Ashland has been serving students since 2019.

Before that, their founder, Ravi, has been working with students since 2010.

All this time, energy, effort, and experimentation has led to our psychologically driven SAT prep. For us, great results are a byproduct of helping your student develop real world skills they can take anywhere they go.

What if my student only needs one test date?

Over 15 years of test prep, the number of students in the demographic that has the resources to invest in test preparation, who take the test once, has been less than 1 percent. These are usually: 1). National Merit Candidates or 2). Athletes who need to hit a certain benchmark that their coaches want them to hit.

So we can do unlimited hours before each test date for a flat rate?
Yes! However, there are diminishing returns to too much prep. 20-30 hours of prep for the first attempt, 10-20 for the second is often more than enough for your student to reach their potential and target scores that you set with your Ashland director.

Why is ACT prep only available with the Senior Twofer, and not this Twofer package?

The ACT has undergone some changes that significantly undermine our confidence in the product. Because of this, any ACT prep should be more carefully considered. In this environment, we encourage ALL students to strongly consider the SAT first. This may change in coming years. As of 2026, we're keeping our ACT cohort small and led directly by senior staff.

What does "Psychology-driven test prep" even mean?

The SAT is a behavior test, NOT an academic test. SAT problems are created by psychometricians, who understand how to measure human behavior at scale. On any given multiple choice problem, the College Board has estimates of how many students will choose each answer choice and at what skill level. This isn't distinctive to the SAT: this is how most entrance exams work.

Most test prep companies work on content first, then behavior as an afterthought. To us, testing behavior is the core. This sort of prep means that your student not only improves their scores, but builds self awareness and performance skills they can take with them anywhere they go.

Why only two attempts?

There are diminishing returns to taking the test more than once. A common theme we see: juniors take a March or May SAT, then want to rush into June or August. Those dates rarely yield what students want and put undue pressure on them during times when they likely have significant academic and time commitments, like AP prep, finals, and family vacations. While we do offer third attempts, we do so at additional cost and on a case by case basis.

This sounds like BS

Our approach is absolutely not for every student. This is why we have consultations to determine whether we're mutually the right fit.

This sounds awesome

It is. It took years of student feedback and iteration to arrive here with our psychologically-driven approach.

What curriculum materials do you use?
We only use official, publicly available SAT and ACT curriculum materials, and will work with third parties who have robust curriculums if those materials are ever exhausted. Third party materials simply can't be as good as the real stuff, but we use that to your student's advantage by encouraging them to think about how third party problems aren't as good, which helps them understand question mechanics and patterns better.

Who are your tutors?

Tutors we contract with come from everywhere and often work with other tutoring companies, who manage their own schedules. We only contract with top one percentile scorers in their chosen subject at a minimum. We also require a high level of emotional intelligence, organization, and communication to earn a spot working with Ashland students.

Who's writing this?

This is Ravi, the founder of Ashland Prep. I live in Venice Beach with my wife who I met at UCSB, our daughter, and our dog. I began working with students as a test prep tutor back as a college student in 2010 with Kaplan, then moved onto Compass Education Group, where I became their number 1 performing director in the country in 2017. I left to pursue my first business renting vehicles to Uber and Lyft drivers, but found myself continuing to work with students solo. In April 2019, I hired my first two tutors and Ashland Prep was born.

Why Ashland Prep?

I named it after our street in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica, straddling the Venice border.

Now, the name Ashland reflects a rebirth from ashes: the January 2025 fires had significant personal and professional impact, when I began thinking more deeply about the psychological l layers of education beyond test prep.

I am passionate about the entire field of education, and I believe in the value of standardized tests as an opportunity to build timeless life skills. I'm also passionate about Venice Beach, it's grit and beauty, and it's potential as a hub in new educational and apprenticeship models that we may see in the future.

Can we work directly with you?

In our Senior Twofer program through 2026, I will personally be managing those programs. As a tutor, I work with a handful of students per season, depending on fit and my schedule at any given time. I work best with students gunning for top one percentile scores and who prefer flexibility without rigid structure. Our Twofer programs would be a better fit for 99 percent of students in terms of cost and curriculum.