We’re honored to have earned Best of Thumbtack awards in both 2015 and 2016. Our clients have also thanked us with stellar reviews on Google, Yelp, Care.com, and LinkedIn, and with the notes below. Would you like to add a testimonial?
Bootstrap Tutors is, honestly, life-changing. I hired Ryan Judkins, the founder of Bootstrap, to tutor my son for the Verbal Reasoning and Essay portions of the GRE. He’s FAST, but also very patient when needed. He taught invaluable strategies that led to my son greatly improving and scoring right where he hoped on the GRE. He is both professional and personable. He’s very flexible on schedules, was never late for one session. Every penny was completely well-spent. I HIGHLY recommend Bootstrap. ~Elise C. (from Yelp)
Bootstrap tutors has been a tremendous resource for my daughter with SAT prep and college essay work. Ryan Judkins is extremely communicative and organized, providing immediate feedback on sessions. Even his invoices are well done making electronic payment easy and seamless. My daughter didn’t always apply herself but in the end she really pushed and Ryan was there to keep her going. Her scores rose in all categories and she got to a comfortable score which was terrific. He gives very concrete strategies and really understands the SAT mindset, particularly the verbal side. Highly recommend Ryan and his team. ~Laura A. (from Yelp)
Working with Patrick from Bootstrap Tutors for ACT prep was an exceptional experience. Patrick was professional, intelligent, reliable and punctual, and taught and explained the material clearly. It was a pleasure working with Patrick and Bootstrap Tutors. ~ Elizabeth B. (from Thumbtack)
The college decisions have finally rolled in, and I want to update you as to where I was accepted and where I will be going next year. Out of the 10 schools that I applied to, I was accepted to the University of Michigan, Boston University, University of Pittsburgh, UMass Amherst, University of Toronto, and McGill. After weighing my options, I have officially committed to the University of Michigan and could not be more excited! I am very thankful to have been able to go through the college process under your guidance, and I am doubtful that I would have achieved the results that I did without your help. With help from you and Patrick, I turned my 26 composite pre-ACT to an astounding 35! My most improved section, English, went from a 19 to a perfect 36! With your help on the essays, I feel that I submitted works of writing that I was proud of and that I grew as a writer overall. I started the college application process totally unsure about where I saw myself ending up and now that everything is final could not be happier with the result. ~Alex T.
Our youngest son was struggling in his 3rd year of high school Latin so we hired Ryan as a tutor for him. Our son’s work improved noticeably. More importantly, his attitude improved from avoidance to confidence as Ryan helped him identify and implement strategies for success. He began to have fun with Latin again. Ryan was highly reliable and communicated clearly after each tutoring session so we could measure our son’s performance, goals, and progress. I highly recommend Ryan for any similar work. ~C.C. Findlay (from LinkedIn)
I just wanted to let you know that I will be attending Colgate in the fall! Out of the fourteen schools, I applied to I got accepted to ten, waitlisted at two, and rejected from two schools. I was accepted into Colgate, Lehigh, Bucknell, University of Rochester, UMass Amherst, Fordham, UConn, UVM, RPI, and Miami Ohio. Also, in my acceptance letter from Colgate, I received a handwritten note from my admissions counselor saying they liked the creativity. I would just like to thank you for helping me with my ACT/SAT prep and my essays. I would not have been able to get into these schools without your help. Thank you again. ~Jessica L.
Ryan is an excellent tutor. He has a really nice style about him and is driven to give his students the best possible results. He is as good as it gets, worth the money. ~Urbi G. (from Yelp)
Our son needed an Italian tutor and I reached out to Ryan at Bootstraps, two weeks later he found us a great tutor in Veronica Campanini- a native Italian speaker and teacher who is a huge help for my son! He looks forward to seeing her! Bootstraps is THE best!” ~Amy S. (from Google)
Ryan is great! He works with my 13 year old daughter on everything from philosophy, poetry and history of language to creating a shooting script for a film project and even sound editing. I love listening in to what they are working on for the day. I highly recommend working with Bootstrap Tutors. You will not be disappointed. ~Jenna F. (from Google)
I had a pleasure working with Kristen! I couldn’t get assigned a more helpful, understanding, and patient tutor. I don’t think I would have made it through my summer courses without her and hope to possibly use her services in the Fall also. Thank you again! ~Kameliya A. (from Thumbtack)
We have had an excellent tutoring experience. Lauren really connected with my child and was able to focus on the help he really needed. It greatly increased his confidence going into the test. ~Laura S. (from Thumbtack)
Our tutor Erik is kind and supportive to my 2 daughters. He gave them confidence and eliminated some of the guess work when approaching SATs. Great flexibility, which was a priority! ~Jeanne K. (from Thumbtack)
Ben has been coming to my house for several weeks now to tutor my daughter in math. Her grade has already increased from a D to a B. Thanks Ben! ~Patti P. (from Thumbtack)
Ryan has been tutoring our 8th grade son in Latin this year. Ryan has done a wonderful job supplementing and reinforcing the concepts from class. Ryan’s knowledge and love of Latin combined with his strong teaching skills have made this a very positive experience and really increased our son’s desire to learn the language. I recommend Ryan highly as a tutor! ~Beth C. (from Care.com)
Ryan was my tutor for the verbal portion of the GMAT and was absolutely fantastic. My verbal score went up a ton (from under 700 to 770) in only 6 sessions! ~Melissa F.
Ryan was recommended to us by a friend. Our daughter was struggling through an intense English class. As parents, we tried to help her, but we found we were lost as far as how to approach the material and what the teacher wanted. Ryan really helped us out of a pinch. After the class was done, we decided to continue with tutoring. We realized how valuable it is to help our daughter develop good writing skills. It seems like one of the better educational investments we can make. ~Lea K.
Ryan has been tutoring me since this summer, originally in SAT® critical reading/writing, and I can definitely say that his help has made a huge difference. His SAT tutoring definitely was what allowed me to get 800s in critical reading and writing, and we still meet so that I can improve my critical reading and writing as well as work on application essays for academic programs and supplement my AP® Language and Composition class, which as a scorer Ryan is uniquely suited for. All in all, probably one of the best English tutors I’ve ever had. ~Harold C.
Ryan has tutored our son through Latin 1 and 2. Not only is he knowledgeable and well prepared, he makes a real effort to understand the way in which your child is being taught at school. Ryan develops strategies based on the teacher’s style and curriculum and, in our case, this extra effort was essential to our son’s success. Ryan is dependable and a terrific communicator. Our son’s Latin grades improved significantly once he started working with Ryan. ~Jill D.
Highly recommended!!!! — My child has been taking English writing classes with Ryan since last summer. Although we have seen the improvements, we decided to stretch our budget and continue Ryan’s classes. Ryan does put a great deal of thought into his teaching. He is very serious with his job. His teaching is effective and efficient. —- Ryan is also a very good conversation partner, insightful and resourceful, from whom any level of student can always learn something! ~Ling Z.
Wow…..Ryan truly has connected with my son. Zach has struggled with basics as he frequently gets “bored” in class, or just stops paying attention because of his ADD. Ryan is able to take the information and relate it in a manner that Zach is highly engaged. The follow up from Ryan with the teachers and myself is unbelievable. He is simply by far the absolute best-and certainly a wonderful role model. If every teacher taught the way Ryan tutors, I wonder if we would have an education problem in our school system. ~Janis M.
Thank goodness for Ryan! My son attends an academically rigorous high school and Latin had been the bane of his (and my!) existence. Ryan engaged my son in the subject, quickly identified the gaps in his learning, and expertly guided him to success. The following year, Latin II started well but my son hit major roadblocks after a mid-year teacher transition. Ryan quickly helped him to get back on track. Ryan is a consummate professional and a talented tutor. I’m thrilled to have found Ryan and expect we’ll be back to have Bootstrap Tutors help my son prepare for the SAT and ACT exams. ~Mary F.
I worked with Ryan on the writing section of the GRE®. My score shot up from a 3 to a 5! I had been tutored by Kaplan before and never saw any change in score. Thank you, Ryan, for all your help! ~Rachel R.
Ryan has been working with my 14-year-old since last summer and he is a wonderful tutor. He is tutoring Latin in a very interesting way and my son is enjoying the work sessions. His grades are really good and his study techniques have improved a lot. I was so pleased that my son has also been working with a math tutor from Bootstrap Tutors since October as well. I highly recommend them to help with school work and test prep. ~Cecile C.
Ryan has been tutoring me since 7th grade Latin, where I was failing. Now I am in ninth grade and have kept a solid B+ in Latin. Ryan is a great tutor who is very personal. He can easily relate everything that is taught to me in easy and fun ways. He is the best tutor I have ever had and probably will always be the best. ~Ed S.
Ryan tutored me for about two and a half months this fall in preparation for my second try at the GRE®. He was very knowledgeable in his areas of expertise yet friendly and not condescending at all. Thanks to Ryan I raised my scores on the GRE® and consider my time spent with him to be invaluable. I would recommend him to anyone who needs that extra push in their studies. ~Nate P.
Even though Ryan does not typically tutor in medieval studies, I asked him if he could tutor me in Middle English literature during the summer of 2011. I wanted to learn to read Middle English at a basic level and to analyze some of Chaucer’s texts for personal enrichment and pleasure. Ryan is very intelligent, knowledgeable in his field, and an excellent communicator, which made for thought-provoking discussions of major themes and interesting close readings of The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. His impressive depth and range of knowledge of medieval religion, politics, culture, and society and of current scholarship, in addition to his incisive interpretations, provided rich context material and opened up multiple ways of reading the texts for me. Ryan was always well-prepared, and despite having his own ideas and important points to discuss about the texts, he encouraged critical and independent thinking. His teaching approaches were very effective, organized, and systematic, and Ryan adapted techniques to fit my needs whenever necessary. For example, when he asked challenging higher-level thinking questions that I could not answer, he framed the questions in different ways. If I still struggled, he effectively selected certain passages that we could examine together in order to make inferences and draw conclusions. Ryan had many ways to engage me with the texts and to make the readings interesting and fun. He was always acutely aware of and sensitive to my progress with Middle English and with my critical reading abilities and pushed me to perform just above my ability level so that I could be challenged and be successful. I enjoyed being tutored by Ryan. Friendly, kind, encouraging, and helpful in answering questions, Ryan was a top-notch and excellent tutor whom I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who wants help with Middle English, with medieval literature, or with the development of his/her critical thinking and literary analysis skills. ~Renee M.
My son Yijia, a 7th grader, took an English writing class with Ryan Judkins from the end of July to end of October 2009. He really enjoyed the class, in which he learned different types of English essay writing and made progress in his writing skills and vocabulary use. My son felt it was easier to handle school writing assignments afterward. Ryan is really professional. ~Jeanny C.
I’ve not been tutored by Mr. Judkins outside of school, but he taught my English class a few years ago and did a fantastic job–easily one of the best teachers I had. He did a great job improving my writing and made the class very enjoyable. Based on my experiences, I’d recommend him to anyone seeking a tutor. ~Matt K.
Ryan tutored my son in Latin 1 and did an excellent job. He is conscientious, thorough, and well-prepared. He has the perfect balance between being challenging and encouraging. My son’s grades improved significantly in a very short amount of time. Thanks, Ryan! ~Nancy P.