Your tutor
Lewis Watson — SAT tutor
A perfect 1600 on the SAT, and ten-plus years tutoring full time. Altair Prep is one tutor rather than an agency, so the person who assesses a student in the first twenty minutes is the person who teaches every lesson afterwards.
Both halves of the SAT, taught by one person
Most SAT tutoring splits. A quantitative tutor takes the Math, someone else takes Reading & Writing, and the two never compare notes. It is an understandable way to staff an agency and a poor way to prepare for a single test scored out of 1600.
Lewis teaches both. The Math with an engineer's command of the quantitative section — a Cambridge MEng in Chemical Engineering, and years of teaching A-Level Maths alongside it. Reading & Writing with the ear for language the verbal section actually rewards, as a native English speaker.
The practical gain is pacing across the whole test. When one person sees both halves, the plan can spend six weeks closing a grammar list because that is where the cheap marks are, then move to Math once the return there is higher. Split tutoring cannot make that trade, because neither tutor can see the other half of the score.
The record, plainly
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| SAT score | A perfect 1600 |
| Degree | MEng, Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge |
| Tutoring full time since | 2015 — ten-plus years, one to one throughout |
| Sections taught | Both — SAT Math and SAT Reading & Writing |
| Language | Native English speaker |
| Teaches | Online, live, in the student's local time zone |
A high score proves a tutor can do the test. The ten years are what turn that into teaching, and the two are not the same skill.
How the teaching works
- Live one to one on a shared whiteboard. Both people write on the same document, so the student solves the question while Lewis watches the working rather than the answer. Mistakes are caught at the moment they are made.
- Homework after every lesson, marked before the next. Lesson time is then spent only on what went wrong, which is the part that cannot be self-taught from a mark scheme.
- Every wrong answer classified by cause — misread, method, timing, or a genuine gap — because the fix for each is different and students usually assume it is always the last one.
- Thirty work packs, worked through in order, with full-length timed mocks in Bluebook and a progress update to parents after each one.
- Where a graphing approach beats an algebraic one, it gets taught as the primary method, not as a fallback — above about 1400 that decision is worth real marks. See 1400 to 1600.
Where the students are
Much of the early work was residential — living with families in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, teaching through term time and exam season. That is where the familiarity with international school calendars, and with what a Gulf school week does to a lesson schedule, comes from.
The practice is now mostly online, which has widened rather than narrowed it: students in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Hong Kong and across Europe, taught in their own evenings rather than Lewis's. For how the SAT sits in an application made from outside the US, see the guide for international students.
In students' words
“Lewis helped me get my score up from 1200 to 1400 in a month. I found the Math section particularly difficult, as I wasn't taking a math class at school that year. The online format worked well: Lewis marked my homework on our shared document before each lesson, so we focused only on the hardest problems.” — Liora
“Lewis is a patient teacher who will try lots of ways of explaining a question until one method or technique feels right. He really helped me realise the power of the graphing calculator in the Math section.” — Riccardo
“I got into UPenn!! Thank you so so much for all of your help, couldn't have done it without you.” — SAT student, on results day
What happens if you get in touch
An intro call first, to establish the target score, the sitting being aimed at and where the marks are currently going. Then a free 20-minute demonstration lesson on real questions the student has got wrong — not a sales call with a worked example, but twenty minutes of actual teaching that doubles as a diagnosis.
Both are free and nothing is payable before them. Rates are on the fee sheet, and if you are choosing between a tutor, an agency and a course, the questions worth asking are set out separately.
Common questions about Lewis Watson
Who is Lewis Watson?
Lewis Watson is the founder of Altair Prep and the tutor who teaches every lesson there. He scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT, read Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, and has worked as a full-time private tutor since 2015, preparing students for high-stakes exams one to one. He teaches both halves of the SAT himself rather than passing either section to an associate tutor.
What did Lewis Watson score on the SAT?
A perfect 1600. It matters less as a boast than as a working condition: a tutor who has scored full marks has met every question type at the top of the difficulty range, including the handful of items that separate 1500 from 1600, and can teach them from experience rather than from an answer key. Altair Prep pairs that with ten-plus years of full-time teaching, because scoring well and teaching well are different skills.
How long has Lewis Watson been tutoring?
Since 2015, full time, which is ten-plus years of one-to-one teaching rather than tutoring alongside another job. Much of the early work was residential, living with families in Dubai and Saudi Arabia and teaching through term time and exam season, before the practice moved mostly online. That is roughly the length of time the SAT itself has been through two major format changes, both of which Lewis has taught through.
Does an SAT tutor need to have taken the SAT themselves?
Not formally, but it changes what they can teach. A tutor who has sat the test under timed conditions knows how the adaptive second module feels, where the clock actually bites, and which questions are worth leaving. Without that, advice about pacing tends to be theoretical. It is a fair question to ask any tutor before booking, along with who will actually be in the room each week.
Does Lewis Watson teach students outside the UK?
Yes, and most Altair Prep students are outside the UK. Lessons run live and one to one in the student's own time zone, with afternoon and evening slots that fit a school week in the Gulf, Asia and Europe. Students have come from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, Norway, Israel and South Korea. Nothing about the teaching changes with distance; the whiteboard is shared and both people write on it.
Can I meet Lewis Watson before paying anything?
Yes. Altair Prep offers a free intro call and a free 20-minute demonstration lesson, both taught by Lewis rather than run by a salesperson, with nothing payable before them. The demonstration is spent on real questions the student has got wrong, so it doubles as a diagnosis. If it is not the right fit, that has cost nothing but the twenty minutes.
Want to see how he teaches before deciding?
The intro call and the 20-minute demonstration lesson are both free, both with Lewis rather than a salesperson, and there is nothing to pay before them. Bring a score report, or just two or three questions that went wrong.
Prefer email? Write to lewis@altairprep.com.
More from Altair Prep
- Choosing a one-to-one SAT tutorMarketplace, agency or individual
- SAT Math tutoringThe four domains, and why able mathematicians stall
- SAT Reading & Writing tutoringThe half students under-prepare
- From 1400 to 1600Where the last 200 points actually are
- SAT tutoring for international studentsWhy the score counts for more from abroad
- FeesWhat one-to-one lessons cost