SAT, ACT & GRE prep

Josh has been with Golden Tutoring since 2015 and is an experienced and trained SAT/ACT/GRE test prep tutor as well as a talented ELA tutor and college essay coach. Josh graduated magna cum laude from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in English and a concentration in creative writing. He earned his M.A. in classroom instruction and curriculum design for English language arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Josh taught high school humanities for several years and before that worked in the writing lab at Wesleyan, coaching undergraduate, graduate, and ESL students on a variety of academic writing. His career track has married his passion for writing and communications with his ability to provide individualized attention to developing readers and writers. In the classroom, Josh used “writer’s workshop” style conferences to provide tailored instruction, much like a one-on-one tutoring session. He also developed individualized approaches for a wide variety of learners, including guidance on study skills, academic/personal organization, and time management. He has worked with students seeking to prepare for both AP and IB exams as well as tutoring students working to gain private school admissions via the SSAT and ISEE exams.  In his work as a test prep tutor for the SAT, ACT, and GRE, Josh has coached students ranging from top scorers and those hoping to qualify for merit scholarships to those seeking to boost their scores to meet graduation requirements and/or collegiate sports eligibility.  He designed Golden Tutoring’s SAT/ACT prep curriculum and has led the annual SAT prep workshops since 2016.  Outside of the classroom, Josh has worked as a tutor, an Outward Bound instructor, an editor of a newswire, a communications officer and campaign director for nonprofit organizations, a political organizer and environmental policy advocate, and a report writer for ecological field research and conservation planning.  When not tutoring, Josh enjoys climbing, hiking, and skiing with his wife and two high school aged children in addition to writing fiction and volunteering.

Mary just joined our team and is an experienced SAT/ACT tutor for the math and science sections of the exams as well as a talented high school math tutor.

Mary loves helping students overcome obstacles and meet their goals in math. She helps students build connections between concepts, provides alternative explanations, and gives study skills suggestions that strengthen the foundation and accelerate improvement.

Mary grew up in Minnesota and received a BS in chemistry from St. Mary’s in Indiana. She continued on to an MS in chemical engineering from the Univ. of Minnesota and went to work in the automotive industry outside Detroit. She loved the challenges she encountered in manufacturing plastic parts. To expand the range of tools she could use in problem-solving, she obtained an MS in applied statistics while working for Ford. When an opportunity came up to take a quality management position in Broomfield, CO, she jumped at the chance to move close to the mountains. She continued to work in various roles in quality and manufacturing in automotive, telecom and medical devices for another 13 years.

While still working in industry she started teaching math classes at Front Range Community College and enjoyed it so much, she took on a full-time faculty position. She spent a total of 15 years teaching various math and engineering classes, tutoring, working in drop-in math help centers and developing curriculum and processes. Since August 2022, she has been tutoring, primarily high school math and SAT/ACT prep, both in-person and online. Mary hikes whenever she can and volunteers at Community Table in Arvada and as a park host for Jefferson County Open Space. She also enjoys the company of her cats (Buddy and Scrappy), knitting, crocheting and reading.