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Each Marks Counseling Associates tutor is not only a top test taker but also a skilled diagnostician and teacher.

We are a small company of experienced educators, each educator an expert on standardized tests as well as academic subjects. We provide comprehensive educational support services for almost all high school and college standardized tests and academic subjects.

Our tutors undergo at least 30 hours of comprehensive training before they begin tutoring, have ongoing professional development meetings, and take the SAT, ACT, and various other standardized tests at least once every year.

Nitin Sawhney

Since 1998, Nitin Sawhney has helped hundreds of students around the world prepare for the SSAT, ISEE, HSPT, PSAT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT and SAT Subject tests.  Mr. Sawhney has worked with students all across the United States, and from South Africa, Hong Kong, Belgium, and Switzerland.  Like each of our tutors, he enjoys taking official versions of each of the tests he tutors, and his students sometimes find him taking these tests with them.  Before he started the Tutoring Division at Marks Counseling Associates in 2006, Mr. Sawhney worked as a senior tutor and materials developer at PrepMatters, Inc.  He has also taught standardized test preparation at Kaplan, Inc. in Connecticut and Maryland and at the USDA Graduate School in Washington, DC, and tutored privately. Mr. Sawhney also leads Marks Counseling Associates’s pro bono test preparation program for Scholars of Collegiate Directions, Inc.

Mr. Sawhney has taught Composition and Creative Writing at the University of Maryland and Math at the Sandy Springs Friends School. His college teaching experience includes Introductory College Composition and Beginning and Advanced Creative Writing. At the middle and high school level, he has taught Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Algebra II, and Advanced Topics. In addition, he has tutored Math through AP BC Calculus and AP Statistics, AP World History, AP Micro and Macro Economics and AP English Language and Literature.
As a former high school and college teacher, Mr. Sawhney not only understands different learning needs and styles, but he also appreciates the anxiety that standardized testing can create, even for gifted students. His test preparation approach is based upon a three-part system: Customized Test Planning, Targeted Skill Building, and Test Strategy.

Mr. Sawhney graduated from Wesleyan University (CT) with a double major in English and Economics. He also holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Maryland.

Daniel L. Bloss

Daniel Bloss has been a full-time tutor with Marks Counseling Associates since December 2006. In that time, Mr. Bloss has used his testing and academic expertise to work with students at every skill level, seeking always to encourage each individual to achieve his or her personal best, through targeted skill building and clear, understandable test strategies. Before working with Marks Counseling Associates, Mr. Bloss tutored privately at the high school and college levels. In addition to his work with Marks Counseling Associates clients, Mr. Bloss offers pro bono tutoring and test-preparation to the Scholars of Collegiate Directions, Inc.

Mr. Bloss attended Montgomery County Public Schools, where he was recognized as a National Merit Semi-Finalist. He then attended James Madison University on a Presidential Scholarship. While earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, he performed undergraduate research in Analytical Chemistry. In addition to standardized test preparation (SAT, PSAT, ACT with Writing, and GMAT), Mr. Bloss tutors the following high school subjects through the AP levels: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, Math, and US History. He also prepares students for Subject Tests in all these subjects, including Math 1 and Math 2.

As a seasoned test-taker and tutor, Mr. Bloss is very familiar with the challenges and learning approaches associated with standardized tests. Like all our tutors, he annually takes the tests he teaches, and follows the same three-part test preparation method as the rest of the tutoring team, based on: Customized Test Planning, Targeted Skill Building, and Test Strategy.

Jill E. Salisbury

Jill Salisbury well understands the pressures that current high school students experience.  After being named Valedictorian at her very competitive, private high school, Miss Salisbury attended the University of California at Los Angeles, graduating cum laude and as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

Miss Salisbury, who joined Marks Counseling Associates in March 2008, has considerable experience with students from the pre-kindergarten through the high school level, most recently as a Tutor and the Director of Sales at Score! Educational Centers (a division of Kaplan).  She also offers pro bono test preparation and tutoring to Scholars in the Collegiate Directions, Inc. program.

Miss Salisbury attended Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, California where, in addition to graduating first in her class, she was named a National Merit Finalist. At the University of California, Los Angeles, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in Psychology and a minor in English. Her academic distinctions include a Robert C. Byrd Scholarship and membership in the Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma Honor Societies.

As a knowledgeable tutor and test-taker, Miss Salisbury appreciates the academic and emotional challenges and the learning approaches associated with test taking. She therefore follows the same three-part test preparation method as the Marks Counseling Associates Tutoring team, based on: Customized Test Planning, Targeted Skill Building, and Test Strategy. In addition to standardized test preparation (SSAT, ISEE, HSPT, PSAT, SAT, ACT with Writing, and GRE), Miss Salisbury tutors the following high school subjects through the AP levels: Literature, Psychology, Statistics, US History, World History, and French. She also prepares students for Subject Tests in all these subjects.

Nisha Sardella

Nisha Sardella has tutored students from the elementary school level through college and is herself a seasoned test taker. She joined Marks Counseling Associates, in November 2009, and, like her colleagues, offers pro bono services to Scholars in the Collegiate Directions, Inc. program. She also leads our law school admissions counseling services and tutors the LSAT.

A graduate of the National Cathedral School, Mrs. Sardella has a B.A. magna cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Journal of Law and Public Policy and the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. In high school, Mrs. Sardella was named a National and State AP Scholar, as well as a National Merit Finalist.  Her college honors include the John Harvard and Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Scholarships for Academic Distinction. 

Mrs. Sardella has tutored individuals in studies ranging from second grade basics through college-level Finite Math.  She has also served as a Big Sister for at-risk youth and as an Alumnae Mentor for Harvard women. She currently serves on Harvard’s Schools and Scholarships Committee, interviewing candidates for undergraduate admission.

Mrs. Sardella is a kind and understanding educator who appreciates the anxiety and stress that high-stakes test taking can evoke.  A trained family-law and tax attorney and mediator, she also builds upon her experience counseling and educating individuals who must navigate complex issues and decisions.

Phillip Chang

Phillip Chang, a top scorer on many standardized tests, has taught and tutored subjects as diverse as breakdancing and the GMAT.  He especially enjoys guiding students to the aha! moment when an intricate, complicated concept finally makes sense.  Having taken and tutored for many standardized tests, Mr. Chang understands that while strong test scores do depend on confident command of content, successful students also understand key test-taking strategies and learn to manage fatigue and anxiety.  Like mastering content, these are challenges for which the test-taker can be prepared.

After a promising career as a management analyst, Mr. Chang worked at the MATCH Public Charter High School in Boston, where he tutored students in all subjects and taught the SAT.  He has also tutored high school- and college-level math when working at the Ivy League Tutoring Connection and the GMAT when at the Manhattan Review.  An avid practitioner of the arts, Mr. Chang has taught breakdance at the British School of Washington, Imagine-Hope Community Charter School, Dance Institute of Washington, DC Dance Collective, and Metropolitan Fine Arts Center.  He currently performs with the dance company Urban Artistry.

Mr. Chang attended high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a rigorous public boarding school with competitive admission criteria.  He was awarded a National Merit Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and graduated in three years with a degree in Computer Science.

In March 2010, Mr. Chang joined Marks Counseling Associates, where he follows the same three-part test preparation method as the rest of the tutoring team: Customized Test Planning, Targeted Skill Building, and Test Strategy. In addition to standardized test preparation (PSAT, SAT, ACT, GMAT), Mr. Chang tutors the following high school subjects through the AP/Subject Test levels: Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, US History, and Spanish Language.

Mr. Chang also offers these services pro bono to Scholars in the Collegiate Directions, Inc. program.

Juliana Avery, Office Coordinator

Prior to joining Marks Education in March 2010, Juliana Avery spent two years as the Administrative Assistant at Dana Press, the publishing branch of the Dana Foundation. She graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2008, double majoring in Playwriting and History. She remains active in the DC theater scene. In addition to her work with Marks Education, she is also the Office and Outreach Coordinator for Collegiate Directions, Inc. and taught their AP/SAT Subject Test course on World History.

* SAT is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. PSAT/NMSQT is a trademark jointly owned by the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which were not involved in the production of, and do not endorse, this product. None of the trademark holders are affiliated with Marks Education or this website.