PA College Prep

Both of my girls spent all year long afterschool and summer/​winter breaks at this school (former called ACI) since Kindergarten. They are now in 8^th and 4^th grades.
ACI staff are very friendly and responsible, they treat my kids like their own. I get periodical academic updates from each class and teacher, I also receive reminder and advices from the supervisors which helps a lot.
The huge difference between ACI and normal CDC next to each elementary is that ACI provides high quality additional education by great teacher even college professors, such as Reading, Writing, Math, Critical Thinking, Speech and Debate, etc. They even help the students to prepare for standard tests.
They also observed when my daughter ran into academic difficulties and offered one-​on-​one tutor class.
I had also used ACI college advisory to help my nephew in China applying post graduate program and he successfully got into Carnegie Mellon Computer Science which is one of the top 3 computer science schools in the world.
I highly recommend this school to anyone.

ACI in Irvine is the best place to get better scores in short time. My daughter got 5 more scores of ACT in only 6 weeks.
Which is from 19 to 24. That’s great! We are so happy! The staffs and teachers there are so nice and eligible, they connect parents all the time, not like other academy center never care about students’ learning progress. ACI is wonderful! ACI is successful! Just send your child there. No hesitate!

I would like to offer my opinion of ACI from a parent’s perspective: ACI and its outstanding staff helped my son throughout his high school years, they were instrumental in building a solid foundation and instilling good study habits in him, despite good intentions and efforts, we as parents may not always be the most qualified to assist in our children’s educational growth and learning, this is where ACI comes in, in our case, ACI became our trusted partner in providing the best and most flexible learning and growth environment for our kids outside of structured school setting. My son is now in medical school, flourishing and enjoying the hard-​earned experience, I can’t say thank you enough, to the able and hard working teachers and staff at ACI, I proudly share the joy of my son’s accomplishments with you!

Over the years, ACI has honestly done so much for me. I first started going to ACI when I was a little elementary school boy. I still remember the massive frown on my face when I walked in my first day, hating that my parents were making me go to some type of «extra curricular» academy. Twelve years later, I’m now attending UCSD and I can honestly say my parents made an amazing decision taking me along (go figure, your parents are always right).
The teachers, students and secretaries not only provided all the academic help that I needed (raised my SAT score from a 1800 – 2270), but also became long-​term friends that I still talk to today. Whether it’s SAT, SAT II, Calculus, AP Chem, AP physics or any subject, I can assure you ACI has an assortment of well-​qualified teachers to assist you (trust me I’ve had class with ALL of them). I, obviously, cannot guarantee that your experience will be as influential as mine, but I CAN guarantee you that any time you spend at ACI will not go to waste.

I went to ACI from elementary school through high school (a little over a decade). I took almost every english and math class they offered. Even some chinese and art classes when I was younger. I can honestly say I’ve learned more from this place than actual public school. It seems that the teachers are very carefully selected to help students get the best results.
Personally, I’ve experienced some of the most clever, sharp, understanding, and funny teachers here. The math teachers have a lot of tricks and different ways to approach problems that gives you quit a few weapons to use on the SAT. The English teachers have such passion for what they study and can’t wait to share it with you. There are enough teachers to say that there is a teacher that will understand where you’re having trouble, and be able to help.
Throughout my years here I’ve seen ACI churn out some of the most academically smart students, bragging colleges like Stanford, Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC… the list goes on. Even a troublemaker like me managed to improve 500+ points on my SAT score.
I can’t say I was always taking classes by choice, but I made the most out of it. These people are serious about your education, so if you’re going to slack off or try to find short cuts, then you’re in the wrong place. If you’re willing to put in the time to learn, you’ll find you’ll learn more than you expected.

I recommend students and parents to seek out ACI for ACT Preparation. ACI teachers are extremely efficient in pinpointing your flaws and problems and transforming them into a strength. Also, the teachers allow the students to be creative when it comes to certain subjects. In English for example, the teachers encourage the students to be creative and write an essay that represents the individual in their own unique way. The work ethic and creativity that the teachers encourage and instruct is not only beneficial in a classroom setting, but successfully sets up the students for the future. The office has a friendly and warm environment which makes you relaxed and calm in what can sometimes be a very stressful environment. Although there are many SAT institutions that are around Irvine, I really recommend ACI for ACT preparation. The thing that differentiates ACI from every other institution is their continued strive for excellence in helping the students succeed now and the future.

Recent college grad who is an alumni of ACI. I went to ACI when I was in middle school. It seems to have grown since then, which is troubling.
I can say that I learned absolutely nothing here (except maybe how to be a robot). In fact, my success in high school and college is largely due to the fact that I unlearned what ACI drilled in me – which was mindless repetition and being an absolute bookworm. Echoing Haina’s review, ACI brings the mentality that is heavy in many East Asian education systems that grades and scores are everything. It preys itself on immigrant parents (like mine) who are caught up in that sensation, and the kids suffer because of it.
In short, if you want your child to be a machine, go to ACI. You can probably get high SAT/​ACT scores if you tell a student to take the test over and over and over and over and over again, or you might just beat your kid to the ground. In either case, you don’t teach the student anything except how to take a test. Numerous research studies have shown that test scores are a terrible indicator of how well a student succeeds in college anyway (which is why more colleges are making test scores optional). Moreover, test scores are only one factor when the admissions committee looks at a student’s college application.
If you want your kid to actually learn – and succeed – then allow your student to have the time and instinct to gain knowledge about the world instead of letting him/​her become a bookworm. To put it simply: people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates don’t go to ACI. Sure, you’ll learn to take a test, but it will ruin a student’s creativity.
I’m not saying all tutoring programs are bad, but places like ACI take it overboard.
And to further comment upon Haina’s claim that ACI «tak[es] advantage of new immigrants», I recently found out that the director of ACI partnered with the Pacific Academy to open a private high school in Irvine. The private high school is specifically aimed towards luring international students. ACI and Pacific Academy work hand in hand. I don’t know if this is considered taking advantage of international students, but it’s certainly profiting from them.

ACI has really good tutors who are attentive to each student’s needs. They helped me a lot with the things I struggled for the SAT. Mr. Lathrop is a great critical reading teacher with a lot of experience and improved my score 200 points just on that section. He knew where my weaknesses were and targeted them, as well as all the other students. Chris is also a great writing teacher, and his comments on essays are very helpful. He teaches grammar in a way that makes it easy to remember, and he is also a great counselor! He’s very experienced as well and gives wonderful advice. Ben is a very patient math teacher who doesn’t only teach SAT math. He gives tips for other math classes as well, and tests, such as the SAT 2 math test. Although i didn’t take the Math 2 class at ACI, he still gave me the practice tests and homework along with the answer keys to help me prep.
ACI overall is great, with very caring and amazing teachers. Kelly, the director, is also very friendly and gives great counseling advice. I really recommend ACI for students looking for a relaxed environment to study for the SAT. It doesn’t pressure kids, and it’s a very encouraging environment. Class sizes are small, so teachers and students have personal and close relationships. It’s wonderful! (:

ACI has very poor service. The tutors are always late. Basically they are just taking advantage of the new immigrates. I will never recommend anyone to go there!

This is the greatest academy of tutoring for teens, although 90% of them are Asians, but it’s a good place to study and take some time to prepare for SAT or ACT testing.

My girl has been going here after school and summer time for a year now, and I really see her improvement. She told me that Ms. Kim and Ms. Nocone taught her more than her regular school teacher does. It doesn’t really «match» what they learn in school — which is understandable because they have students from different schools — but the curriculum is a step beyond what they will learn. It gives her confidence. She is all interested and motivated about learning now, not only English and math-​which is the focus of ACI, but also science and Chinese. I gave a 4 star because the location is a little hard to find. They share the same entrance as the Saint Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church, so you have to drive to the back towards the two story building. Took me awhile to find.

They have move to Irvine from Tustin. They rent classroom from a Greek church. Doesn’t seem like they are fully equipped. It is very much like a cram school, not much toys or books for kids. My little girl is taking a middle school math class over there. The give a lot of home work for student to practice. However, it the teacher doesn’t follow up very well. If the parents doesn’t check student’s error and the student doesn’t care about figuring out why he or she made a mistake, it is really not going to work very well. Most of the students going over there are Asian.

This place is amazing.
I first went there when I was a kid to learn algebra II and later ended up learning bio, calc and even the SATs. Without a doubt, they really improved my performance in school and gave me the confidence within the classroom. The staff there is very well educated and the class very versatile. (I felt as if I was able to learn a lot more there than what I was able to learn in high school) As for the SAT prep classes, they were fantastic. I improved dramatically (500) and now go to UC Berkeley. My final thought, if you decide to go, you won’t be sorry.