A Bermudian working in London is at the leading edge of the fast-growing online business of SAT tutoring.

Colm Singleton has been working with Tom Ehlers, a leading SAT tutor in New York, with whom he was at Princeton University, to develop Method Test Prep, an online SAT educational tutoring product that significantly improves the scores of students taking their SAT tests. A good score is required on these tests in order to obtain entry to the better US colleges.

"Tom had a vision of creating an online SAT product when he was teaching in the New York public school system," Mr. Singleton explained. "He realised that the SAT exam is a gatekeeper to college admissions, and it can be mastered with private tuition. Where he was teaching, the parents of his kids couldn't afford private SAT tuition, which led him to develop an online product that would offer top-level tutoring to all students at a reasonable price."

The interactive system concentrates on lessons in core areas of math and verbal skills. It assesses students' individual strengths and responds accordingly. "The system focuses on students' areas of weakness, like a personal tutor working with you online," Mr. Singleton said.

The virtual tutor offers audio explanations to questions from real SAT tests to enable students to pick up the logic necessary to answer the test questions.

The product is available online on a monthly, five-month or 10-month basis, depending on how much tuition is needed. The product can also be licensed by schools for their students. Method Test Prep already has tens of thousands of students in the US and internationally using the product.

"We find that not all parents understand the value of their children doing as well as possible on the SAT," Mr. Singleton said. "It's part of how the universities look at students. Your test scores have to be within a certain range if you want to attend college in the States and this product can help students achieve this."

SAT preparation is essential in Bermuda, Mr. Singleton said, "because a large number of Bermudian students want to go to university in the US and they must compete with the best American students. This system can really help. It works."

A Bermuda Rhodes Scholar, Mr. Singleton won scholarships to attend Princeton and Oxford. He is in his fifth year with a major international law firm based in London, where he is practising litigation, with an emphasis on disputes between financial institutions.

The online SAT tutorial system is availabele at www.methodtestprep.com. Mr. Singleton can be reached at colm@satmethod.com.