My name is Lydia Terry.  Nearly a decade ago, I started tutoring the SAT and ACT at a big box national tutoring company.  I noticed right away that so many students were great students, but they were struggling with the test.

They could do all of the problems put before them.  They knew most of what we were teaching them, but this wasn't turning into correct answers on the test.  So, I became obsessed with figuring out why.  Why was it that hard work in high school didn't turn into high scores on the ACT or SAT?

My background is in real estate appraisal, not education.  I knew that when I trained new appraisers, I could tell them a certain formula, but that didn't matter.  It wasn't until they USED the formula to solve a problem, that they truly understood the formula.  The SAT and ACT are very similar in that way, and they test students on their ability to understand.  I started breaking down the academic content and working students through it, instead of telling them what it was.  This changed EVERYTHING!

It sounds so simple and obvious, yet so many tutoring programs stick to the old fashioned approach of talking AT students instead of working WITH students.

In September of 2022, I founded Ampersand Prep, with the goal of taking my program to as many students as possible.  This program is not an alternative to traditional tutoring; it is more.  We do absolutely review all the content like other programs, & we also go into strategy and problem solving, which is why our company is named AMPERSAND Prep!