Are you looking for a top-tier Palos Verdes algebra tutor? If you are, you’ve come to the right place. The following article will give both students and parents a firsthand breakdown, top to bottom, regarding the important elements that a Palos Verdes algebra tutor will need in order to equip students.
First of all, we need to have our basics down. It’s a lot less painful to practice math when we aren’t stumbling over the little steps that are present in every topic. We’re talking about order of operations (PEMDAS)—mastering it to understand how to simplify expressions and manipulate equations with confidence—as well as how positive and negative numbers interact under different situations. This second area—knowing how negative numbers add and multiply— provides a necessary foundation for mental math and logic.
The struggles that, we, as a collective Palos Verdes algebra tutor see most commonly with algebra students arise when adding/subtracting integers (as well as multiplying/dividing them), combining terms, and factoring goes awry. These struggles happen all across the student spectrum: we see them in students who are struggling in their classes, and with students who are doing amazingly well. If math is difficult for you, I really recommend you call Study Hut Tutoring, just down the hill in the Redondo Riviera to pair up with a top tier Palos Verdes algebra tutor. Take time to go over the basics as you encounter them again in your current material and repair those long-forgotten errors. Review whenever you feel yourself struggling with anything you have done in the past; the more recently you originally learned it, the easier it will be cement it. If you’re a student who does well in math, make sure to be careful with the small things: as you move on from one step to the next, be cautious of small mistakes.
Most of the issues that algebra students tend to have, though, stem from a larger mistake: not showing all of their work. Forgot to add a like term or distribute a negative somewhere? Neglecting to properly write out each step was likely a cause. Made a calculation error somewhere along the line? Locating the mistake is going to be a lot easier if you’ve shown all your work. The reasons that students refrain from showing certain steps vary, as do the errors that tend to plague them as a result of it. But whether it stems from students’ overconfidence in their abilities with mental math or simply a lack of diligence in writing everything out, the result is always the same: red marks on tests and quizzes that could likely have been avoided had all of the work just been written out.
When is the right time to start thinking about college? Long before you apply, that’s for sure! Senior year is already filled with exams, extracurricular activities, volunteering, and AP classes to boost your college application – make sure you’re presenting yourself just as well with your ACT score! Don’t wait until senior year to start thinking about or studying for the ACT. Start your preparation, and then your Palos Verdes ACT tutoring, early with Study Hut Tutoring.
Your freshman and sophomore years of high school should focus on acclimating to the higher level of thinking expected of you at the high school level, but once you get to junior year, you should have this down. It’s then that you should start preparing for standardized testing like the ACT. By preparing with Palos Verdes ACT tutoring, you can give yourself enough time to study and take (or retake) the test over second semester junior year and first semester senior year to ensure you achieve the highest score possible. By the time you’ve settled into your senior year, you should be relaxed enough about your ACT score to focus on writing stellar college applications.
Before you start your ACT preparation process at Study Hut Tutoring, you will take a free ACT diagnostic test. This test is a full-length practice ACT in a simulated testing environment. Diagnostic exams are given every Saturday morning from 8 am to noon, so there are plenty of opportunities to test alongside like-minded students. After the test is scored, you will receive a result sheet and attend a counseling session that breaks down each section of the test to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. These two initial steps will give you a good foundation to start your Palos Verdes ACT tutoring if that is what’s right for you. From there, you will be paired with one of our trained ACT tutors for one-on-one tutoring, focusing on making those weaknesses strengths. Good at English, but struggle with Math and Science? We’ll work with you until you know the content forwards and backwards! Know the material, but need to work on how you take the test or finishing in time? No problem, our tutors are experts on test-taking strategy. All the while, you will be taking more free practice tests to gauge your progress and update your ultimate goal score!
Palos Verdes ACT tutoring is accessible and successful. Fill out the form to the right, call, or email us at justin@studyhut.com to schedule your free diagnostic test!
Are you ready with all your random Jeopardy knowledge and facts? You’d better be ready; PV Scholar Quiz 2016: Scholars Awaken is coming to Palos Verdes High School in just one short week! To spice up this year’s tournament, students and faculty are both allowed to create teams to compete to be named the PV Scholar Quiz Champions of 2016. With 69 teams initially signed up for the Quiz, 68 have advanced to the final March Madness tournament. This year, Team Sorry will be seeking revenge for their loss to last year’s winners who graduated. Students Duncan Reid, Brian Kaufman, Matt Donahue, and Austin Rule make up the formidable Team Sorry.
How does it work?
You’ve seen the TV quiz show Jeopardy, right? Contestants answer questions in different categories, have a certain amount of time to give their answer, and win points for each correct answer? That’s the one! In the Scholar Quiz, teams of four faculty or students answer questions in three different formats: Lightning Rounds, Toss Up Questions, and Bonus Rounds. Any question asked can be on any number of different topics, no matter the format. In a single match, there are two teams of four students or faculty each, a Reader, a Judge, and a Scorer.
Contestants can expect to see both academic questions, like English or United States History, and more fun or random categories, such as famous quotations or music. Each team is given a placard to raise in order to pose an answer to a question. The first team to raise their placard has the first opportunity to answer the question. The rival team is given an opportunity to answer the same question if the first team fails to answer the question correctly. Either team can answer a Toss Up question, which will lead to a Bonus Round for the team who answers it correctly first. During the Bonus Round, this team is given an opportunity to answer four questions on one central topic, each worth five points for a bonus of up to twenty points for that team. In a Lightning Round, ten questions are given rapid fire to both teams. Each team is only allowed to answer once, but are penalized for questions answered incorrectly. Unlike Jeopardy, where individuals compete with only their own knowledge to support them, teammates are allowed to work together in the Scholar Quiz.
When is it?
PV Scholar Quiz 2016 will take place from March 7th to March 14th. Student teams will compete amongst themselves as will the faculty teams to determine the top teams in those categories. The highly anticipated final round will be held on March 14th to determine the real winners of the Scholar Quiz: students or faculty. But wait…there’s more! The winners will take home a minimum $1000 cash scholarship! Good luck to all contestants and teams – may the F = ma be with you.
It has been yet another successful year at the Study Hut in Redondo Beach. We saw improved grades, great SAT and ACT scores, and admissions to awesome colleges all over the US. From the schools in Palos Verdes (PVHS and Peninsula), to RUHSD, and all the Torrance schools in between (South and West mostly), all our beloved Hut kiddos have truly set the bar in the South Bay.
For instance, Darrian went from getting D’s in her freshman year, to getting B’s this year after getting routine subject tutoring. Thomas was able to raise his worst subject, Spanish, from an F to a B! We were also ecstatic to see Austin raise all of his grades to A’s and B’s this year with tutoring twice a week after getting straight C’s last year. Austin’s mother has told us that her relationship with Austin has improved dramatically since they no longer have fights over his grades anymore! Connor stunned his mom and brought his tutor to tears of joy when he earned straight A’s both semesters of his junior year after receiving straight C’s during his Freshman and Sophomore years.
Many of our students demonstrated exceptional improvement on their SAT and ACT scores. Connor raised his ACT score from a 20 to a 29 in just three months after coming in for ACT tutoring twice a week. Sophia juggled her hectic life of AP classes, club soccer, and numerous school clubs by coming in once a week for four months for ACT tutoring. Sophia raised her score from a 29 to a 35, which secured her early admission to one of the most prestigious academic institutions in Massachusetts, Wellesley College. Shivani not only scored an outstanding 2300 on her SAT, but used test preparation at Study Hut to ace her SAT 2 tests as well in Math and English.
We could not be more proud of the incredible college acceptances our students earned after getting college guidance with their tutors. Olivia was not only admitted to every college she applied to, but got into her dream school, USC, to pursue studies in Marine Biology. Kelley was accepted to the incredibly competitive music industry program at USC, which only admits thirty students annually. Hayley will be attending one of the most impacted schools in California, San Diego State, which has been her dream school since she was in sixth grade. Eliza and Mollie will both be attending the most impacted college in the country, UCLA, in the fall.
The Capstone Project is a research paper and project that students attending Palos Verdes High School work on throughout their junior and senior years. The Capstone Project requires students to think critically about a topic of their choice. It manifests with the students giving a presentation on their research and work to a group of teachers and parents. The Capstone Project helps students narrow down options for a major and find out if they would be passionate working on their topic long term.
Laura helped her student Olivia with her Capstone Project during her junior and senior years. Olivia was having trouble deciding which topic to pursue for her project. After weighing her different options, Laura helped her decide on examining how documentaries affect public perception of issues. They decided to use the film Blackfish and how it changed the public’s view on captive whales as the basis of Olivia’s paper. She researched the differences between the lives of orca whales in captivity versus in the wild. She worked in the field scuba diving for research and polling people on how Blackfish changed the way they looked at captive whales.
Once she had all of her research completed and data collected for her project, it was time to put it all into an essay. Laura helped Olivia organize all of her data into paragraphs. There was a lot of research, so it took time to narrow down all the facts so that Olivia could prove her initial thesis while still being concise. Olivia was chosen to be part of Capstone Elite where she competed against other selected students as some of the best Capstone projects of the class.
Wednesday January 28th, Palos Verdes High School held their Open House night at their campus from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Palos Verdes High School and Palos Verdes Peninsula High School hold their Open House nights annually so that incoming freshman can decide which high school they would like to attend the next school year. Palos Verdes High School and Palos Verdes Peninsula High School are extremely competitive because they are both great schools, so the Open house nights really help them show off their strengths. From 6 to 7 PM, there was a presentation on academics, athletics, and clubs at Palos Verdes High School in Sea Kings Park and the MPR. Afterward, there was a Live From 205 presentation and the premiere of the 2015 Palos Verdes High School lip dub in the gym from 7 to 8 PM.
Here are some quick statistics on Palos Verdes High School. Last year 98% of Palos Verdes High School students went on to either a four or two year college. They are currently offering 29 Advanced Placement (AP) classes as well as 19 different Honors Placement classes. The average ACT score is 5 points above the California state average. The average score on all SAT Subject Tests was above 600 points on each. There are over thirty different athletics teams. Palos Verdes High School also offers various extracurricular activities such as the The Triton yearbook, Trade Winds literary magazine, The Point newspaper, Live From 205 television show, and Model United Nations.
With finals right around the corner, a lot of different high schools are gearing up for their weekend finals cram sessions. Study Hut tutors will be helping out at Palos Verdes High School, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, and West Torrance High School. The AVID classes are holding the sessions in the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District.
There are a lot of different ways that students can maximize their results during tutoring in large groups. First, find other students who are studying the same subject, or better yet are in the same class with the same teacher. Someone may have taken better notes, or have been there on a day when you were absent. Together your group can try and work your way through the more difficult concepts of the semester together. Go through the study guide for the final together. Make sure that the answers make sense to everyone. If you are having trouble with a concept, have a friend explain it to you. They may be able to make it make sense in a way that your teacher could not. Do the same for your friends. Teaching the material to your friends will also help you get a better grasp on the information. If any of you have contradicting answers to one of the questions, make sure you find out what is actually correct either by looking in your book, asking a tutor, or by searching on the internet. Afterward, review the information later in the day or the following day on your own to make sure that it all sank in.
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District participated in the international “Hour of Code” event this month. The program is made to give students a brief introduction to computer science and specifically learning how to code in different computer languages. The field of computer science is growing exponentially and offering more and more jobs for people with skills in coding, programming, and front-end development. Both the staff and students of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District were invited to attend the event and learn more about code.
Computer Science classes are offered at both Palos Verdes Peninsula and Palos Verdes High School. These classes are offered at the AP level. Throughout the class students learn about different algorithms. Students also go through designing a program to fit their objectives, and then subsequently testing and debugging the program that they have designed. After that they learn about the different kinds of data class structures ranging from strings and classes to lists. Then the class will learn about searching and sorting through the code and algorithms, as well as different options that can be performed. The entire class is usually taught in the Java programming language, which is considered to be one of the more difficult programming languages.
Sometimes it can be difficult to find information on computer science online, and then it can be very dry and very complex. Luckily, if your student needs one-on-one AP Computer Science tutoring, we offer it at our Study Hut location in the Redondo Beach Rivera.
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
For many years, our tutors have been helping seniors at Palos Verdes High School complete their senior projects called the Capstone. This project consists of a research paper on a topic the student is interested in or affected by and a corresponding research project or experiment. Study Hut owners Rob and Sean Patrick, together with Redondo Beach manager, Justin, are all industry partners and judge the Capstone projects at the end of the year to decide which students will receive prizes and scholarships. In the past, the entire project has been completed during the course of the student’s senior year, but during the 2013-2014 school year, the school made some changes. Now students are required to finish their entire paper in the last quarter of their junior year, leaving the entire senior year to dedicate to their physical project and research. As the school is aware that this can be a very stressful time for students due to Advanced Placement exams in May, AP students are not required to begin working on their Capstone papers until after they have completed all their AP exams.
Early in the school year, I worked with a senior named Cara whose project analyzed the effectiveness of three different teaching styles. She works as a swim teacher at the South Bay Aquatic Center, which was the perfect place for her to experiment with different teaching styles in her swim classes. I recently worked with a junior named Halle who studied the societal influence on the evolution of music. While expanding on previously learned academic skills and preparing students for college level papers and projects, the Capstone also provides students an opportunity to pursue further education about a topic of personal interest.
