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Elevate your prep.
Mountains to Sea Test Prep is a small, local company led by a certified teacher and experienced test-prep specialist committed to the success of every student.
Story
Mountains to Sea Test Prep, LLC, formerly Ace It Asheville, is led by Robbie Harms, an experienced test-prep specialist and college consultant with years of experience helping students reach their academic goals. As a high school student in Florida, Mr. Harms experienced firsthand the benefits of targeted test prep after attending a one-day session that helped him improve his SAT Math score by more than 100 points and earn notoriously difficult out-of-state admission to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Using skills from a variety of fields, primarily journalism and education, he has become an experienced and successful tutor in many subjects. Mr. Harms is also bilingual in English and Spanish.
After originally working with students from his hometown of Port Orange, Fla., and moving to Asheville in 2018, Mr. Harms recognized the need for effective, affordable college preparation services in western North Carolina. Over the past two years, Mountains to Sea has helped dozens of students in Buncombe County and beyond prepare for the SAT and ACT, craft application essays, and navigate the college application process—with consistently unmatched reviews and results.
Principles
Hard Work
Mountains to Sea tutors are experts in their subject areas and will do whatever it takes for their students to succeed: scheduling extra sessions, finding supplemental resources, researching specific requirements. In a landscape filled with empty score guarantees heavy on fine print, their guarantee is far simpler: to be the hardest working tutor for every student they serve.
Accessibility
College preparation services are notoriously expensive, with many companies charging hundreds of dollars per hour for test prep and multiple thousands of dollars for college consulting. Mountains to Sea is committed to providing a more affordable alternative without compromising quality. Its mission, then, is simple: Be cheaper and better.
Communication
Mountains to Sea tutors will promptly respond to emails, calls, and texts with kindness and detail. After each session or class, they will send an email or text to parents detailing the student’s progress and practice scores so every party—tutor, student, and parent—is on the same page. Tutors will be honest and transparent with their students and parents.
Positivity
Applying to college is a stressful, time-consuming process that often causes students (and their parents) undue anxiety. While many companies prey on this fear, Mountains to Sea is committed to being a beacon of encouragement and will never pressure parents to pay for its services. Instead, it will provide families with the information they need to make decisions.
Tutors
ROBBIE HARMS
Founder and Lead Tutor
Mr. Harms is the founder and lead tutor of Mountains to Sea Test Prep. A dad, writer, and cross country coach by day, he has years of experience with helping students achieve their testing and college goals. He holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism with a double major in Economics and minor in Hispanic Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Master of Education from the University of Florida. A professional journalist, he has written for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The San Diego Union-Tribune, among other outlets. Outside of tutoring, he loves to run, read, and spend time with his wife and two young daughters.