At Edison Prep, Brian Eufinger Says Test Prep Starts With the Student, Not the Score

For Brian Eufinger, the most important question in test preparation is not, “What score can we get?”

It is: What does this particular student actually need?

Eufinger, who founded Edison Prep with his wife, Silvia, has built his approach around that distinction. A student aiming for a smaller Georgia college and a scholarship may need a modest score increase. Another hoping for a highly selective university may face a much longer climb. Treating those students the same, he argues, makes little sense.

North Atlanta Star’s Tsvi Jolles and Revital Hasenfratz sat down with Eufinger at Edison Prep for a wide-ranging conversation about SAT and ACT preparation, grades, scholarships, the pressure surrounding college admissions and why some North Atlanta families may actually be starting test prep too early. The discussion also touched on something Eufinger considers central to the process: parents need good information before they need tutoring.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

“There’s no such thing as a good score or a bad score”

Tsvi Jolles: When families first come to you, how do you decide what they actually need?

Brian Eufinger: There’s no such thing as a good score or a bad score, or a good GPA or bad GPA. It’s all relative to where you’re applying.

We spend a lot of time advising students about the right plan, and sometimes the answer is essentially, “You’re good. We can’t take your money.”

The more parents can tell us — the schools a student is considering, geographic parameters, financial parameters, GPA, current scores — the better we can design the right plan. There’s no need for overkill, and there’s no need for underkill.

I’ll give you an example. We have a family with twins. They’re different people, and that’s important, because parents sometimes feel guilty about not treating two kids exactly the same.

One student has a relatively modest score goal connected to the college he wants and the scholarship his family is pursuing. His brother is considering schools where he needs a much larger improvement. They started in the same class, but after that their plans became completely different.

That is what individualized planning should look like.

The score can be about money, not only admission

Tsvi: A lot of parents probably think test preparation is mostly about getting into a better college.

Brian: It can get you into better schools, save you money, or both.

I grew up without a lot of money. My wife did too. Test scores helped us pay for college, so I teach from a place of gratitude about this.

Sometimes the financial side gets overlooked. A student may already be able to get into a school, but a higher score can make a substantial difference in scholarship money.

Georgia families also have something very valuable in HOPE and Zell Miller. A lot of people who move here from another state or another country don’t necessarily understand immediately how significant those programs can be.

For Zell Miller, for example, a qualifying student can receive full tuition at an eligible Georgia public institution. The current academic requirements include a 3.7 calculated GPA, rigor requirements and a qualifying SAT or ACT score.

So sometimes three ACT points are not just three points. They can have a real dollar value to a family.

Revi: When should a family start?

Revital Hasenfratz: For parents who are new to this system, one of the confusing questions is when to start. When should a student actually begin thinking about test preparation?

Brian: The northern arc of Atlanta is very passionate about education, and sometimes parents want to start extremely early.

There are worse things than caring too much. But I tell parents to channel that hard work correctly.

In ninth and 10th grade, the priority is getting really good grades in hard classes.

The test-prep timeline has much more to do with math level than somebody simply saying, “My child is a sophomore” or “My child is a junior.”

If you finish Algebra II as a sophomore, then once sophomore year is over, game on. Start when it fits your schedule.

If you’re taking Algebra II as a junior, I generally want you to wait. You need enough of that math first.

We actually have parents who call early, and we tell them, “Hurry up and wait.”

“Don’t let somebody in the stands at the football game make you feel guilty”

Brian: Parents compare timelines constantly. Somebody hears another parent talking at a football game and suddenly thinks, “Their child started already. Are we behind?”

Don’t do that.

Your student has a timeline.

Math is the timeline.

For most students, I would love for them to have a very good chance of being finished with testing by the June after junior year at the latest. Senior-year testing is legal and certainly possible, but senior fall already has college visits, applications, essays, school and everything else.

If you can finish sooner, that is one less thing hanging over you.

Revi: What if the student is academically accelerated?

Revi: What about a student who is far ahead in math? Does the grade-level rule still apply?

Brian: That’s exactly why I say math level matters more than age.

I had a student who was extremely accelerated and had already completed Algebra II very early. His mother wanted him to begin preparing as a freshman, and initially I said, “No, he’s too young.”

Then she told me what math he was taking.

I said, “Okay. Never mind.”

He was ready.

So there are exceptions. The point is not to force everybody into the same calendar.

Grades first

Revi: You also mentioned that parents sometimes focus so much on SAT and ACT scores that they miss the GPA side.

Brian: Absolutely.

About 80% of what we do is SAT and ACT, but I’ve always told parents that grades are more important.

You can take the SAT or ACT again. If you have a bad freshman year, those grades are already on the transcript.

That’s why when somebody calls me with a ninth grader and wants to jump into test prep, I may tell them, “Call me later. Protect the GPA.”

We also have tutoring in regular academic subjects because those grades matter so much.

And there’s another balance parents have to understand: rigor is important, but taking extremely difficult classes only to end up with poor grades is not necessarily a winning strategy.

You have to know the student.

Revi: So an easier class with a stronger grade can sometimes be the smarter choice?

Revi: If a student is struggling badly in an accelerated class, is moving to an on-level class sometimes better than staying there and getting a much lower grade?

Brian: Yes. The details always matter, but you have to take the grades seriously.

Parents sometimes think the answer is simply, “Take every hardest class available.”

No. It has to be sustainable.

You want rigor, but you also want success.

Why Edison Prep’s founders keep taking the tests

Tsvi: You and Silvia take these tests yourselves every year. Why put that burden on yourselves?

Brian: The kids get a kick out of it, but it’s also important.

The tests change.

We revise our materials about twice a year because new concepts and new question types appear. When I sit for the test, most questions look familiar, but every so often I see three or four things that are different.

That’s intelligence we need.

If somebody needs to move from a low score to an average score, older generic materials may be fine. If somebody is pursuing a highly competitive score or a major scholarship, small changes matter much more.

That’s why we keep taking the real exams.

A calculator can change the math section

Tsvi: You have an entire course about using the calculator?

Brian: We do.

I taught myself to program a TI-83 when I was a kid because I was bored and wanted it to help me with my math homework.

Some of those basic ideas have stayed with me for 30 years.

Today the SAT is digital, and students have access to Desmos. A lot of kids know that Desmos exists, but they don’t necessarily know how to leverage it.

The same thing happens with a TI-84 on the ACT.

For students who struggle with math, learning to use the calculator properly can give them confidence, speed and accuracy. Sometimes it can save several minutes on a section, and that can be enormous.

Test prep isn’t just memorizing commas and the Pythagorean theorem. It’s time management, pacing, emotional management, reading techniques, grammar rules, math formulas and knowing how to use the tools available to you.

The “test optional” debate

Tsvi: During COVID, “test optional” became such a major phrase in college admissions. Did that change your business?

Brian: My mother panicked when she first heard it. She said, essentially, “What are you going to do?”

I told her not to worry.

My view has always been that families need to look beneath the phrase “test optional.”

There are schools where you can apply without submitting a score. But that does not automatically mean the score has no effect on your chances, and it certainly does not mean it cannot affect merit aid.

The college process is stressful enough. Parents deserve to understand what the numbers really mean for the particular schools they are considering.

Eufinger has made the test-optional question one of his specialties, speaking about the issue at national education conferences and collecting admissions data that he says often reveals significant differences between applicants who submit scores and those who do not.

Revi: Is consulting only about the SAT and ACT?

Revi: For an immigrant family, or really anyone who did not grow up understanding the American college system, there is a lot to learn. When should a family come to you for consulting? And is that consultation only about SAT and ACT?

Brian: That’s a perfect transition.

The tests are a big part of what we do, but parents call us earlier all the time.

Sometimes they are not ready for tutoring yet. That’s fine.

We can explain the timeline, talk about the student’s academic situation, make sure the family understands the importance of the GPA and then say, “Let’s talk again next spring.”

We want people to have a plan.

We also hold free parent information sessions. Part of the purpose is simply helping parents understand how college admissions works now, because it changes constantly.

You have FAFSA changes, Common App changes, GPA questions, testing changes. A high school administrator may have 100 different responsibilities. This is what we do every day.

If parents understand the process, they can be less stressed and often save money.

A very North Atlanta problem: ambition

During the conversation, Eufinger repeatedly returned to North Atlanta’s intense academic culture — particularly communities around Johns Creek, Alpharetta, South Forsyth, Suwanee and other northern suburbs.

Tsvi: Do you see families here beginning earlier because education is such a priority, including among immigrant families?

Brian: Yes, starting earlier is more common in some of those communities.

But ambition has to be directed correctly.

If your child is in ninth grade, working hard does not have to mean SAT prep. Working hard might mean getting excellent grades and taking the right classes.

There is plenty of time.

Caring is good. Panic is not a strategy.

A staff of professional tutors

Revi: What would you say is the main difference between Edison Prep and other tutoring options?

Brian: One important difference is that we do not staff our test prep with college students.

I was a college student once too. There’s nothing wrong with being a college student. But you also don’t necessarily want to be somebody’s first student.

Having a larger professional team also lets us match personalities.

If a parent tells us, “My son is on the robotics team, this is his personality, this is what he struggles with,” as they’re speaking, we’re already narrowing down which tutor might work best.

I know my own strengths and weaknesses. There are students where somebody else on our team is 10 times better for that particular personality or situation than I am.

Being able to make that match is valuable.

Edison Prep says its team includes highly experienced tutors working across test preparation and academic subjects, with Brian and Silvia personally training the tutoring staff.

In-person or virtual?

Tsvi: What percentage of students are coming here versus working online?

Brian: About 70% of our classes are in person.

But I love data, and when I compare our student results, virtual and in-person outcomes are usually within a percentage point or two of each other.

Two things matter: an engaged student and homework happening.

If your student is going to sit online and spend the whole time distracted by a phone, send them in person.

For some students, that’s the biggest advantage of the classroom: I can give them the evil eye and they’ll put the phone away.

But a lot of students from the northern suburbs will do the group class in person and then, once they move into one-on-one fine-tuning, do that virtually because it saves the drive.

The two-minute job for parents

Revi: So if the format is not the deciding factor, what is?

Brian: Homework.

Parents can dramatically improve the odds that this works by spending two minutes a week checking that the homework actually happened.

Students will say they did it.

Check.

I had students taking the same class together. One student was extremely motivated, sat in front, did the work. The others paid attention but weren’t doing the homework.

At the midpoint, his improvement was dramatically larger.

The parents asked me what happened.

I said, “Check the homework.”

They did.

There wasn’t any.

There are very few surprises when the work gets done.

SAT or ACT? Don’t prepare for both

Revi: You said students should choose the test that is stronger for them. Do you mean whichever one fits the child better?

Brian: Those are basically the same thing.

Take a mock SAT and a mock ACT.

Then compare them.

If the ACT result is clearly stronger, prepare for the ACT. If the SAT is clearly stronger, prepare for the SAT.

What I don’t recommend is preparing seriously for both.

Nobody has time for that.

Take both diagnostically, choose your stronger one and put your effort there.

“The right time to study is whenever you have time to study”

One of Eufinger’s clearest messages was also one of his simplest.

Students have sports. They have five AP classes. They have jobs. They have band, theater, robotics and family obligations.

The ideal test-prep calendar on paper may be the wrong calendar for a particular teenager.

“The right time to study,” Eufinger said, “is whenever you have time to study.”

That flexibility runs through Edison Prep’s model: group or one-on-one, SAT or ACT, in person or virtual, with tutoring available throughout the week.

But behind all those choices, Eufinger’s advice to families is surprisingly consistent.

Know where your student is starting. Know where the student wants to go. Protect the grades. Pick the right test. Do the homework.

And perhaps most importantly, do not build a college strategy around what somebody else’s child is doing.