Testimonials

SAT and ACT

"You have been without a doubt the best investment we've made with regard to the SAT."

"I took the May 7 International SAT this month, and I scored 1560 (I should be able to superscore that to a 1570 as well). This wouldn't have been possible without the guidance you gave me early on in my SAT journey."

"I got a 35 on my ACT and 800's on my Math 2 and Chemistry subject tests. Thank you so much for your help!"

"Darren knows the ACT in and out. Definitely worth it. Has lots of resources and knows his stuff. He himself has taken the ACT many times and has achieved a perfect 36." Nick

"Just wanted to let you know that I did in fact get an 800 on the [SAT Chemistry] test! Thank you so much for making space in your schedule for me on short notice and giving me so much extra tutoring time. I really couldn't have done it without you! It was a very good week considering I also received a 1510 on the PSAT; definitely a good send off into break."

"S. did take the SAT in Dec and got a 1570 - 780 + 790. Thanks for all your help."

"Total: 1520
  Verbal: 730
  Math: 790
  Thank you!"

"I just wanted to let you know that I got my scores back yesterday [for SAT Math Level 2] and I earned an 800.... Thank you for all your help with this test preparation."

"Just wanted to share that I got 35 in the ACT.
ACT Composite - 35, E - 35, M - 36, R - 33, S - 36.
I sincerely wanted to thank you so much for all the help! All those sessions were amazing and helped me to reach my goal."

"Darren was an incredible help tutoring our son for the SAT. His positive demeanor and endless energy were a huge help and resulted in a great score. Thank you Darren!!" Doug H.

"I got 1550 on my test!! Thank you so much."

"I have a huge smile on my face as I write this email because my SAT score from the November test came in. I scored a 1530 (760 reading and 770 math), and your help was definitely the major factor in boosting my confidence and overall performance on test day. I was a little worried about how harsh the curve would be for this test because I found that the math section was easier than I thought, but I am glad that now I can move from focusing on the SAT to my classes and college applications. The studying and test preparation skills that you taught me will definitely serve me in the future."

"Just got my scores back from the October 28 ACT. My final score is a 32.... I'd like to thank you very much for helping me move 7 points up."

"34 on the ACT! Thanks for your help in guiding me."

"A. got 30 (yay!) on the June ACT.... He couldn’t have done it without you."

"Thanks again for your help with the ACT preparation! We still can't believe L. scored a 35!"

"Thank you for your help! Just wanted to message you and tell you I got an 800 on the chem SAT."

"I wanted to let you know where we landed with V. for her ACT scores. We are thrilled!
  English 35, Math 34, Reading 36, Science 34
  Overall 35
  Thank you for all you have done for helping V. get there. She really enjoyed working with you!"

"BEST TUTOR EVER!! Please do not hesitate to take lessons with Darren! He is one of the most knowledgeable and professional teachers I have ever worked with. I received my original SAT subject test scores and was not satisfied. I received a 650 in SAT math 2 and 700 in SAT chem. The retake date was in less than two weeks, and I needed to complete those tests in order to submit them to my Early Action University on time. Darren helped me improve my Math 2 score from 650 to 800 and Chem score from 700 to 770. (Anyone who takes the Subject Tests will know that this is an impossible task.) Darren helped me achieve the impossible and is the best teacher ever! I highly recommend anyone who needs help with standardized testing to study with him!" Sarah

"I just quickly wanted to update you on my SAT Physics Subject test that you helped me study for over the summer - I was finally able to take the test (after a myriad of delays and cancellations) and got an 800! Thank you so much for your help and advice when I was studying for the test. It was really essential to my success!"

"We used your website and prepared for SAT and scored 1550 overall with 800 in math (800 on math 2 subject SAT)."

"Darren uses great care in creating customized test prep curriculum for each student. I have seen excellent increases in scores and test confidence when my students have worked with Darren for SAT, ACT, and SAT subject tests, plus math tutoring needs." Audrey Slaughter (A Roadmap for College)

"I have loved my time working with you. You have been the best tutor I've ever had, and I will keep in touch to tell you where I end up going and get accepted into. You have greatly increased my confidence and taught me more about how to take a test, which has been invaluable. Thank you for everything. I couldn't be more appreciative of this experience." A.J.

"Thanks Darren for helping me achieve an ideal score! I came into the lessons overwhelmed by the four separate sections that I needed to tackle in the ACT, but your systematic approach simplified the process into digestible chunks. I appreciate that we started with identifying the areas I needed to focus on, and began by patching knowledge gaps or learning concepts in sections such as science that I was unaware of. Later, around month two of our work together, it was great to start taking a full length practice test every week in addition to working through the multitude of materials Darren had on hand. These additional helping packets included three separate math textbooks, various reading articles and questions, science study guides, as well as an English textbook. Darren then systematically went through all my wrong answers on the practice tests, pointing out conceptual mistakes and guiding me to work on harder iterations of those same concepts in the materials he had ready. Then, in our final month of preparation, Darren continued to encourage my practice test-taking and taught me to organize all my problems into a easily accessible file so that I could review them in the final stretch. I did so, and my practice test scores saw a major improvement, and luckily, it stayed consistent for the last five weeks before my scheduled test date. Not only has Darren set himself apart in his systematic approach to breaking down the ACT study process, he also provided some valuable insights into the test date and ran through test week routines with me. Most memorably, Darren advised me to buy a wristwatch to bring to the test center, and shockingly, there was no clock in my room! Thanks Darren for saving my sanity on test date, but more importantly, thanks Darren for being the organized and methodical tutor that helped me achieve a competitive ACT score!"

"We have used Darren and he is ABSOLUTELY the best! He worked very well with my son to work on raising his ACT scores. I can't recommend him enough!" Carol B.

"I would not have been able to progress as well as I did without you. I was not expecting an increase of over 200 points from October, and fortunately I was able to reach that goal using your methods. Thank you for all your help!" Arnav G.

"Amazing job helping T. prepare for the SAT - huge score improvement - thank you."

"Just wanted to let you know that I received acceptances from Yale, UC Berkeley, USC, UMich and got waitlisted at Penn and Brown. I'll most likely attend Yale in the fall of 2019! Thank you for all the help, support, and guidance!"

"I thought I would let you know that I have been given UNCONDITIONAL offers to King's College London, Royal Holloway University of London, University of Edinburgh, and Trinity College Dublin as well as LMU in the states!! Thank you again for all your help and ACT prep!"

"I got almost a full scholarship from UC Santa Barbara and got accepted to their CCS department, which is a graduate school in undergraduate. I am satisfied with the result, and I think I will attend Santa Barbara. Thank you for everything!"

"Just wanted to let you know what schools I was accepted at. I have gotten into Depaul, Marquette, Arizona State, UCSB, Cal Poly Slo, Cal, and Carnegie-Mellon. I am planning on going to either Cal or CMU. Thank you for all your help with my ACT scores!"

"I got offers from Oxford, Imperial, UCL and Edinburgh in the UK (all for math); Stanford and Berkeley (College of Chemistry); and Duke."

"Just a quick update to let you know that Z. is heading to Cal, your alma mater, to study chemistry.  We are very pleased."

"Hi Darren, A. was accepted by WashU Ed . We are very thrilled and happy for him. Thank you so much for helping with his ACT. Happy holidays!"

"Thank you so much for helping me study for my ACT/SAT! I got into Tamu for electrical engineering."

"I just wanted to let you know that I have committed to Santa Clara University as a Computer Science (Mathematics) major. It's been a wild few years, but I can't thank you enough for all the help and support you provided me when preparing for AP exams, the ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and, most importantly, chemistry. I couldn't have done it without you."

"P. applied and got in ED to Penn and is studying there now."

"I forgot to update you on my midterm. I got 89/90 on it and am super thankful for your help." (Arya K.)

"Darren is fantastic. We were lucky to find him. My son is excelling thanks to him - thank you!!!" Anne B.

"Thank you for all of the assistance and encouragement you have provided to N. during the ACT prep. His scores are dramatically improving and he is fully engaged in the process. We have never seen him so motivated and excited about his academics!"

"Thank you Darren!  You've been a tremendous help and inspiration to B., keeping him challenged and accountable this summer. Can't express how exciting he's found it working with you!"

"Thank you so much for all your expertise, time, and kindness. You have made a big difference in A.'s scores and future."

"Darren is punctual, knowledgeable, caring, and dedicated in helping my son with ACT Prep sessions. My son was excited to study with him. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ Thanks, Darren, for your kindness." (Tiffany L.)

"Thank you so much for all your help, especially the last weeks leading up to her latest test. She was very encouraged by your sessions and calming advice. I'm glad that we were able to talk her into taking the test one last time."

"You have a way of not only teaching the information, but building confidence with every question and answer."

"I am very impressed about N.’s progress... your coaching is motivating him to excel and work hard."

"You are an amazing tutor! Thank you for helping our daughter."

"Darren is extremely knowledgeable and very patient & kind w my kids. He's very responsive when you contact him. He usually responds within a few hours by email." Isabelle L.

"Thanks for everything. It is great to see T. with so much confidence."

"You actually allow us to think. I'm not saying you are not allowed to think in China, but you have to keep your thoughts in your mind. Thank you for all the attention you gave me." Aaron

"Thanks for all of your help and encouragement. N.'s scoring improvement would not have been possible without you."

Science and Math

"I have been accepted to the Emory School of Medicine. Thank you for being a part of what has made this dream come true!" G.X.

"I know I am not ever going to be even close to the brightest person in our grade, but in your class, I do feel like it." E.P.

"You explain and teach things so well. This has been a hard year in science, and I have really been challenged. You have taught me how to think and ask questions, and that is something I will use throughout my whole life." Rachel

"You are the best science teacher I have ever had." Genevieve

"You made science fun, easy, and exciting." Hannah

"You made science a subject to look forward to with your enthusiasm." Cassey

"Your comments were always so helpful, and we know how much time you must have spent." Mira

"Thank you for all the times you explained the labs, answered my homework questions, and encouraged me when I doubted how much I knew." Gia

"Thanks so much for all your help in Chem. You've made a difficult class much more tolerable through your compassion and understanding." Susan

"Your ability to let me experiment with different ways of doing a problem makes it easier for me to remember the correct method. Your explanation of separating exponents from other numbers in the problem was extremely helpful. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and your willingness to help me with Trig and Chemistry." Jake

"Thank you so much for tutoring my son. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"You have helped N. and R. tremendously. Thank you for your dedication and hard work in making a difference in their lives."

"Thank you so much. You went above and beyond for me."

"I would like to thank you for mentoring S. for the last couple of months. I can see some changes in his approach to studying and organizing his work load. I am very grateful for that. He is doing great in his Math class as well.... I am very satisfied with this partnership and hope that this continues until my kids are settled in their careers."

"I got a 102% on my Chapter 5 calc test!"

"You have been an amazing help and really kept A.'s stress levels down and her understanding levels up. She always feels good about her work after meeting with you."

"R. said he learned a lot and wishes he had you as his math tutor at the beginning of this past school year!  He was blown away at how much easier you make math out to be!"

"I cannot express just how jazzed and confident L. is after just one session! He got 100% on his physics test last week!"

"Thank you so much for all of your help and guidance. She could not have gotten through AP Chem without a complete meltdown and so much more stress than she had without you. We will be forever grateful for the great way you broke down a complicated subject into concepts that she could apply."

"He answers with questions but gives more info than needed. Doesn't use the textbooks often, usually just has power points and lectures. He is also very particular with grammar. You do learn a lot. I really have enjoyed his class." University of Central Oklahoma student

"You were the best tutor ever! Thank you again for your passion for teaching and education!" Liz

"The optional problem sets are very helpful."

"Well organized. Very helpful and allowed students to come to conclusions on their own."

"Superb, nice, and extremely helpful. The best TA I have had since coming to Stanford."

"Very knowledgeable, amazingly helpful, always enthusiastic; the best TA I have had here at Stanford by far."

Quantitative Finance

"Just noticed that @ReformedTrader is bizarrely under-followed. He's curated, quoted, pasted, summarized, analyzed, organized and synthesized well over a hundred papers and articles on academic finance. Honestly, wtf are y'all reading if you aren't following his threads?" Adam Butler, CIO at ReSolve Asset Management (here as well)

"@ReformedTrader has put together an awesome series of Twitter “moments” that highlight research on risk premia, style premia, seasonality, and craftsmanship. Dig in." Corey Hoffstein, CIO at Newfound Research and a member of Investopedia's Top 100 in finance (here as well)

"Gotta hand it to @ReformedTrader for his consistency in posting quality quant finance research links. Everyone who is interested in quant finance should follow him. Hidden gem." Pravit Chintawongvanich, Wells Fargo equity derivatives strategist

"Wow, good stuff. I didn't even know the Moments could be used like this. Really great reference and shows the power of info sharing and knowledge building on Twitter." Justin Carbonneau, managing partner at Validea Capital Management

"I rarely say things like this, but Darren is one of the most underfollowed finance accounts out there." Kris Sidial, co-CIO of The Ambrus Group

"Read this thread and become an expert on the quality factor. Fantastic work by @ReformedTrader." Chris Cain, Quantitative Researcher at Connors Research and author of The Alpha Formula (here as well)

"You can spend 2 years getting an MBA or a few hours reading all of @ReformedTrader's monster threads. The first costs mucho $$$$ and may indoctrinate you with--at best--ideas well past their shelf life. The second is free and continually updated. As he learns more, so do you." Jim O'Shaughnessy, founder of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management and author of What Works on Wall Street

"Wow, Darren knows the paper way better than I do now." Cliff Asness, billionaire co-founder of AQR Capital Management, which makes hedge fund strategies available to investors at mutual-fund-level fees

Some of my social media followers include

"I’m thankful for the people who summarize academic papers so I don’t have to read them in full – I’m looking at you Alpha Architect and @ReformedTrader." Phil Huber, CIO at
Huber Financial

"A fantastic paper - and these cliff notes are a masterpiece in their own right. Keep up the awesome work brother." Woody Wiegmann, Manager and Portfolio Advisor at Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney (here as well)

"This is honestly better than lectures!" Sahil Puri, Quantitative Investment Strategies Analyst at Goldman Sachs Asset Management

"I have Twitter set so I get notifications on @ReformedTrader tweets. Tremendous value. Especially enjoy the summaries of new finance research, and related discussions with people like @bennpeifert . Can't get this quality of discussion anywhere else." Sal Abbasi, co-founder of Coatbridge Capital

"If you are in finance and don’t follow @ReformedTrader you are missing out. The content and ideas shared on that account are just fantastic." K.C. Hamann, founder of the quant hedge fund AQIS

"@ReformedTrader takes the cake. Hat tip for all the academia summaries." Niko Finnigan, Partner at Delta Wealth Advisors

"Everyone should do two things:
1) Read the paper
2) Follow Darren" Steve DeppeSenior Market Strategist at AlphaCore (designers of factorE)

"@ReformedTrader covers more on factors investing in a thread than my degree did in last 4 years. Extremely useful stuff!" Tho Do

"@reformedtrader churns out more tweetstorms, efficiently summarizing important papers and articles, in a day than the number of them that I can read. Amazing! He is a must follow; makes you want to read as much as he does." Kamran Syed (here and here as well)

"@ReformedTrader is an exceptional follow....dropping diamonds like this regularly!" Isaiah Douglass

"@ReformedTrader is underfollowed IMO. Thoughtful, scientific mind. Research encyclopedia. All around good dude." Nick

"I think based on your threads that you've read more papers than I have, and I pretty much get paid to read papers." Nicole Boysonfinance professor at Northeastern University

"You've taught my brother more in one month than I learned in an entire semester of my college's Introduction to Finance class." Z.V.

"I think you are doing a fantastic job with the finance work, it’s a great way for some high schoolers... to see the practical application of math and science."

"I’m just trying to learn, and you’re helping. It really is a beautiful thing; if I know more in a month than I do now, then the effort you put in to put this stuff out and connect with people is worth more than just the money you make. You’re doing good in the world, all I can say is keep it up, your intelligence, generosity, and diligence make this world a better place than it was, week after week - it’s genuine appreciation from someone like me who doesn’t know where to start, so thank you again and again, very generous." Eric

"I am really grateful you care not only about helping me with my SAT, but also about my career.... I'm sure no tutoring center can do what you do."

"Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and generosity with your time. M. was shocked by how much you two were able to cover today and she is so thankful to have this opportunity to work with you. I am very grateful for your kindness and love of math."

"Thank you for all your support and helping me with everything, from the ACT to trade techniques. I appreciate all you have done and I know I couldn’t have gotten here without you."

"Darren puts out insanely useful stuff like this all the time."

"Everyone who’s serious about finance on FinTwit should follow you." Eric

"Just flipped through your moment "book"... LOVE it!  What a fantastic and thoughtful curation. There should be an app to "publish to" a pdf or coffee table book!" W.H.

"Really appreciate your work mate. You've definitely made me money."

"It is worth checking this profile for not only a good source of research, but for valuable comments and insights as well. Pretty neat!" Luiz M.

"I’ll say it. Follow Darren." RiversHedge

"There is a wealth of knowledge here. I always find myself saving so much of it for some far-off day when I can really go through it. Thank you for providing this." Jay J.

"Your Twitter feed is absolutely fantastic.... Recently followed you and have been getting tons out of all the research stuff.  Really great." Daniel B.

"Wow, I can’t believe I just recently found your page, there’s great research all over the place!! Nice work!" Andrรฉ L.

"@ReformedTrader a great follow/resource [for recent papers, etc. on factors]... You add a lot of value and post good stuff.... You're the go to factor person." boz

"Some of my favorite follows on here are traders, esp in options. Their view of market price action is necessarily less abstracted than it is for us longer time horizon, fundamentally-oriented folks." Nick (here and here as well)
@patrol_pancake
@AnodyneCode
@SqueezeMetrics
@ReformedTrader 
@bennpeifert

"This is BY FAR the best account on fintwit!" Dr. Hugh Jorgen