Private Tutoring, Test Prep & College Admissions Counseling in Texas

Yes, but not for admission. UT Austin has said scores will not change the admissions decision for automatic admits, and instead uses them to match applicants to their choice of major and to flag students for academic support. Since the difference between admitted to UT and admitted to UT engineering or business is the whole point for most families in Eanes, Katy or Plano, the score still matters a great deal.

It is no longer 10% at UT Austin. The statute guarantees automatic admission to Texas public universities for students in the top 10% of their class, but UT Austin operates under a legislative cap and has tightened its own threshold to the top 5% for the Summer and Fall 2027 and Spring 2028 entering classes, filling 75% of Texas-resident seats that way. Other Texas publics still use the 10% rule.

It varies, which is why we plan submission school by school. UT Austin reinstated the requirement beginning with the Fall 2025 cycle and it remains in force. Texas A&M is explicitly test-optional for freshman applicants.

Not this year. HB 8, passed in 2025, replaces STAAR with a new assessment program, but that takes effect in 2027-28. For 2026-27 STAAR is still the operative test, and graduation still requires reaching Approaches Grade Level on the Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology and U.S. History end-of-course exams. Note that HB 4, which some sources cite, did not become law.

Possibly. Under HB 3 the state pays for eligible students to take one SAT, ACT or TSIA free in the spring of junior or senior year, but whether and when your district runs it is a district decision. Hundreds of Texas districts have run an SAT School Day. We check your district’s plan first, because a free attempt is worth much more after a prep cycle than before one.

Most of our Texas students start in the spring of sophomore year or the summer before junior year, which leaves room for a diagnostic, a full prep cycle, and two or three real test dates. Students at the Dallas and Houston magnets often start earlier, because those schools already run at a pace that fills junior year completely.

Our families come from the DFW districts (Highland Park, Carroll, Coppell, Plano, Frisco, Allen, Lovejoy), the Houston area (Clements and Fort Bend, Seven Lakes and Katy, Memorial, The Woodlands), Austin (Westlake and Eanes, Westwood, Vandegrift, LASA), the Dallas and Houston magnets including TAG, Science and Engineering, Carnegie Vanguard and DeBakey, and the independent schools including St. Mark’s, Hockaday, Greenhill, St. John’s and Kinkaid.

Yes, and most families use both. Counseling covers college list construction with acceptance probability modeling, the Common App and ApplyTexas essays with unlimited revisions, every supplement, activities positioning, early decision strategy, financial aid and mock interviews. Texas lists need the rank math worked out explicitly, since auto-admit status changes what every other application on the list is for.

Yes. Our instructors are trained in ADHD, CAPD, dyslexia and executive function support, and we handle College Board and ACT accommodations requests for you, including extended time, breaks and separate settings. We also coordinate with a school’s existing IEP or 504 team so the prep plan matches the supports already in place.

For the class of 2026, the most recent year with officially confirmed cutoffs, Texas required a Selection Index of 222. The Selection Index runs from 48 to 228 and is calculated from the PSAT/NMSQT taken in October of junior year, doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math section scores. Cutoffs are set separately for every state and shift by a point or two each year, so treat 222 as a planning benchmark rather than a guarantee. Cutoffs for the class of 2027 are announced each September.

The Texas average was 964 for the class of 2025, with 74% of graduates tested. The participation rate matters more than the number. A state that tests nearly every graduate posts a much lower average than a state where only college-bound students sit the exam, so comparing raw state averages without participation is misleading. For students in the competitive districts we work with, the relevant benchmark is the admitted range at their target colleges, not the state mean.

Texas funds one attempt, so find out which test your district runs and when. We diagnose both and aim the prep cycle at that free administration. For UT Austin applicants the score is about which major you can hold, not whether you are admitted, which changes the target. The two tests are scored differently but weighted equally by colleges, and every US college that accepts one accepts the other.