How to choose an SAT prep centre in Tashkent

The short answer: there is no SAT prep centre in Tashkent that is best for everyone. But the things that separate a good centre from a bad one are real, and they can be checked: who takes the money, who teaches, what the group is like, what document stands behind the results, what is being promised.

One student is starting the SAT from nothing; another has already sat it and wants a higher score. One follows an explanation more easily in Uzbek, another in Russian. A centre that suits one may not suit the other.

Nor can the centre itself be the one to answer. Anyone can write “the best”, which is why the words prove nothing. On this page we will not answer the question with “us” either. Below are seven questions to put to any centre, and then the answers Jamals International Academy gives to them.

Ask any centre these questions — including us. Ask for the answers in writing. The same list is on our “For parents” page.

• Which legal entity takes the money? Show the tax number and the contract.
• Who teaches? Their name, and their own score or track record.
• How many students per group? How long is a lesson, and how often?
• May I sit in on one real lesson?
• Where are last year’s results, and what document backs them?
• What are the refund terms, and which clause of the contract states them?
• Are you promising admission, or a visa?

We are Jamals International Academy: we opened in 2020, our centre is in Tashkent, and the SAT is our main subject. Below are our answers to the seven questions as this site already publishes them, each with the place where you can check it.

Who teaches? Our teachers’ names, photographs and published SAT scores are on the “Team” page. Some teachers are introduced by the subject they teach rather than by a score. Our address is public — you can come and meet the teacher.

How long is a lesson, and how often? That is written on the SAT page under “Courses”, level by level; for the Booster level, ask us for the timetable. There is a separate programme for students who study online; it is on the “Courses” page under the name Online Premium.

Can you sit in on a lesson? Yes. The first lesson is free: you sit in without paying anything, see the teacher, and decide after that. It needs arranging in advance, because the group timetable is not the same every day. As a parent you may ask to sit in on one real lesson — that is a standing offer.

Where are the results? Our main figures are in the table below, each marked with where it comes from. What each of our claims rests on is set out on its own page, “What we can prove”.

Do we promise admission or a visa? No. We do not promise admission, a visa or a scholarship — none of those decisions is ours. Nor do we guarantee a score: no centre can sit the exam for you.

Three things are not written on this site: which legal entity takes the money and its tax number, how many students sit in one group, and the refund terms. Ask us for them before you pay, and get the answers in writing. If we refuse or deflect, that is an answer too.

If questions remain, we sit down with parents for a separate conversation. Afterwards we give you a written summary, so you can compare us against other centres.

We have typed no figure about the academy into the text of this page: all of them are in the table below. It is the same table as on our “Fact sheet” page, so the two pages cannot show different numbers.

Look at the marker beside each row: whether you can check it yourself, whether it comes from an outside source, or whether it is our own record. Figures from our own count are marked as exactly that — we do not call them audited. When another centre shows you a number, ask the same thing: who counted it, and who checked?

Several centres in Tashkent prepare students for the SAT, and that is good for students: more choice, a higher standard of question, a parent able to compare.

Three SAT centres in Uzbekistan are run by people who studied at Jamals International Academy. They are our competitors now, and that is good for us, not bad. Who they are is written, by name, on our page “Those who teach it now”.

This page rates nobody and ranks nobody — not them, not any other centre, not us. Put the seven questions to everyone, and compare the answers yourself.