Robert Donahue (he/him) is a La Salle College High School and University of Notre Dame graduate and a former US Navy officer. Robert has more than eighteen years of tutoring experience, with a primary focus on the ACT and the SAT. He also tutors the GRE and GMAT, as well as the private high school entrance exams. Robert has tutored for RTC since 2018.
Robert has worked with hundreds of students over the years, including numerous students being recruited by colleges for athletics, music, art, and academics, and his experience as a tutor and his interests in sports, music, movies, and cooking allow him to quickly establish a good working relationship with his students. Robert conducts engaging, dynamic lessons and guides his students to expand their toolkit and improve their reasoning, which leads to improved scores. He emphasizes an inputs-outputs-outcomes approach to test preparation, and impresses upon his students that if they improve their inputs (their efforts to master the material presented in lessons), then in turn their outputs (more questions correct) and their outcomes (an increased score that fits their admissions portfolio) will improve: “If you go about things the right way, you’re more likely to get the results you want.”
Jacob Ginsberg (he/him) has been tutoring informally since he was young; he began tutoring professionally eight years ago. Jacob has tutored for RTC since 2017. Since earning a degree in English from Brown University, he has helped students across the country reach their goals on ACT and SAT. Jacob teaches Socratically and creates individual plans of action in dialogue with his students, inviting them to take control of their own learning. Jacob believes students should capitalize on their strengths while working to improve in the areas where they need his assistance.
Jacob is incredibly talented at teaching the whys behind concepts that can be tricky for students to understand. As a test prep tutor, he helps students find their unique ways to beat the test. You won’t find anyone more excited about standardized tests! Jacob loves working with students at all levels and starting scores, from helping students build confidence and master the fundamentals to helping make the final push toward a perfect score.
Jacob has an MFA in Creative Writing from Temple University. In his free time, he writes fiction, reads for a literary magazine, cheers (and boos) at Flyers games, and walks his dog Isabel.
Cindy Mummert (she/her) has twenty-five years of teaching experience at the middle school, high school, and college levels. Cindy has tutored for RTC since 2019. She earned a Bachelor’s in Science in Education (BSE) in Mathematics at Millersville University and a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology at Lehigh University. Cindy has worked with students of diverse levels and learning styles and has tutored ACT and SAT preparation for over seven years. She loves teaching students how to decode standardized test questions — how to think like the test writers. Cindy is passionate about empowering students who thought they were “challenged” test-takers to become clever, analytical test-takers. Cindy holds a minor in English and loves reading, writing, and creative expression through language; she particularly loves teaching students to see grammar rules in action on the test and how reading strategies can help them comprehend passages better. Teaching the ACT has also turned her into a science nerd!
Cindy thinks of math as patterns and relationships. She decodes math using graphic organizers, mnemonics, and real-world contexts. Math truly is everywhere! Cindy knows that we can all access our “math brain” if given patient and individualized support.
Cindy is an ongoing student of meditation and mindfulness and is excited to offer these techniques to maximize students’ focus and success. She is fascinated by all avenues of learning and self-discovery. She believes that we are all life-long learners through our life experiences. Cindy loves helping students embrace their inherent abilities. She views academic challenges as an opportunity for self-empowerment and self-knowledge. Often, what is gained through such challenges can be a springboard to expand into other areas, both academic and non-academic.
Cindy is an avid gardener and nature advocate. She has traveled widely and recently hiked in Nepal and explored parts of Northern India. She would love to visit all of the U.S. National Parks; some of her favorite parks are in Maine, Wyoming, and Washington. Cindy is an ongoing student of yoga and Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest whole-body healing systems.
Erin Gleeson has over seven years’ tutoring experience and currently teaches high school Algebra in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. She has a Bachelor’s in Geosciences from the University of Arizona and a Masters in Climate Sciences from the University of Bern in Switzerland. Erin has worked at the intersection of science and practice for over a decade. She has partnered with Nepali farmers, Peruvian herders, and diverse communities throughout the U.S. to build climate resilience through partnerships that integrate nature conservation with economic opportunities and social cohesion. Most recently, she worked to connect landowners throughout the Central Appalachians with the carbon market through sustainable forest management.
Because she understands the importance of critical thinking in solving our socio-environmental challenges, Erin enjoys helping students develop their college-readiness skills in areas as diverse as SAT/ACT, Algebra and Geometry, and AP Biology. Erin’s approach to teaching is strongly grounded in logic, evidence, and real-world examples. Erin loves how trivia about the natural world can unlock the secrets of math and science for her students. For example, she will teach students that bees use hexagons to make their honeycomb, because it’s the strongest and most efficient shape in nature. How cool!
As a high school sophomore, Erin took the PSAT without understanding what it was. She achieved exceptional scores in part because of mindful test-taking: she was relaxed, curious, and happy to have a break from her normal classes. Erin was highly successful in SAT and ACT, and she attributes her success to that relaxed, curious attitude and the comfort and confidence that come from understanding the tests well. Erin encourages students to see the tests as games that they can learn to master. She loves helping students see how they can draw on their existing skills and knowledge to become confident, expert test-takers at their personal level of achievement.
Erin’s mindfulness practice is rooted in being active and aware outdoors. In her free time, she works on restoring the natural habitats of her northern Virginia home, plies her mostly green thumb in the garden, and cycles and hikes extensively. Erin is also a beekeeper: she maintains hives both at her home and at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C
Sarah Malik (she/her) is a medical student at the Medical College of Georgia. She completed her undergraduate education at Princeton University with a major in International Affairs and Public Policy and a research focus on Macroeconomics and Development. Before coming to RTC, Sarah worked mentoring international students in extracurricular development and college preparatory skills; she found it immensely satisfying working with students across cultures and at varying levels. Sarah has tutored students at RTC for over two years.
Sarah loves building relationships with her students and seeing them progress over the course of sessions. She has a wide variety of interests and academic experience — she tutors everything from APUSH to AP Physics – but Sarah loves Math in particular, and hopes to share this love with her students. Having taken the SAT and ACT herself only a number of years ago, Sarah especially enjoys being able to be a positive influence for students during a time that can often be stressful to navigate.
In her free time, Sarah plays lots of soccer, PlayStation, and enjoys traveling with her friends and family.
Casey Burke (he/him) is a writer, tutor, mentor, and digital marketer living in West Philadelphia. Growing up as the oldest of four siblings taught him patience and provided a foundation for the mentoring efforts he went on to pursue. These included a summer job as a camp counselor and a role in his high school’s mentoring program for disadvantaged middle schoolers, both of which cemented a passion in him for helping children grow and find joy in working toward their goals. Casey knows that every child thinks differently, and as a tutor, he is determined to identify and cater to each of his student’s individual learning styles. He has tutored test prep, math, and writing at RTC for over two years.
Casey earned a double B.A. in English and Cognitive Science from the University of Virginia, with a concentration in literary prose. After college, he started working as a paid search analyst for a digital marketing agency, where he consistently sought opportunities for teaching and mentorship. He was selected to participate in an externship program, and these teaching experiences drew him closer to a transition to education in earnest.
At RTC, Casey has developed a passion for teaching college entrance exams. In teaching the SAT and ACT, Casey relishes the challenge of zeroing in on an appropriate goal for each student, then developing a specific, long-term plan to make it happen. His interests range widely across subject areas, and for him there are few greater joys than putting in the time and effort to understand a new concept, whether it’s an English grammar term, a polynomial equation, or a test-taking strategy. Casey aims to inspire this love of learning for its own sake in every student he teaches. Casey is also thrilled to shepherd his students to tremendous success in test prep, as he knows their scores count to them.
In his free time, Casey enjoys fiction, distance running, cooking, playing the acoustic and bass guitars, listening to his sizable record collection, and reading about philosophy and music.
Sisi Tang (she/her) graduated from Duke University with a B.S. in Biology and History. She has over seven years of teaching and tutoring experience and has worked extensively with high school seniors in the college application process. She has tutored for RTC for over two years, and loves teaching writing, STEM subjects, and test prep. Much of her tutoring experience before RTC was guiding students in essay drafting, so Sisi loves teaching the editing skills of the grammar tests. Sisi has an extensive background in math, the physical sciences, computer programming, and biology, so she loves the diversity of SAT and ACT and deconstructing test design for students. Currently, she is a medical student at the Penn State College of Medicine.
Sisi’s approach to teaching is rooted in applying real-world examples and observations. She tries to bring the “outside world in” by helping students see the larger picture and using examples and practice to enhance and solidify their knowledge. In test prep tutoring, she encourages students to capitalize on what they already know, understand the why behind correct and incorrect answers, and apply those skills in different contexts to improve their test scores. With any student, Sisi wishes to make learning fun and a lifelong adventure. Hence, she likes to point out the patterns, disguises, and commonalities between test questions of different subjects, be it writing and humanities or math and science.
Having graduated from a very competitive and high-stress high school, Sisi emphasizes mental and emotional well-being in the process of reaching success and achieving goals. Sisi encourages students to evaluate their school-life balance and construct a positive environment for students to set standardized test prep study schedules. She earnestly believes that short- and long-term success is rooted in daily emotional health, and she hopes to support students to better manage their high workloads.
In her free time, Sisi loves reading, cooking, and playing music. Her personal goal is to visit all the U.S. states and national parks by the age of 60. She is an avid follower of holistic medicine, practicing meditation and acupuncture frequently for stress relief and personal improvement.
Julia Adams (she/her) has been tutoring informally since she was in high school. She graduated from Washington and Jefferson College with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with minors in Mathematics and Education. Throughout her undergraduate career, Julia volunteered tutoring mathematics at a teen center, where she guided students in everything from fractions to calculus. Each lightbulb moment, that “a-ha!” that indicates a student has connected the dots, is what continues to inspire Julia; she has continued to gain a deeper appreciation for tutoring in her five years working 1-2-1 with students. She was excited to join RTC after her graduation in 2022.
Julia knows RTC’s teaching philosophy better than most: she was one of Miss Claire’s students, and she herself learned to beat the ACT on her journey to college. Her ACT achievement helped her earn her sizable merit aid at W&J. Julia brings this test-taker’s expertise and empathy to her work as an RTC tutor. She’s our first alumna test prep tutor, and she’s our secret weapon!
Julia is passionate about teaching because she is passionate about learning. Every student brings new opportunities for Julia to learn along with them. Julia believes in Socratic teaching and understands that if a student can work through problems cooperatively with their tutor and explain how they did it, they build both their skills and confidence.
Julia has so much fun teaching test prep because of the easily recognizable patterns in the SAT and ACT. Students do not necessarily have to be a master of all subjects to master a standardized test, and Julia loves teaching them how smart they can be as they unlock the secrets of the test together!
In her free time, Julia is an active artist and spends her free time painting, drawing, cooking, and spending time outdoors around her home in Pittsburgh, PA. Julia is a strong advocate for having a creative outlet to relieve stress in difficult situations and uses her creativity as a form of mindfulness.
Ashwin Ugale (he/him) works as a full-time virtual tutor in Chicago, Illinois. After attending the Illinois Math and Science Academy and obtaining a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Ashwin entered into the workforce in the startup world. He performed various IT and Developer roles at a few companies, the last of which was an online tutoring startup. One day, he was asked to fill in for a missing tutor, and he instantly connected with the work. Ashwin recognized not only that he had a unique gift for teaching and a love for 1-2-1 tutoring, but also that he could have a profound and positive impact upon his students’ lives. He became a full-time, private tutor in 2013, and has tutored for RTC since 2021.
This unique background has led Ashwin to develop a straightforward tutoring style grounded in self-learning. Ashwin understands that both teenage SAT/ACT students and adult GRE/GMAT students who can build confidence in their ability to learn will not only respond better to outside tutoring, but will spend more time doing it themselves. This approach has been very successful in test prep — many students just need a small push in the right direction to achieve their academic goals. Ashwin believes that building a personal connection with his students is paramount, as it encourages more dialogue and engagement — all part of the reason why he enjoys 1-2-1 tutoring so much.
In his free time, Ashwin enjoys hobbies such as tennis, soccer, chess, and tabletop games like Azul and Wingspan. When traveling is safe enough, you may also find him in a tropical destination in the colder months of the year.