While the key to doing well on any exam at Mira Costa High School, Manhattan Beach Middle School, Pacific School or American Martyrs school is to conceptually understand the material backwards and forwards, there are some tips you can employ to give you
an edge and make your time spent studying as efficient and effective as possible.

What kind of learner are you? Everyone is different in the way they learn and
absorb information so its best to identify what kind of learner you are when
deciding on what study strategies to use.

Cramming doesn’t pay! Don’t wait until the night before a test to review all your
materials. Space out your studying up to several days or weeks before your exam
which will keep you from getting overwhelmed and increase the likelihood you will
understand and recall the information you need to.

See, Write, Say! – Experts maintain that your chances of recalling information
increases greatly when you look at a given piece of information, write it out again in
your own words or way, and then say it aloud to yourself.

Summarize information, concepts, and big picture ideas in concise charts, graphs,
or outlines. This will make the information easier to recall and extrapolate upon to
answer critical thinking type questions.

Study actively! It is best to study during daylight hours. Don’t study in your bed to
avoid being tempted to fall asleep. Also ask yourself questions as you go through the
material to keep yourself actively engaged in the material at hand.

Avoid distractions! Find a place away from things you’re easily distracted by. A quiet
room away from the computer, television, and disruptive friends or siblings is an
ideal study location. Sometimes music such as jazz or classical may help keep you
more interested and stimulated if complete silence is unappealing to you.

Take a break! It’s good to periodically take a short break from long periods of
studying. Get up and walk around to get your blood flowing or go and make yourself
a nutritious snack. Your brain may only account for 2% of your overall bodyweight,
but it consumes 20% of your calorie intake. While studying, this figure can increase
to nearly 40%! Snacks rich in nutrients such as nuts or fruits are great to munch on
while studying to keep your brain working at full capacity.

Tutoring for tomorrow’s schooling

Investing in your child’s future is both wise and commendable, but what exactly will
that future require from the next generation of adults? Forward thinking planning today can
reasonably be expected to pay off big dividends if you identify all the tricks and then avoid
missing any. Tutoring helps shore up gaps in your son or daughter’s education the same way
a professional athlete improves speed or batting skills. The way parents support their child’s
education, both in school and supplemental lessons, can be improved by taking into account
what’s known about tomorrow’s world of learning.

Contrary to nostalgic views, at no time in history have education standards been higher,
subject areas more demanding, and means of instructional delivery more diverse. Your
commitment to augmenting your son or daughter’s academic skills through tutoring largely reflects these realities. The probability that your student’s
post-secondary education will be a hybrid of a traditional and online school is high and should be taken into account when considering what
comprehensive strategies you, as a parent, can use to sustain learning. Here are some tips on how
to help your child’s educational experience in and out of the classroom.

No drama tutoring time

Tutor and student have a finite time to maximize their combined focus on a specific skill
during tutoring sessions. Arriving at the tutoring facility on time—at least 5-10 minutes early—
your learner’s mental attitude should be ready for learning. Helping to make every minute count
by clearing your schedule of potential conflicts immediately prior to leaving for tutoring can help
immensely. There’s no question that your agenda is already busy and tutoring is a sacrifice of
premium time, but blocking out some quiet time before leaving with plenty of margin built in
helps set the positive mood for the intense learning you expect and for which you’re paying.

Give your child an active role

One of the biggest shocks that college freshmen face when they arrive at college is that no
one makes them study. For many, college is the first time they’ve had to meet the expectations of
their own educational needs. Tutoring, while not the only instance for this practice, provides both
you and your learner the chance to make independent studying a good habit. Involve your child
in all communications with the tutor about his or her progress and areas of concern. This doesn’t
mean that a parent simply trusts that things are going well but that the parent encourages their
child’s full participation in determining learning objectives and problem solving when obstacles
arise in the tutoring session.

Trust but verify

The relationship between the tutor and your student must be one of mutual respect for the
task and for one another’s role. As a parent, you have the right to expect such a relationship
and the obligation to make sure all parties understand this. Sometimes, legitimate conflicts of
personality simply make the paring of one particular tutor with your child unworkable. Should
this happen, reaffirm with your child their role of active cooperation with their tutor, while at the
same time acknowledging that a better match is in everyone’s interest. From there, constructively
approach your tutoring company’s management, and involving your child in the process, arrange
to have another tutor assigned after ascertaining that the matchup is right.

Looking forward

While it’s your checkbook that pays for the service, it’s your child who, ultimately, has to
buy into his or her own learning. By involving your student in the process and allowing him or
her as much autonomy as possible in making the outcome of tutoring their own, you’re not only
preparing for this semester’s next grading period or an upcoming test, you’re teaching your child
how to engage a lifetime of learning.

You sit, minding your own business. Suddenly, you feel a twinge of unease crawl up your spine. A feeling as if someone, or something, is watching you. You shake it off. Clearly, you’re just being paranoid right? You look back down at your desk. And then… IT HAPPENS. Suddenly, tiny Tialde, mild-mannered 2nd grader is throwing paper around the office, laughing hysterically, and running out of here as fast as he can!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

You just found yourself victim to one of the Study Hut’s new competitions: who can keep their room the cleanest in exchange for pizza! Actually, you’ve found yourself victim to the inevitable aftermath of such a challenge: who can mess up everyone else’s room enough so they don’t get pizza! This, the first of many new challenges being formed around the Hut, is part of a new initiative starting up this semester. Now, at first glance, this may seem like meaningless prankerism (trust me, it’s a word) and time-wasting nonsense. But it’s actually a piece of what sets the Study Hut apart.

You’re children spend all day in a very ordered environment. They’re told where to sit, when to stand, how to speak, and what to do. To be fair, in a classroom of 30 children, such order is necessary. But the Hut doesn’t exist just to replicate school. We’re not here to just provide an environment that students just have to come to due to bad grades. We’re here to provide an environment that students want to come to (to help improve bad grades!) Initiatives like this promote better communication among tutors, which leads to better tutoring, and smarter students. And involving the students, like we did Tialde, promotes the idea that this is a place where that they can look forward to coming too. Most students here know most, if not all the tutors: not just the one they work with. They come here because the Hut is a place where people know you, get the work done, and have help in the process.

Plus, you get to occasionally throw paper around in exchange for pizza. That’s awesome.