Calvin Yoon - Algebra & SAT Math Coach

Congratulations to another one of my students for crossing a huge milestone 🎉. We're just getting started!

Congrats to my student Nimish for cracking 700+ on SAT math and 1400+ overall! He's still a junior and this is just his first exam so we have plenty of time to keep climbing higher.

We have a lot of new parents here trying to help their students do well on the SAT, so let me introduce myself.

I failed algebra, I nearly failed geometry. The future that I would later have was statistically impossible. But somehow, I made A's in AP Calculus and AP Statistics, I went to University of Rochester (at the time a top 30 university) and majored in Biomedical Engineering. I got admitted into Cornell's MBA program and Harvard Business School's online program. Shortly after college, I found myself earning 6-figure salaries as a management consultant for Fortune 500 biotech companies and now as a Data Engineer. Given my earlier performance in math, the statistics were impossible. How did I do this?

When I was a junior in high school, I finally realized that there were simple patterns in math that weren't (and still aren't) being taught at school or test prep academies. After many long nights self-studying, I've come to see math from a different perspective that later on allowed me to achieve the 700+ math score and A's in AP Calculus and AP Statistics. Word got around and students all over have asked me to help them do the same.

Alongside my career, for 15 years now, I have been helping students who struggle with math to transform their skills and make A's in algebra or 700+ on SAT math. Reciting textbook content and doing practice problems are not enough to make this transformation. Students need to fundamentally shift their perspective on math so that practice becomes more efficient. The faster you can learn and understand something upfront, the more time you have to apply efficient and deliberate practice. Schools and test prep academies do not teach this (I've been enrolled in a few as well during high school). This is why I founded CY Academics. We aim to be the world's most efficient academy and create a community of world-class students.

Happy to hear from a student that my online SAT Math videos help with more than just the SAT itself 🙌

Huge congratulations to our CY Academics student Shawn for his acceptance into Cornell! You inspire me with your continued discipline and motivation to work hard. Now I look forward to helping you navigate through college and your future career aspiration!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Grateful for your continued support in our mission to help students realize their potential 🚀

Unpopular Opinion: I'm seeing many parents out here too trigger happy about programs that teach the next best SAT math shortcuts - especially now with the entire digital SAT math exam allowing a calculator. That's great and all, but you DON'T NEED shortcuts! My students have scored as high as 780/800 without needing shortcuts.

If your student is still scoring below a 700, then it's not time for shortcuts. It's time for building robust algebra and problem solving skills.

Online tutoring centers are starting to use AI to teach their students but I think this is a dangerous move because AI still makes errors performing basic algebraic manipulations. Don't be dependent on AI, it's just a tool. You want to be smarter than it. See how I call out ChatGPT on its mistakes.

I'm so elated and proud that I'm speechless. My student here with a mic drop. 550 -> 710. 🥹

Hard truth:
Anyone who teaches "guess and check" on SAT Math is not teaching you robust algebra skills that you need for future STEM classes. It's a short term remedy with long term consequences.