Getting into colleges and universities is becoming more and more difficult nowadays. The mean accepted GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and the number of extra-curriculars expected are becoming more difficult every year. Although all these elements are critical in one’s application, another important but often forgotten aspect is the personal statement. Not only can the Study Hut help you with your GPA and standardized test scores, but we’re also prepared to help you write the best possible personal statement you can. We tutors have been in your shoes before, we’ve all gone to college, and some are also in the process of applying to graduate schools. Needless to say, we’ve all written personal statements in one form or another, and know what colleges and universities are looking for in their candidates.

However, coming to the Study Hut for help on your personal statement does not mean we are going to write it for you. Rather, we are going to guide you as to the rules and tactics of writing a good personal statement, and give you the tools to make the perfect personal statement for yourself. A good personal statement has multiple aspects to it. It is both professionally written, but also genuine and personable. You are telling the admissions committee what makes you YOU, and why they should want YOU to study at and represent their institution in the future. All this may seem like a tall order for a one or two page statement about yourself, but with the right guidance, it’s very possible to do. So feel free to stop by the Hut at any step in your process, from planning your essay, to a final review before you submit it.

Ah, the SAT. No matter where you live, where you go to school, or what kind of grades you get, the SAT is an experience that bonds American students of all ages. It’s changed over the years, but the idea is the same: find a way to accurately gauge a student’s level of education through completely standardized means. Now, whether it’s an effective gauge is another debate entirely. What matters to you is how well you do on the test. And that’s what we’re here to help with.

First of all, you should understand what you’re getting into. The SAT is divided into three sections: Math, Writing, and Critical Reading. The Math section covers nearly everything you’ll learn in the first two years of High School, plus a little bit of Junior year. Basically, expect to be tested on all of Algebra and Geometry. Not to worry, though; nothing from Trig or beyond will be on the test. The Critical Reading section involves two main parts. First is Reading Passages, in which you’ll be given passages to read (duh.) and will have to answer questions based on the content of the reading. Second is the Fill-In-The-Blank section, where you’ll have to school SAT vocabulary words to complete sentences, based on context. Last but not least, there’s the Writing section. This begins with an essay, followed by MORE reading paragraphs (now based more on grammar and sentence structure than content), and correcting sentence errors.

The test runs just under four hours. This involves 6 25 minute sections (two from each subject, including the essay), two 20 minute sections, and one ten minute sections. You’ll receive breaks after each two sections (3 breaks total).

NOW, how do you prepare? This is going to sound weird, but studying the material is NOT the biggest way to prepare (but still important). What we do here in our SAT Prep Courses is teach you STRATEGY. We teach you how to solve any problem, and how to do it in a quick and efficient manner (which, on a timed test, is priority one). We’ll teach you when to skip a question, when to guess, how to mark up a paragraph, and how to write a proper essay that the graders will love. We’ll show you how to raise that grade.

SO, this is how to do it. Come in for a free diagnostic. This let’s us see what level you’re at. Then, sign up for either our group classes, or private sessions. This is dependent entirely on you, and how you learn best. Either way, we’re gonna work hard to make sure you know what you’re doing when that SAT rolls along.

When a student comes to me for SAT tutoring, one of the first things I ask is how familiar he or she is with the test already from school (the idea being to build on whatever foundation teachers have already laid). Most of the students I ask glance up to the side and wrinkle their foreheads, combing through the past couple of years of high school, but come up with nothing. At most, they have taken the PSAT as sophomores. But for the majority, “SAT” is an ominous but vague trio of letters representing something on which a great deal of their futures will depend — what it is, they can’t say, but something.
I see these possible alternatives: either schools aren’t adequately introducing students to college entrance exams, or they’re just not introducing them at all. Whatever the case, this is an error. The arguments in favor of students attending college are by now well known and need not be reiterated, but it does seem a good time to repeat that preparing students for college is incumbent on high schools. Now, I do not believe in a model of “teaching to the test” — that kind of teleology narrows, shortens, and twists students’ vision of education and understanding of what it’s really for. I do, however, believe in a pragmatic approach to school; we must recognize that until the SAT (or ACT) can be replaced with something better, it will stand as a necessary hurdle in the college application process for most students. We (students, schools, and SAT tutors) have to face it.
How and when to do it, though? From my experience as an SAT tutor, I can say that the test is a puzzle unlike most others that high school students have to contend with, calling for certain strategies that don’t lend themselves to other tests or studies. Private lessons are still the best thing for many students (although the price of SAT tutoring through some companies has become prohibitively expensive). But is it wise to wait until students are juniors before suddenly thrusting the test upon them? Is the test so difficult that they can’t handle it before then? Is it really so foreign, so unlike anything else in high school, that it should be kept out of classroom discussion? Well, let me tell you a story.
Recently, I had an unusually productive tutoring appointment — one of those which seem to get progressively better as they go on. I and my student were in the zone. This student — let’s call him James — had brought his algebra homework and laid it on the desk alongside his SAT math assignment: he hadn’t been able to tackle either of them and was eager for help. Looking them over, I realized I could teach him the information and strategies he needed to know for both assignments simultaneously, thereby accomplishing two lessons for the price of one (if you will). I explained them to him, and we worked through some practice problems together. When our appointment time was done, he gave me a broad smile of surprise and satisfaction. “Wow,” he said, “we did a lot today!” I agree and disagree with that. Yes, we accomplished a great deal insofar as he was confidently acing every problem by the end of the session. But our actual workload had been fairly average. I think the accomplishment felt bigger to him because he had seen his knowledge adapt itself so smoothly from one area of study to another. In my experience, nothing inspires students to develop self-assurance and enthusiasm more than the realization that knowledge is connected and versatile. James was encouraged because the skills he needed to take on the SAT (or at least that part of it) didn’t seem completely foreign and unrelated to all the schoolwork he has invested so much effort to master.
So what is the point of this? I urge (not so humbly) that teachers and tutors begin incorporating SAT prep into their lessons from the time students first enter high school. To begin with, students need to be acquainted with the purpose, scope, and format of the test from early on. This supplement to the curriculum, however, need not be heavy-duty: a ten-minute multiple-choice exercise a few times a month would probably suffice. I don’t mean for teachers to assume all, or even most, of the responsibility for students’ test prep. The point is merely to show students early in the game how they will eventually need to apply their knowledge and skills beyond the parameters of regular homework and tests. Incidentally, teachers may find that students are galvanized by SAT prep to do better in their school subjects, since the test offers tangible evidence for any student that he or she will be using knowledge from high school to reach the next stage of life.