Aronovitch starts new SAT prep course

Josh Aronovitch learned a great deal from his campaign for mayor. He learned how much he enjoys working with his community and working to achieve goals-revelations that lead to a career change."I realized life is too short to work 90 hour weeks if you don't love what you're doing," said Aronovitch, now the owner of The Aronovitch Coaching Experience or ACE, an SAT and LSAT prep course.

A Harvard graduate, Aronovitch was previously employed at Pepper Hamilton, law firm with offices in Philadelphia. While pursuing his law degree, Aronovitch spent 30 to 60 hours a week tutoring students in preparation for the LSAT, racking up thousands of hours in one-on-one tutoring experience.

"I kept going back to the time I spent teaching the LSATs and tutoring in college and high school and realized I love to teach. I love helping people achieve goals," he said.

He is also very familiar with the test and recognizing its patterns; Aronovitch scored 1,580 on his SATs and in the 99th percentile on the LSAT.

A critical part of ACE is to make the SATs more approachable, and help students to deal with test anxiety. Aronovitch explained that he will work with students to determine their strengths and weaknesses to focus on areas of the test that they need to study.

"These mass market courses that have students doing homework for hours on things they already know how to do," he said. "In order to get someone to maximize their score the learning has to be personalized."

ACE courses will begin on Sept. 15, following a free SAT practice test and demo class on Sept. 13 at 8:30 a.m. The course offers 12 sessions, for a total of 36 classroom hours, which is six hours more than the Princeton Review and 16 more than Kaplan, the two mass market SAT prep courses. Aronovitch also explained that while the Kaplan and Princeton Review courses are priced at $1,099 the ACE program is priced at $750. He also said that if someone wanted to take the course but was unable to pay the full price he would work with them to offer a discount.

"It's my goal to make a course that gives kids what they need to ace the SAT but is as affordable as possible," he said.

While he admits that too much value is placed on the SAT, he explains that it is a beatable test; its patterns and be studied and taught and students can focus on problem areas to improve their scores.

The course will begin with a combination of twice a week and once a week courses. Aronovitch says the twice a week courses are ideal for students looking to take the test in November and the once a week courses are ideal for December test takers. Like many other SAT coaches, Aronovitch stressed the importance of starting early.

"One of the things I highly recommend is that the earlier students start to prepare the better they do. Freshman and sophomores would be wise to take the course now," he said.

Once students complete an ACE class they are welcome back for free to sit in on classes, take more practice tests and ask for advice and feedback.

Currently, classes are planned for Washington Township and Cherry Hill although additional classes will be scheduled based on demand. Aronovitch said that if five or more students in a town wish to create a class he will work with them to develop a course that works around their schedules.

Additional information on the Aronovitch Coaching Experience can be found at www.acesatprep.com.

"It's not just about offering a class, it's about being partner in helping them get into the college of their dreams," Aronovitch said.