Finals are OVER! Sound the bells, raise the banner, and sing it to the heavens. That wretched time of year is gone, and shall never darken our door again! So, now you’re probably saying to yourself, “Self, you don’t need to study anymore. All the hard work is behind you, and it’s smooth sailing from here on in.” Oh, if only this was true. But, the fact of the matter is that this is when the real work begins.

Finals aren’t just an opportunity for teachers to make you nervous and lower you’re grade. (That’s only an extra perk.) Finals are also a major indicator on how well you’ve been learning throughout the first half of the year. They tell you which subjects you need to dedicate more time to, and which ones you’re clearly acing. Which means, you have a major opportunity here. An opportunity to get it all together before June comes along.

Getting a bad grade on one of these tests can be paralyzing. You see that test, and the effect is has on you’re overall average, and just assume the fight is over. Don’t give in to this feeling. Nothing’s over until you win or give up. The bad grade is in the past. There’s nothing you can do about it. But you can LEARN from it. Among the things you can do:

-Get your test from the teacher. Go through all of the wrong answers and see if you can correct them. Among other things, it makes sure you don’t make the mistakes again.

-See if there’s any relationship between the questions you got wrong. (Were they from the same chapter? Were they from a week you were absent?) Go back to the book, and relearn that material. It WILL come up later in the semester, and you don’t want to be caught twice.

-Compare what material you studied BEFORE the test, and compare it to the material that was ON the test. Did it match up?

Above all, remember this: A bad grade is not the end of the world. But it should be motivator to get your butt in gear, and make sure that the same mistakes aren’t made again. Because guess what? Finals will be back in June! The only difference is, next time you’ll know exactly what to expect, because you’ve already done it. Get mad, get mean, and get those grades up.

It’s a happy time of year, that time of year where you can finally relax and say to yourself, “At least I’m done with finals.” Hopefully you all did well, and if not, take solace in the fact that you made the effort to do well- by coming in to tutoring and studying hard. So give yourself a pat on the back.

This time of year also presents itself with a fresh start. Everybody inevitably finds themselves playing catch-up during the semester, but you can minimize the level of catch-up by making an effort to plan your studies more and doing a little everyday, rather than procrastinate and cram. So take this opportunity to start fresh with your tutor as well. Keep your planner updated and make a thorough game-plan as to how you’re going to study for your various tests. Hold yourself accountable to get what you need to get done before going out or playing video games. We all know the pleasure from those little things is no where close to the stress you feel when you have a chemistry test and you’ve forgotten what a nucleus is.

The message is this: whether you’re in middle school, high school, or college, the method to doing well in your classes is the same. It all comes down to a daily balance. Yes, a balance, between work, school, and personal time. To succeed in the school part, you have to balance it, not cram it, and make sure you save time for yourself in the process, because no one can ONLY work or study.

So grab this opportunity by the reigns, follow your planner, and use your tutor as a resource and guide to both success, and having a good time.

Today in AVID 10 at Palos Verdes High School, Rob and SP introduced our first lesson for the Critical Reading section of the SAT. Training for the SAT can be very difficult, and for many students, the vocabulary component of the Critical Reading section can be extremely daunting.

In an effort to keep things simple, but at the same time teach students a new and complex concept, Rob decided to start the SAT tutoring with the “plus-minus-neutral” approach, a strategy that can help students eliminate incorrect answer choices by assigning a value or feeling of worth to the blank space, as well as each of the answer choices.

Students then practiced eliminating wrong answer choices and making educated guesses about which vocabulary words would and would not work in each sentence. The process was rigorous and slightly painful, but I think we all walked away from the experience with a new tool in our quiver of SAT strategies.

Here is an example of a question students will see on the Critical Reading section of the SAT. You will probably understand why training is the only way to attack a test that contains hundreds of problems like this:

1. Today Wegener’s theory is ____ ; however, he died an outsider treated with ____ by the scientific establishment.

A. unsupported – approval
B. dismissed – contempt
C. accepted – approbation
D. unchallenged – disdain
E. unrivaled – reverence

Please let Study Hut know if you need any tutoring or training for the SAT, specifically the Critical Reading section. We have excellent SAT tutors who earned great scores, went to top universities, and follow our streamlined approach to no-nonsense SAT training.