St. Francis High School in Mountain View asks a lot of students before they arrive and after. We offer one-on-one tutoring for St. Francis students and applicants, and our tutors are Stanford students.
Tell us about your student, and we’ll match them with a Stanford tutor who fits.
Meet our tutors
The HSPT: an entrance exam that also places
Every eighth grader applying to St. Francis takes the High School Placement Test. St. Francis gives the HSPT on January 9 and January 23, 2027, and students register for it when they complete the preliminary application. Students applying to several Catholic high schools in the San Jose, Oakland or San Francisco dioceses sit it only once. So one morning counts for a great deal. The score keeps mattering after admission: the course bulletin ties Algebra 1 Honors to the HSPT math score, and English 1 Honors and Biology Honors to the reading score. Our tutors go through each part of the test with timed practice; see our entrance-exam tutoring.
Summer Geometry, Summer Trigonometry and moving up in math
St. Francis offers three starting points in Algebra 1 and places some freshmen higher by exam. After that, the bulletin allows two summer courses for advancement, Geometry and Trigonometry, and no other outside course can be used to skip a level. Summer Trigonometry is the route into AP Precalculus, and a student who misses the required grade moves to Precalculus automatically. Those are compressed courses with a lot riding on them. A math tutor can preview the material in spring and meet through the summer session.
Our high school tutors, in parents’ own words
All reviewsFind a writing tutor“Our tutor was a senior at Stanford who tutored my son in English, and also SAT preparation. My son received great marks on the SAT exam and also improved his grade in AP English from B to A.”
Find a math tutor“Your program really helped us. Henry pulled up his English last year to an A, and his next tutor helped him pull up his math and bio.”
“Everyone is looking for tutors and I said you're the best.”
Find an online tutor“Their response time is outstanding. Neil responded quickly to my tutoring request for my 15-year-old. Love knowing that I have access to these high-quality services for my children. And, we use them via Zoom since we live in Tennessee. I cannot say enough great things about this business:)”
Find a math tutor“My son had a wonderful experience with Cardinal Tutors when he needed help with his High School math and science classes. It turns out my son also needed help staying organized with all his assignments, something that the tutor helped with as well.”
Find a math tutor“Our tutor is truly amazing! He is so patient, explains things well, asks great questions, and checks for understanding. Owen really enjoyed working with him and they accomplished so much. This is really a game changer for us! I had high hopes and he exceeded them.”
Find a math tutor“I wanted to thank you for finding our tutor who tremendously helped Sam with his math.”
Find a Tutor“Iris loved working with her tutor!! … Also, I have another student for you — a friend of Iris's that needs help.”
Find a Tutor“Fantastic tutoring service. The tutor (who was a Stanford junior) really connected with my son and inspired him to learn. He had some great study tips and was able to help my son raise his grades by quite a bit.”
Find a math tutor“She found a perfect match for my son… He is stellar. My son has grown leaps and bounds in math. Our tutor is not only a subject matter expert but teaches very well, highly prompt, flexible when needed.”
Find a math tutor“My daughter went from a C in Algebra II to an A- in one semester. The tutor was great, she really related to my daughter and made learning fun for her.”
Find a Tutor“Very professional service with excellent teachers. My son loved his teacher, called him the best he ever had! I can very highly recommend it.”
Find a Tutor“I am usually not one to write a review, but I wanted to communicate how great Cardinal Tutors was for my child. They had a very flexible plan which helped accommodate my child's needs and I saw a tremendous return (grade-wise) from their services. Could not recommend more highly.”
Find a math tutor“The tutors themselves have been great: well-prepared, thoughtful and on-time. At each level of math needed, we found these Stanford students to be not just helpful tutors but great mentors as well.”
Find a math tutor“The subsequent long term tutor that we had for pre calc and for ACT tutoring was amazing. She was completely professional, organized, thorough and easy to work with.”
Find a math tutor“You have been a wonderful inspiration for Eli and we are very grateful for having you in the past half-year!”
Find a coding tutor“The program has been awesome for us. Theo loves working with our tutor and has learned so much.”
“Our tutor is just outstanding — great with Theo and very communicative with me. Super helpful!”
Find a Tutor“I reached out to Cardinal Tutors and was lucky enough to find the most amazing tutor. I wish I had found him earlier.”
Find a math tutor“We used Cardinal Tutoring again in the Spring 2018 for precalculus. Once again, she had a great tutor she really liked and who really helped her this year. My daughter is a senior so we won't need Cardinal Tutoring again, but I highly recommend them!”
Find a Tutor“We have had an excellent experience with Cardinal Tutors for the past two years. Neil was very responsive whenever we had any questions. We definitely strongly recommend them and plan on using them again in the near future.”
Find a math tutor“It was great to find a couple of really smart young women who helped not only with the subject matter, but became great role models.”
80-minute classes and a collaboration period
Classes at St. Francis run 80 minutes and alternate every other day, with a 60-minute collaboration period on alternating days for meeting teachers or studying. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors in AP courses are required to sit the AP exams, and each year carries community service hours as well. We schedule around practices, rehearsals and service, and we help students use the off day between classes so that work doesn’t pile up.
Sessions are one-on-one, at your home in Mountain View or online. We tutor students from Mountain View High too. Read about our Mountain View tutoring, and when you write to us, mention whether your child is applying or already enrolled so we can match the right tutor.
Tell us about your student, and we’ll match them with a Stanford tutor who fits.












