About Dr. A
I was the B-track kid.
The school system sorted me early, and it was wrong. That is the reason this company exists, and it is the reason I have never once believed a test score is a measure of what someone is capable of.
I grew up in Wantagh, on Long Island. Good town, normal school, and a system that sorted kids early. I got sorted low.
Not because I did not care. I had real learning disabilities, back before anyone had tidy names for them. From second grade through fifth I got pulled out of class into a tiny room with one teacher and one other student, working on reading and math and organization for hours.
The part I do not tell often enough: my mother fought the school to keep me in mainstream classes. They were not sure I could handle it.
She was sure.
I rode that one decision through twelve years of public school, a decade of higher education, and a career I built from nothing.
One person bet on me when the system would not. That is the whole reason I do this.
The moment it started
Four women in the back row.
I was teaching undergraduates at the University of Central Florida. Every session, the same four women sat in the back with flashcards and study guides, quizzing each other under their breath. They needed to pass a state certification exam to get into their program, and nothing was working.
“None of the questions look like anything we studied.”
I heard that line over and over, and I watched it for a full semester. Then I started asking a different question. Not how do I give them more content, but what if someone actually taught them how these exams are built and how to attack them?
In 2012 I resigned from full-time teaching and built The Learning Liaisons from zero. No business degree, no investors, no plan anyone would have approved. Just an educator with a laptop and a problem he knew how to solve. Strategy first, confidence second, content third. That order has never changed.
Built by Dr. A
Dr. Jason Ampel
Founder, Built To Pass
Dr. A was the kid the system tracked early. He pushed through anyway and got obsessed with one question: how do high-stakes exams actually work, and why do good people keep failing them?
Ten years teaching in the classroom, ten more teaching at the university level, and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction. He built The Learning Liaisons from nothing, sold it in 2021, and kept building and leading the platform until 2026. By then it had helped more than 70,000 people pass their exams.
In 2025, HumRRO, the Human Resources Research Organization, independently compared certification exam prep platforms and found the courses he designed and led produced twice the first-attempt pass rate of the major competitors. That came from how he teaches: a methodology that builds real confidence and puts proven strategies to work the right way. He built the BTP Method from all of it, for any exam.
- Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction
- Master's in Secondary Education
- 70,000+ candidates helped pass
- Third-party verified pass rates
What people say about Dr. A
Respected by the people who know his work.
Educators and leaders who have worked with Dr. A, in their own words. This is about the coach behind the method.
Dr. Ampel is one of the best in his field supporting educator preparation and growth. He is a staunch advocate for teachers and creates pathways for them to be successful.
Monica M. Gordon, EdD
Chief Administrative Officer
Colleague in educator prep
Jason has made amazing strides toward facilitating teachers to become certified. He brings genuine interest and heart to each class.
Dr. Susan Wegmann
Professor, Higher Education
Dr. A's former professor
Jason operates from a place of problem solving as a genuine entrepreneur.
Dave West
Education Leader
Managed Dr. A directly
Dr. Ampel has gone above and beyond to help raise the level of awareness in the fight to keep our children safe. We thank him for his true leadership and integrity, so they can learn and grow.
Claudio Cerullo, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Anti-Bullying Prevention Expert
Worked with Dr. A
I had very helpful test-taking advice from Dr. Ampel. I passed on the first attempt, so here is the proof that his test-taking advice works and is credible.
Troy Sieusankar, M.S.C.E.
STEM Educator, US Army Veteran
Coached by Dr. A
From public LinkedIn recommendations about Dr. A.
In English and Spanish
Every lesson, in your language.
Dr. A teaches the full course in English and in Spanish, in his own voice. Every video and every written deep dive comes in both, so nothing gets lost on the way to passing.
“Confidence is built, not born.”
That is not a slogan. It is the whole story. It is why my mother fought the school when she did not have to. It is why I waited tables on Christmas Eve to pay for a doctorate nobody said I would finish.
Every platform I build exists to give someone what I did not have when I was the B-track kid: a person in their corner who actually believes they can do it, a system that shows them how, and proof that a test is never a measure of intelligence.
The test is just the obstacle. We train people to beat it.
The podcast
Built Not Born with Dr. A
On beating the systems that sort people. New episode every Tuesday.