Before committing to ongoing tutoring, find out exactly where your student stands—and whether Dave is the right fit to help them succeed.
What's Included:
60-minute deep-dive session via Zoom
Thorough review of your student's misses from a completed College Board Bluebook practice test
Socratic review that reveals current thinking patterns and blind spots
Identification of high-leverage skill areas and question types for efficient score improvement
Detailed written lesson summary highlighting key findings
Work with a proven SAT expert with 10+ years of experience helping hundreds of students score in the 90-99th percentile range
What Your Student Should Have Ready:
A completed official SAT practice test from the College Board Bluebook app (taken within the past 2 weeks for best results)
Why Start Here?
The Diagnostic Session is the logical first step for families considering SAT tutoring. In just one hour, you'll see Dave's teaching style in action and gain genuine insight into where your student's score can grow. There's no obligation to continue—but if you do, every session includes the same ongoing diagnostic attention, ensuring your student's preparation stays responsive to their evolving needs rather than locked into a rigid plan.
Walker Prep Reviews
"My SAT Reading & Writing score went from 650 to 780. I loved Dave's methods and found that his test-taking tips were super helpful. I would not have been able to do as well as I did without his great tutoring!"
"The results speak for themselves - my son's SAT Reading & Writing score went from a 700 to 770, and I know that improving at this higher tier is not easy. I wholeheartedly recommend Dave’s services. Don't hesitate; he is the key to unlocking true understanding of SAT questions.”
"My son boosted his SAT Reading and Writing from 650 to 720. Dave's techniques were lucid and easy to follow. With Dave's assistance, my son secured admission to a top university."
Walker Prep Reviews
"Increased SAT Reading & Writing Score from 600 to 740!"
"Dave is the perfect tutor if you want someone who will walk you through the exact steps you need to tackle all the questions on SAT Verbal. He has created a method of approaching this part of the SAT that improved my score tremendously. I am not and have never been a strong English person, yet through Dave's help, I went from a 600 to a 740 on SAT Reading."
"SAT Reading Score Increased from 700 to 750!"
"Time was running out. I knew teaching reading comprehension is very difficult task, raising score in 700 range was a challenge. I accidentally found Dave, but read all his reviews. I found consistently scores were improved.
"That convinced me Dave could find each students' learning style, weakness, and strategy to improve scores. That worked. One of the best decision I made.
"My daughter's score improved 50 points, she got 750. That helped her to meet her goal."
Digital SAT Reading & Writing Boost from 670 - 750!”
"Dave is awesome, and we are very happy to find him as a mentor for our daughter. The score improvement is beyond our expectations, from 670 - 750. We had 4 sessions just 10 days before the SAT.
"The techniques Dave taught helped our daughter a lot. We have tried several others, but Dave is unique, and I highly recommend his services."
FAQ section
You are welcome to send the report, but it's not necessary. The College Board's score reports for the digital SAT are too generalized to be particularly useful for targeted preparation. Categories like "Information and Ideas" lump together several distinct question types, obscuring the specific skills that need attention. Effective test prep requires a much more granular analysis than these reports provide.
More importantly, knowing which questions your student missed is only part of the picture. Understanding how they currently approach these questions—their reasoning, assumptions, and blind spots—is equally critical. That insight can only come from direct, one-on-one interaction, which is exactly what the Diagnostic Session provides.
That's not a problem at all. In fact, it's quite common.
Self-guided review, while well-intentioned, rarely goes deep enough. The SAT is a highly specialized test, and extracting the right lessons from a missed question requires expertise that typically takes years to develop. Students often walk away thinking they understand what went wrong when they've only scratched the surface.
And if your student previously worked with another tutor? The fact that you're exploring other options suggests that experience may have left something on the table. A different expert perspective on the same material can reveal insights that weren't uncovered the first time around.
The Diagnostic Session is designed to find exactly those gaps.
I only work with official College Board materials.
Third-party practice tests from even the most well-known test prep companies simply don't measure up. They routinely contain design inconsistencies, poorly constructed questions, and outright errors—sometimes offering more than one defensible answer, sometimes none at all. Practicing with flawed materials doesn't just waste time; it can be counterproductive, actively reinforce ineffective habits, and erode a student's trust in their own reasoning.
The good news is that retaking official tests provides far more value than most families expect. Students rarely extract everything a practice test has to offer the first time through, or even the second. The SAT is remarkably consistent in its design, and the insights embedded in those "already completed" tests are almost certainly still there, waiting to be uncovered by an expert eye.
If your student has genuinely exhausted the official materials and internalized all the lessons they contain, they probably don't need a tutor. In my experience, that's rarely the case.
Absolutely—in fact, high scorers often have the most to gain from expert analysis. When a student is close to their ceiling, the handful of questions they're missing represent the precise skill gaps standing between them and their target score. Identifying and addressing those gaps requires a level of precision that only intensifies at higher score levels.
That said, a student scoring 700+ may only have three or four misses on a single test, which can limit the material available for a thorough diagnostic. If this describes your student, please have them come prepared to review misses from their two most recent official practice tests. This ensures we have enough data to identify meaningful patterns and make the session as productive as possible.
Walker Prep Reviews
"Incredible"
"I very highly recommend Dave for SAT Reading preparations. Dave has an absolute knack to help quickly understand the core logic and reasoning behind the various answer choices and how to approach solving the most difficult and confusing questions.
"He makes it so easy to logically find the precise answer choice without any guesswork or confusion. His process and methodology of coaching is thorough, organized and highly engaging. His coaching and guidance has been incredible and paramount for significantly raising our child’s SAT Reading score in a very short period of time.
"Our child had initially self prepared and received a score of 670. We then started classes with Dave and within 2 months, the score increased to a 720 and then another month later to a 740 for a 70 point score improvement."
"Outstanding Tutor- Highly Recommended!"
"I am absolutely thrilled with the incredible progress that I made in the SAT Reading & Writing section, thanks to Dave Walker's exceptional tutoring. Starting with a score of 630 and through Dave's tutoring, achieving an impressive 710, the results speak volumes about Dave's expertise and dedication.
"Dave is an extraordinarily thorough and hardworking tutor who truly cares about his students' success. His personalized approach and complete understanding of the SAT content made all the difference. He consistently provided clear explanations, practical strategies, and encouraged support throughout the preparation process.
"The remarkable improvement in my score is a testament to Dave's effective teaching methods. I am extremely grateful for his guidance during this pivotal moment in my academic journey. I highly recommend Dave to any parent seeking a qualified and committed test prep tutor."
"Hyper Detail-Oriented, Objective English SAT Tutor"
"Within my own experience of learning, taking, and hearing advice from COUNTLESS tutors regarding the SAT, there is no one I know who can match the expertise and objectivity that Dave brings to analytically solving the SAT English Section.
"When you take classes with Dave, it's not a matter of luck or mindless practice that will achieve outstanding scores—it's his focus on removing all subjectivity associated with SAT English and treating it as a factual science. There is an undoubtedly clear explanation for every right answer and a blatantly obvious reason for every wrong answer.
"Dave achieves this approach by breaking down the English portion into various sections with an exact way to solve each answer. He will provide the resources and tools to understand the method and solve seemingly 'subjective' questions analytically. In my scenario, I was looking for a tutor who could help me reach close to perfection in the English Section, and Dave did exactly that.
"I went from scoring 730 to 770 in the English Section, bringing my SAT to a 1570. Whether you are looking for major improvements or slight refining, Dave is the go-to guy and will provide intuitive analysis skills that will persist beyond standardized tests."