Alicia Carpenter

Alicia began tutoring nearly two decades ago while earning her undergraduate degree in International Studies (with a focus on History and Economics) and Foreign Languages (French and Spanish). She turned down her admission at Yale in favor of a full President's Scholarship at SMU, and found rich academic and community fulfillment. First tutoring AP-Level English, US and World History, French, and Writing, she had the opportunity to study and teach standardized test preparation. As a strong test-taker and initial non-believer in test prep, she was shocked at how much her students were able to improve with a focused, customized approach to test preparation based on the students' individual responses to the test. Alicia became passionate about optimizing the test preparation process, developing an extremely efficient and holistic approach. She continued development of pedagogy, curriculum, and best practices while earning her Master's Degree in Theater Education, developing her own tutoring and test prep company while studying the integration of creative processes, communication, and learning.

When she moved to New York in 2011, Alicia became the head of a top NYC test preparation company, using her comprehensive knowledge of the learning and test preparation process to help students in NYC's best schools achieve top scores. Joining Forum as a founding member in 2014, Alicia has authored many guides and articles for Forum outlining techniques for standardized testing, and she also specializes in helping students apply for accommodations for learning differences and use them strategically. She has become an expert in the field of test prep, and her students are achieving remarkable gains while engaging in (and actually enjoying!) an efficient and impactful prep process.

When she is not tutoring or providing educational consultation, Alicia enjoys working as a freelance prop designer, cooking, exploring her city's art and food scene, and spending quality time with her husband Adam and her two young sons, Kieran and Finn.