noodle review
This review is based on months of experience with Noodle Pros, which is now known as Inspirica following a business combination. The same address and phone numbers are listed for both Noodle Pros and Inspirica.
We paid Noodle Pros top dollar for ACT test services in New York City. The result was extremely disappointing.
The only reason I am not going public with this review is I don't want to draw attention to my child and because attaching my name would violate my employer's policies.
We paid for in-person tutoring at Noodle Pros but at the last minute the tutor switched to online only. The tutor taught each of the lessons from her bed and often had a short fuse with our child, though in the consultation (with parents) she was presentable and businesslike. The actual workload was all up to the child and the tutor was more like a homework checker than a guide. She acted as if she had better things to do and in fact had more than one other child booked at the time of supposedly private tutor sessions.
Noodle Pros cited discounts to their posted prices, which sounded at the time like something everyone is told, but we still spent (read: wasted) thousands of dollars.
The Noodle Pros strategy was pitched as a way to game the ACT, basically by eliminating wrong answers to narrow down to the correct one, which isn't really a great insight at hundreds of dollars per hour. The whole idea of gaming a test because you are perceived to be able to afford to do so is pretty ugly if you think about it, but that's the mentality and business model at work here.
It also didn't work. Our child spent many hours on the Noodle Pros strategy and the test score didn't budge one point over the course of test-taking.
In hindsight, we should have seen we were being played. College prep is stressful and Noodle Pros preys on this vulnerability. The situation was much the same as if we were at a funeral home after the death of a loved one and the director talked the grieving family into a gold plating the coffin.
With no tests, our child was admitted to their top pick for college. Noodle Pros is a sham and waste of money. Hold a stiff backbone and study on your own.
Good luck during this stressful period.