Tutoring in Michigan
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Michigan, and we have no office there. If you want a person, this page says how we would look for one. If the question is which skill is missing, we can help with that part.
Michigan students meet three different tests between third grade and graduation. M-STEP covers English language arts and math in grades 3 to 7, plus science in grades 5, 8 and 11. From eighth grade on, the College Board tests take over reading, writing and math. Eighth and ninth graders take the PSAT 8/9, tenth graders take the PSAT 10, and juniors take the SAT on a school day in April as part of the Michigan Merit Examination. The state provides all of them. A law that took effect in July 2026 removed the essay from the junior-year SAT, so the class testing in spring 2027 is the first to sit it without one.
What Michigan tests, and when
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 10 | SAT | Not tested |
| Math | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 10 | SAT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | M-STEP | Not tested | Not tested | M-STEP | Not tested | Not tested | M-STEP | Not tested |
- M-STEP (Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 7
- M-STEP: science, grades 5, 8 and 11
- PSAT 8/9: reading and writing, math, grades 8 and 9
- PSAT 10: reading and writing, math, grade 10
- SAT: reading and writing, math, grade 11
- Main testing window
- early April to mid-May
- Standards
- Michigan K-12 Standards
- Paid for by the state
- SAT, grade 11, on a school day
The state SAT changed for 2026-27. The essay is gone, and schools are no longer required to print the score on the high school transcript, so advice from families who tested before 2027 is out of date on both points.
Is there a graduation test in Michigan?
No. Michigan has no exit exam, and a diploma depends on earning the credits in the Michigan Merit Curriculum.
Kolu finds the missing skill and goes back to it
It starts with a skill check, a short test that gets harder or easier depending on the last answer. The result is a map of the subject broken into skills with their prerequisites drawn in, each one marked as solid, still being learned, or a gap.
After that, each session is a handful of activities picked for that student, usually something due for review, a gap to repair and one new skill. When an answer is wrong, Kolu looks at which earlier skill the mistake points to and goes back to it. Here is what that looks like for a sixth grader who can't divide fractions.
The problem on the page
3/4 ÷ 2/5
Dividing fractions
Grade 6
Multiplying fractions
Grade 5 · rests on the one below
Equivalent fractions
Grade 4 · usually where it started
Multiplication facts
Grade 3
Kolu does not call a skill mastered after one right answer. That takes correct work on different kinds of problems on different days, and a skill that fades gets brought back.
Kolu is not test prep for M-STEP. It has no bank of released questions. It teaches the skills the test draws on, and it will not do tonight's homework.
When to hire a person instead
Some students need a person, and software is the wrong purchase for them. That includes a child who shuts down when the work gets hard, a student with a learning disability who needs someone trained in it, and anyone with an exam in ten days.
Ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. A nearby college is the next place to look, since students there took these courses recently and usually charge less than an agency.
Whoever you hire, ask one question before the first session: how will you find out what my child doesn't know? If the answer is that they will go over the homework, keep looking.
Free for one subject, $15 a month for 5
Kolu is free for one subject at a time, with one full skill check every 30 days and up to 4 sessions a day. Plus is $15 a month, or $120 for a year, and covers 5 subjects at once with unlimited skill checks. A learner under 13 needs a parent or guardian to set up the account.