, where they can view all past results for baseline exams and homework sections. This portal will show each individual question results and the associated concept tags for each question. These tags are diligently assigned by The Krupnick Approach’s subject specialists and allow students and tutors to consistently and dynamically address each student’s particular weaknesses as they progress over time. Some students will be given access to a virtual whiteboard for some subject sections, which they will be able to access independently for further review and independent study.
The Krupnick Approach tutors and administrative staff are available to assist students and parents throughout the test prep process via email, text, and phone call. We are happy to advise on applying for testing accommodations, when to register, how to prepare for test day, and all other aspects of the process that families should be thinking about. We provide wraparound services that can keep all interested parties on the same page and focused on the same goals.
A: Most students work with 2-3 subject specialists. Often, a single tutor will be assigned to cover more than one subject given the similarities in the sections themselves and the best strategies for approaching them. This will always depend upon the student’s unique strengths and weaknesses.
A: Students are expected to maintain a professional and punctual attitude towards their time with our subject-specialists. All sessions must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, and scheduled sessions must be canceled with at least 24 hours notice. Tutors will retain discretion to accommodate less than 24-hour notice, but reserve the right to charge the entirety of the reserved time to the student’s program totals.
SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which is not affiliated with The Krupnick Approach. *Restrictions apply.
Enrollment Advisor
1-800-2REVIEW (800-273-8439) ext. 1
FAQ
Hours
Mon-Fri 9AM-10PM ET
Sat-Sun 9AM-8PM ET
Student Support
1-800-2REVIEW (800-273-8439) ext. 2
FAQ
Hours
Mon-Fri 9AM-9PM ET
Sat-Sun 8:30AM-5PM ET
Partnership
International
Advertising
Affiliate/Other
Register Book
College
SAT
ACT
PSAT
AP Test
SAT Subject Tests
College
GRE
GMAT
LSAT
MCAT
DAT
OAT
Academic Subjects
Math
Science
English
Social Studies
AP Support
Find the right college
College Rankings
College Advice
Applying to College
Financial Aid
Institutional Partnerships
K-12 Home
Tutor.com
Test Prep
Professional Development
Early Edge & Up Next
About Us
Resources
Webinars
Advice Articles
Videos
Live Online
Private Tutoring
Mobile Apps
Local Offices
Counselors
About
About
Teach or Tutor for Us
Work for Us
Affiliate Program
Partner with Us
Advertise with Us
Media
Contact
International
Our Guarantees
Enrollment Terms & Conditions
Accessibility