Raise the floor to 1200. Raise the ceiling to 1500+.
Boston Public Schools students average 1004 on the SAT — 123 points below the state. The Boston 1200 Project is my work with Boston schools, nonprofits and families to change that.
- 1,000+ students taught in free workshops
- Programs funded by partners, not families
- With Summer Search, The Academy Group and Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy
Goal 1 · Raise the floor
for every student starting below it
Goal 2 · Raise the ceiling
for students already at 1200 or above
Boston’s gap isn’t talent. It’s access.
Same test, same year. Boston students score well below the rest of the state — not because they’re less capable, but because fewer of them are ever shown how the test works.
- Boston students from low-income families 922
- Boston Public Schools average 1004
- Massachusetts public schools average 1127
- Goal 1 · Raise the floor 1200
- Goal 2 · Raise the ceiling 1500+
- Greater Boston’s top 10 collegesMedian SAT · hover or tap a dot Brandeis1430 Northeastern1480Boston College1471Boston University1470Babson1470 Tufts1500Wellesley1500 Harvard1520Olin1520 MIT1550 1430–1550
Get to 1200
Only about a third of Massachusetts test-takers reach 1200 (36% of the class of 2025). From the Boston average, it’s a climb of about 200 points — right in the 150–350 range my students typically gain.
What moves it
- Strategy for the question types that show up most
- Desmos moves that turn hard math into quick points
- A weekly study habit that actually sticks
Push 1200+ to 1500+
A 1400 already puts a student in the top 12% in Massachusetts. A 1500 matches or beats the median at 7 of Greater Boston’s top 10 colleges.
What moves it
- The hardest second-module questions, done accurately
- A pacing plan built from practice-test data
- A checking routine that ends careless mistakes
Boston programs already in the project.
Schools and nonprofits bring me in to run SAT programs for their students. Institutions pay; students never do — and that revenue keeps the workshops free.
Crimson Summer Academy
Harvard’s college-access program for high-achieving students from low-income families in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville public schools.
What we ranA 3.5-week, math-first SAT course: a diagnostic on day one, a post-test at the end, and a written narrative for every scholar.
Summer Search
A national youth-development nonprofit that works with students from low-income backgrounds from sophomore year through college.
What we runLive SAT strategy workshops for its Boston-area students, with the full free library as follow-on.
The Academy Group
A fourteen-year college-and-career program for young people in Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.
What we runThis fall’s SAT cohort: weekly sessions plus midweek office hours, built backwards from each member’s target school.
01
Cohort program
Multi-week SAT instruction for a group with a test date: a diagnostic, a plan, live sessions, practice tests and progress reports to your team.
02
Workshop series
A recurring series on specific strategies — Desmos, reading pacing, the hardest math — online or in person.
03
Custom build
Curriculum, tools or games built around what your students get stuck on most.
Why I do this
I was always a good student with big goals, but the SAT score I needed was out of reach — and so was the price of high-quality test prep. Students from backgrounds like mine don’t deserve the mediocre free option. They deserve the best instruction there is. These students want to help others and make the world better, and I believe that help has to reach the communities that need it most.
Ricardo MorenoFounder, Boston Test Prep · Teach For America, Greater Boston ’18
Bring a free SAT workshop to your group.
For Boston-area schools, teams, youth programs and community groups. In person or online, sized for the room you have.
Every student leaves with
-
A read on where they stand
Which section is carrying the score, and the two or three question types that would move it most.
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Strategies for test day
Techniques taught live and practiced in the room — the same ones I teach 1:1.
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A plan they can run alone
The free 29 Concepts Checklist and video lessons. No login, nothing to buy.
Request a free workshop
Tell me about your group and I’ll come back with a date and a focus.
- 1Tell me who the students are, how many, their grades and your timing
- 2We pick the focus: Desmos, Reading and Writing, or the hardest math
- 3I run the workshop, and every student leaves with the free materials
Want more than one session? Workshop series and cohort programs run as partnerships.
Two ways into the project.
Whether you run a program or you’re a student chasing a score, here’s where to start.
Bring the project to your students.
- A cohort program, a workshop series or a custom build
- Progress reported back to your team
- Funding a program for Boston students? Let’s talk.
Get to 1200 — or past 1500.
- Ask your school or program to request a free workshop
- Start today with the free resources
- Want 1:1 help? Book a free 20-minute consult
Notes and sources
- Boston and Massachusetts averages are for SATs taken in 2024–25, from the MA DESE SAT Performance Report.
- 36% at 1200+ and 12% at 1400+ are for the Massachusetts class of 2025, from the College Board 2025 SAT Suite Annual Report.
- College scores are the median SAT of first-years who enrolled in fall 2025 and sent scores, from each college’s 2025–26 Common Data Set. Most of these colleges were test-optional for that class. Harvard reports section scores only, so its figure adds its median Reading and Writing (750) and Math (770). Olin’s is the midpoint of its published middle 50% (1490–1550). Boston College’s is its published average.
- Typical gains of 150–350 points are for my students. Results vary by student and starting score.
- Chart bars run from 800 to 1600.
Median SAT by college
- MIT1550
- Harvard1520
- Olin1520
- Tufts1500
- Wellesley1500
- Northeastern1480
- Boston College1471
- Boston University1470
- Babson1470
- Brandeis1430