Parent & Student Reviews

A strong SHSAT composite score is the finish line, but for the families above it also marked the start of a very different high-school experience. The students quoted on this page went on to Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Brooklyn Latin, and Bard Early College — schools whose graduates attend Harvard, MIT, Columbia, and every other selective university in the country. When parents write to say a score of 498 or 536 “changed everything,” they are describing the admissions outcome those numbers unlock. Score to school is the real currency of SHSAT prep, and you can see exactly how that translates on our cutoff scores page.

What parents mention just as often, however, is what happens between sessions. Dr. Donnelly tutors one-on-one for 60 or 90 minutes, typically once or twice a week, with carefully chosen homework in between. That rhythm builds genuine independence: by test day students are not just faster and more accurate, they are calmer, better at pacing themselves, and confident that they have seen every question type the exam can throw at them. Families often tell Dr. Donnelly that the patience and consistency their children experienced carried over into school writing, algebra, and even standardized tests years later.

Finally, verifiable testimonials matter. Anyone can publish anonymous quotes, but every review above is attributed to a real parent in a specific NYC neighborhood. Many families discover Doctor SHSAT through direct referrals from the people quoted here. If you want to understand the tutor behind the results, read Dr. Donnelly’s background — an Oxford Ph.D. with more than 20 years of NYC tutoring experience — or reach out via our contact page to arrange a free consultation. The best way to tell whether this approach is right for your child is simply to start the conversation.