Curtis Retherford

Curtis Retherford worked as a tutor for 12 years in New York City, first at The Princeton Review and then independently, and has now tutored in Los Angeles since 2019. He helped write and edit The Princeton Review’s books and tests for the SAT, GRE, GMAT, SSAT, and ISEE tests, as well as helping to design the course curricula for the GRE. In addition, he has worked with several other companies to develop their tests or create test prep materials. Writing these materials required both close scrutiny of the actual tests and an ability to classify problems and approaches. Standardized tests are, of course, standardized, and so similar problem types show up over and over again. And then several more times. Tests are, like many other things, a skill that can be learned with a focused approach.

As a tutor, Curtis is patient and thoughtful, keying in on whatever part of the test, subject, or individual problem is most difficult. His goal is not to explain an entire problem to a student, but to explain the one part of the problem the student is stuck on, and then let him or her solve the rest and then, afterwards, to give the student the tool to approach that problem in a similar way the next time it shows up.

Curtis used his expertise in test prep to write Laser Focus on SAT Math, which goes through every piece of math and every style of question tested on the SAT.

He tutors SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, ISEE, SSAT, AP Tests (U.S. History, Calculus AB & BC), as well as academic subjects (all high school math, English, and history).

Curtis is also a writer and improv comedian. His prose work has been published in McSweeney’s and elsewhere, and he is a long-time performer at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. He hosts the podcast Improv, Beat by Beat, in which he breaks down how to do improv comedy, one piece at a time. In addition, he climbs, draws, plays guitar, banjo, and drums, and tries to learn as much as he can, because being bad at something is just the first step to getting better.