We get it! This stuff is tricky. Our Manhattan Beach Chemistry Tutors have created a great outline to help assist you with all of your stoichiometry needs. Take your time and follow our step-by-step guide to solving a stoichiometry problem. Here we go!
Think of these problems as a recipe. If a cake recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of flour to make 1 cake, how many cups of sugar and flour do we need for 5 cakes? This is stoichiometry. The sugar and flour are our reactants and the cake is our product. Also- we need to measure sugar and flour in a universal unit in order to compare. We don’t measure them in weight because or number of particles, because these can vary based on the size of the sugar and flour particles. Instead, we measure them in something universally recognized and standardized: the cup. In stoichiometry, we use the universal unit called a mole (6.022 x 1023 atoms/particles). We use moles when comparing molecules.
Let’s try a problem!
Write out your reaction. Be sure to pay close attention to your charges. Keep a polyatomic ion chart handy for this. Remember, cations come first, anions come second.
Balance your equations. Save Oxygen for second to last and Hydrogen for last. This will save you a lot of time.
Understand what the question is asking. Am I given grams? Am I given moles? Are they asking me to answer in moles, grams, or particles/molecules?
Write the given amount under your ion/compound and draw an arrow to the ion/compound they want you to answer with.
Set up your problem. Remember to use your mole-to-mole ratio. Those coefficients are there for a reason!
Answer in the correct number of significant figures and box your answer.
Double-check your work. Did you answer the original question?
Great job! You’re a stoichiometry master. If you’re still confused, come see one of our Manhattan Beach Chemistry tutors today!
We have been there. You know your student is bright, and you know they’re trying their best, but that just doesn’t translate when you or their teachers read their work. You can tell they have the right idea, but that idea is hidden behind incorrect spelling, poor grammar, and sentence structure that even you know is wrong. Whether they need help outlining an essay, drafting a presentation or just editing their final project paper, a Manhattan Beach English tutor at Study Hut is here for them.
A Study Hut English tutor is itching to help out your student. Having been through countless writing blocks of college-level research papers, essays, and even dreaded poetic prose projects ourselves, we understand what your child is going through. The process is sometimes overwhelming. Sometimes you think, “Well, I’m good at math, so I’m just not going to get English.” Not true. They don’t have to win the Pulitzer Prize to be considered a good writer! Each Manhattan Beach English Tutor at Study Hut believes every student can get to a point in their writing skills where they feel comfortable with any English work they produce.
In the classroom, memorization is king. Writing itself is a very singular process, and when they are assigned a take-home essay suddenly they are on their own to apply what they learned in school. Having a one-on-one English tutor will make writing assignments less daunting. They now have someone to bounce their ideas off of, and share their drafts with no judgment. We want to help build a solid foundation of writing skills for your student to be able to write well in any situation.
We will sit down with your student and do a quick diagnostic of what they need. Once we know where the problem is, we go to work! A session in action looks like two peers discussing ideas, rephrasing, questioning to get to a deeper analysis—it’s honestly quite fun.
Thankfully, we have English tutors at every Study Hut office.
So many people struggle with history in school! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had students come in struggling in their history class and in search of help. As a Manhattan Beach history tutor, I hate hearing this from new students and do everything I can to make the class more enjoyable. I do my absolute best to bring a level of excitement to the subject that they clearly are not getting from their teacher.
Many people see history as nothing but a bunch of meaningless facts that only vaguely relate to one another. As a Manhattan Beach history tutor, it is my job to string all of these “meaningless facts” together into a cohesive story that the student can become engaged in. I find that even if the student does not end up loving history as much as I do, they generally find the class much easier and are able to do well in the class. All of this begins to happen when the students begin to realize that all of those little facts that they found so frustrating before beginning tutoring simply make sense once integrated into an engaging story. Sometimes getting to this point is more difficult, but from my experience just about everyone can do very well in history as long as the information is presented in an engaging manner.
Over the past two years that I have been working as a Manhattan Beach history tutor I have helped countless students overcome the seemingly insurmountable task of receiving an A in their history class or achieve a 5 on their AP exam. Seeing my students succeed in their history classes is a wonderful feeling but the best is when I can inspire some appreciation of the truly delightful subject that is history.
Springtime is here! For those at Mira Costa, this time of year brings something possibly more exciting than opening those acceptance letters: the Scholar Quiz 2016 (MCHS).
What it is:
The Scholar Quiz is a single-elimination Jeopardy-style competition, played out over six days. This is the most treasured academic annual event at Mira Costa High School. There are 256 players total, divided into teams of four, for a total of 64 teams. The players pick their own teams, and battle it out answering questions from all academic topics.
It is exciting. It is nerdy. It is exactly what your tutor at Study Hut reminisces about from their days at MCHS.
Here’s how it goes down:
Each match involves two teams, a reader, a scorekeeper, and a flag judge. Topics from all subjects-math, history, english, you name it-are fair game, as well as pop-culture and current events. The players must pass lightening, toss-up, and bonus rounds.
Scholar Quiz Champions are recognized in an all-school assembly, and their names are forever engraved on the Mira Costa Scholar Quiz Trophy.
PARENTS:
Do you think your student will be the winner? Is your child participating? Do you want to witness the action first-hand as a volunteer? With a whopping 256 players, this event needs over 100 volunteers. If interested, contact Study Hut MB ASAP and we will point you in the right direction.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Sign-up is competitive, and the spots are taken quickly.
Finals, for some of you, are in just over a week! Hopefully your reaction to that isn’t to start crying or throwing your books across the room. Hopefully you’ve been diligent all year, you’ve turned in all of your homework, you’ve stayed organized, and you’ve started your finals preparation weeks in advance.
If somehow, this isn’t you-you still don’t need to go all Britney Spears 2007 on us.
We are here to help! Here are some steps to success!
Prioritize
At this point, it’s too late to thoroughly prepare for all of your classes. Take stock of what needs the most triage. Which class is teetering right between grades? Where is there the most chance for affecting change?
Missing Work/Low Test Scores
Do you have homeworks missing? These are zeros that are so easily remedy-it’s the first place to check. If your teacher accepts late work, make a list of homework zeros and bust them out.
Does your teacher have a retake option? If so, find your lowest test score, and schedule a make up time to take that test. The time you put in for this make up test will also be productive towards a cumulative final.
Set aside SPECIFIED time to study
Sitting around, complaining about how much you need to study doesn’t count. Write into your schedule when and where you will be studying. If you tend to blow this off, get someone (Mom, sister, brother, friend) on board to help hold you accountable. It’s crunch time now-there’s no more excuses.
Focus on the biggest holes
So you’ve picked the 2-3 classes that you’re going to spend the most time on. This narrows the field, but still leave a lot of material to cover in one week. When you sit down to study, you should spend less time on the chapters you did well on in the past, and more time on chapters with which you struggled. It is NOT a good idea to throw the struggle-chapters aside as a hopeless after thought.
COME TO STUDY HUT
Our experienced tutors will help you zero in on what’s most important, and will help you master the material quickly. We’ve got tons of resources, and because our sessions are one-on-one we can tailor it to whatever you need: an hour on adding fractions-that’s fine! 45 minutes devoted to factoring quadratics-let’s do it.
Fill out the contact form on the right side of this page to start using your time most efficiently for finals preparation!
After a fantastic 2014-2015 school year in Manhattan Beach, Mira Costa students are about to enjoy some fun in the sun. While many have finished their SAT and ACT exams, others are starting summer school. So for those of you who have to spend some morning time in the classroom, Study Hut Tutoring is here for you after class, at our new summer location: 1208 Artesia Blvd. in Hermosa Beach, across the street from Mira Costa High School.
Our geometry tutors are standing by– we are available for hourly sessions Monday through Friday from 9am to 7pm. Whether you are getting ahead and taking Modern World History or US history, we have the local experts and books you need in order to earn A’s over summer. It is important to get off on the right foot because the summer classes are especially condensed, often only 4-6 weeks long. If it’s algebra tutoring you need, our top people are locked and loaded, ready to go.
Mira Costa High School isn’t the only school letting loose. Students from Manhattan Beach Middle School are “free at last” from the rigors of Mr. Rucker’s Boulder, Mrs. Luke’s math homework and early morning tutoring sessions on Late Start Wednesdays. Now that school is out, a lot of students are coming to Study Hut Tutoring for summer tutoring in Manhattan Beach to brush up on their pre-algebra skills, five paragraph essay writing, and Spanish verbs. These basics are quintessential to earning top marks in the fall. While buoy swims are equally as important for the body, the mind requires specific tuning in order to test well in early September.
For those students who have just wrapped up their last days at Grandview Elementary, Pacific Elementary, Robinson Elementary, and Pennykamp Elementary, there is a real transition that lies ahead as they enter into Manhattan Beach Middle School. Now more than ever, incoming 6th graders will be put to the test. But not to worry, Study Hut Tutoring is in your corner, having just helped a plethora of students with wide ranging needs, we are ready to help you tackle these challenges: we have the books, we know the curriculum, and you’re going to have a ton of fun knockin’ it out with us. Come in for engaging summer tutoring in Manhattan Beach to keep your mind fresh!
Here is a comprehensive list of programs to help your student stay ahead this fall.
– SAT and ACT classes both one-on-one and group courses. Our group course for SAT’s and ACT’s start after the July 4th weekend.
– Spanish 1/2 and Spanish 3/4 Workshops
– Elementary to Middle School and Middle School to High School Transition Sessions
– Algebra 1, Geometry, and Alg 2 Prep Classes which will start at the end of July. Joey will be teaching some of the courses in the Manhattan Beach Location.
– General Summer School Help
We are open Monday-Friday and you can contact our managers to book appointments for summer. Manhattan Beach Location: Kristen@studyhut.com – (310)546-2408, Redondo Beach Location: Justin@studyhut.com – (310)540-5888, and our El Segundo Location: Alex@studyhut.com (310)648-8526
1. Start Early! – This is the most important one. The internet provides plenty of ways to waste your study time, but you’ll be happy you stayed away from Netflix and Reddit when the final finally comes.
2. Study in Chunks – Your brain works best in 50 minute intervals. You may feel studious after your 6 hour study marathon, but a tired brain doesn’t absorb information like a fresh one. Take 5-10 minutes breaks every hour to make sure you’re making the most of your study time.
3. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place – Studying in bed may sound like a good idea, but once you’re in bed, so will a nap. Find a place that works for you. It should be somewhere where you can focus, spread out your notes, and get in a studying groove. And if you get sick of one place, switch it up!
4. Know Your Teacher – Ask questions, take notes, review old worksheets. Figure out what your teacher thinks is important because that’s what will show up on the final.
5. Study Alone – Start with what you don’t know. Review your old tests, quizzes, and homeworks, and take notes on what you missed. Then spend some time on your own with each of these topics. Write down any questions you have because the next step is…
6. Study in Groups – Once you’ve figured out your own strengths and weaknesses in each subject, form a study group. Here you can ask questions you had on your own and answer some of your study buddies’. Explaining concepts and hearing them explained in new ways will strengthen your understanding of the material.
7. Exercise – Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, and you may need all the brain blood you can get for finals week. It’s also a great way to take a break from book to soak up some sun.
8. Sleep – It may be tempting to cram all night, but
it may not help as much as you think. Give your brain a rest! When the night before the test comes around, be confident in the studying you’ve been doing all week and get some extra sleep.
Do you have any friends who seem to breeze through their finals? While your friends are chilling out, are you stressing out?
How do they do it!?!
They know something you don’t know.
Don’t tell anybody, but I am about to let you in on a big secret. This secret will quite literally change your life- it can make you healthier, less stressed out, and happier.
Here’s the secret to properly preparing for finals: stop cramming.
That’s right, to ace your finals and to be less stressed out about them you need to stop cramming. Cramming up to the last minute pulling marathon all nighters is an inefficient and unhealthy way to study.
Instead of cramming, you need to spread out the work. Starting now, you should take a bit of time (not too little but also not too much) to begin reviewing old notes, problem sets, and exams. The key is for this to be a regimented and manageable review process. If you stick with it and do a little bit each day you will not have to do a lot the weekend before your exams.
The bottom line is that you are going pay now or pay later in terms of preparation.
You can coast now and “pay later” with caffeine-fueled evenings reviewing a semester’s worth of materials in a few days. This is the “drinking from a fire hose” approach. Not fun.
Or you can “pay now” by doing a little bit of preparation each night and spreading out the workload into something more manageable. Being well rested and healthy indisputably helps you perform better exams, this approach of spreading out the work means you will be able to cover more material in a smart way.
An additional benefit of being ahead of the curve when it comes to preparation is if you come across any questions you can ask friends or instructor for extra help and advice.
As Mark Twain (or maybe Agatha Christie) once said, “the secret to getting ahead is getting started.” There is no time to wait, start this process now without the unhealthy late-night heroics, and your mind, body, and report card will thank you.
These past few weeks excitement waas in the air as Scholar Quiz took place! Both the Mira Costa High School study body and the Manhattan Beach Middle School student body, both competed in what we like the call, “The Scholar Quiz.”
Teams of 4 compete in different rounds of Lightning Rounds and Bonus Rounds. During the bonus rounds, you can score up to 20 points. Scholar Quiz’s premise is the same as that of the popular game ‘Jeopardy’. Each team includes four students. The the game consists of two teams of four students each, a Reader, Judge, and a Scorer.
Other schools put on their own Scholar Quiz as well. The idea started at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach. Mr. Cooper, former PV High Econ teacher and Football coach, and Barton, PV High teacher, took the idea from Costa. Both teachers attended and taught at Mira Costa High School. Cooper approached Barton, and PV High’s Scholar Quiz began in 2005.
There are three types of questions asked in the Scholar Quiz- Toss Up, Bonus, and Lightning Round questions. A toss up question is one that either team can answer. The first team raising a placard is given the first opportunity to answer. If they answer incorrectly, the second team has a chance to answer the same question. A toss up question may lead to a Bonus Round. The Bonus Round includes a specific topic with four questions. This round is where teammates work together to come up with the final answer. Only the team that wins the Toss Up can benefit from the Bonus Round. A Lightning Round question is one where ten questions are given in quick succession to the teams, with each team being allowed to answer only once. If a team answers a Lightning Round question incorrectly, they are penalized with a loss of points.
Pictured below are the winners from the MCHS Scholar Quiz
Pictured below are the winners from the MBMS Scholar Quiz
