Hi! I’m Debbie.

I help students transform their education through individualized approaches to standardized tests, English, math, and history.

Contact me for a free consultation

How I came to tutoring

Before tutoring, I worked in book publishing for over twenty years. Then, in 2010, I realized I needed to be home more with my kids, who were in middle and high school at the time. Having just discovered the vast universe of SAT prep, I decided to chronicle what I learned to help other parents decipher what works, what doesn’t, and why. The result was The Perfect Score Project, a book that started out as a way to share test prep insights but became as much about my experience with parenting an “underperforming” (according to his math teacher) teenage boy who would soon be leaving the nest for college.

To be clear, I did not expect my son to pull off a perfect SAT score. I found that by putting the pressure on myself to master the test, I was able to hold the bar reasonably high without having to nag or push (too much). He came up with his own goal, which we both agreed was the right one.

The process took us the better part of a year, and he did reach his goal. But even more importantly, he learned how to set long-term goals and methodically work hard to achieve them.

For me, the project unexpectedly launched a career change. Answering a few questions from students over email quickly blossomed into a tutoring business, primarily for the SAT, ACT, AP exams, the SSAT, and ISEE. Eventually, my tutoring business grew to include schoolwork and college essay coaching.

More than a decade later, I find that there’s nothing more rewarding than helping students perform their best and achieve their goals. Whether I’m helping students prepare for standardized tests, address test anxiety, outline and edit history or English papers, read and discuss literature, or study for a math exam, working with students is a gift that keeps on giving.

Please feel free to reach out to discuss your child’s needs at [email protected]. And if you would like to read more about how I came to tutoring, you can read the prologue to my book!

The Perfect Score Project is an indispensable guide to acing the SAT – as well as the affecting story of a single mom’s quest to light a fire under her teenage son.

“This book is about motivation, and hard work, and parenting, but, above all, it’s about forming the deepest bonds of family connection…here the test Debbie took over and over and over again becomes a metaphor: she chooses to do the hardest work of her life, and it pays off in a thousand different ways.” 

Laura Zigman