August 11th, 2011
As much as it pains us to say it, summer has reached its peak. If you go to Redondo, PVHS, Peninsula, West or South, it is time to start thinking about the fall semester and the classes you’ll be taking. Right now is the best time to review for that tricky class from last semester or get a head start on a class that you might be dreading.
A lot of you might also have assigned projects that, until now, had been pushed aside for more leisurely activities. Whether it is a book report or a history paper, the best thing to do is let your sun-soaked brain ease back into thinking critically—Do not leave it until the week before school.
And if you do find that you need a little push to get back into the groove, don’t forget that the tutors at Study Hut are here to help get you back in gear for school.
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Posted in 6-8, 9-12, Palos Verdes, Parras Middle School, Peninsula, Redondo Beach, South Torrance, Summer Tutoring |
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July 27th, 2011
Whether you are retaking last semester’s toughest class or getting ahead for next year, all of you Palos Verdes High School students should be seeing the light at the end of the summer school tunnel. Finals are coming up, and it’s important to keep your eyes on the prize despite the classic Southern California summer weather outside.
Hopefully you’ve been keeping up with your summer studies by taking notes and staying organized, but we understand that, between all of the summer athletics and activities, it can be hard to scrape out some study time. In any case, the Hut tutors are armed with the test taking skills and subject knowledge that get you smoothly through Finals time. So if you are feeling overwhelmed or just want a quick review, make sure to stop by. We look forward to seeing you!
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Posted in 9-12, Palos Verdes, Summer Tutoring |
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July 17th, 2011
The biggest misconception about the SAT is that it directly measures intelligence. Many students choose not to study for it because they believe their intellectual capacity is enough to earn the score they want. In reality, the SAT is a better indicator of how well the students have prepared than how smart they are. Getting a high score requires both mastery of the material and knowledge of the test taking strategies.
There is a wide range of material students have to know. The math section deals with many topics including, numbers and operations, algebra I and II, geometry, data analysis, statistics, and probability. The critical reading section requires students to be fast and active readers and have good comprehension and an extensive vocabulary. The writing section is graded on a very specific rubric. Students can learn exactly what is needed to satisfy each requirement on the rubric and earn a high score without being particularly good writers. Needles to say, a fair amount of studying is necessary to become proficient in all this material.
The SAT is a unique test and therefore demands unique test taking strategies. The score on each section of the test can be maximized using certain tricks and strategies. Knowing when and when not to guess, for instance, is a very important skill. As with the material, the test taking strategies are very teachable.
Tags: SAT, SAT test, SAT tutoring
Posted in 9-12, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Redondo Beach, SAT, Test taking anxiety, Testing, West Torrance |
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July 6th, 2011
SP here. I am really looking forward to my lunch meeting today with all of the rad teachers from the Palos Verdes High School AVID program. Each year during the summer, these awesome teachers (Egan, Whalen, Morales) get together to reflect on the past year. They ask questions like:
What went right?
What could we have done better?
What activities to we need to make more room for?
Which activities and ideas could be eliminated all together?
Certainly the questions and ideas that get bounced around go
much more in depth than these “Level 1” questions (some students are snickering at this), but in actuality, sometimes it is just this casual approach that gets us to the gems.
We are all working together to make sure that the AVID experience is excellent for all students at all levels. We need to make sure that we are meeting the statewide expectations for the program and the curriculum, and we also need to make sure that the goals we set for the students are achieved, and that the activities we decide on and the curriculum we endorse has a direct, positive impact on those goals. Most importantly, we are all looking forward to another amazing AVID year come Fall.
Tags: Palos Verdes AVID, Palos Verdes High School, PV AVID, pv high, PV High AVID
Posted in 6-8, 9-12, General Articles, high school, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Positive Vibes, Summer Tutoring, team building, Tutors |
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June 10th, 2011
Finals Week at The Study Hut!
Finals week is here and the tutors of Study Hut have been very busy gearing students for success on their final exams. Students will be in-and-out for the next few weeks starting with Palos Verdes High School’s finals, then Redondo Union High School, Torrance High School, and finishing up with Mira Costa High School.
Palos Verdes High School students were the first out of the gate and the first to finish for summer. Students from PV High have been intensely focused on their exams over the past week, some students scheduled 5+ hour study sessions. Tutors have been called on to teach all areas of subject matter, but it was mostly the higher end math and science classes that were the main focuses for these High School students. Students studied courses such as, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, Trigonometry, Biology, Marine Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, as well as Spanish and English.
It’s these higher classes that require more attention and time, and for the college bound students, college will only be an extension of what they are learning today. The more they are prepared today the less stress they will feel tomorrow.
Study Hut tutors help structure their students plans for success by giving the students the tools they need to succeed. Dedicated study times in one-on-one sessions can me very helpful and will show returns in better grades. Now that Palos Verdes High School has there finals out of the way the students can relax for summer and the Study Hut team can gear up for the next batch of successful students.
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Posted in high school, Palos Verdes, Peninsula |
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June 7th, 2011
If pushed to describe the biggest change I have seen at the Study Hut from A year ago to today, I think I could some it up in one word: Organization. There is a fancy new scheduling system and absolutely no confusion when a student comes in; the managers know exactly where the students are going and when they are going to be here. Of course I may not be in the inner circle, but it certainly seems there are no mishaps or surprises, at least on the staff side of The Hut.
Of course this wouldn’t be any sort of claim if the Study Hut had many less students than it did before, but this couldn’t be farther from the case. The Hut is BOOMING right now, with more students and Tutors than ever before, and the space to accommodate all of them. I’ve tutored kids from Palos Verdes High, Peninsula High, West Torrance High, and know a few students from my alma mater, Chadwick High School. All in all there has been incredible expansion, and all without making any compromises and concessions, but rather with an impressive
The Study Hut is more streamlined than ever. The hitches that face many young enterprises are all but forgotten, with near seamless scheduling and communication between tutors, supervisors, students, and parents alike. Students are learning and excelling academically more than ever with one-on-one tutors who are more than qualified, with many, if not most, of my peers in graduate programs and experts in more than one field of study. To top it all off, the fun, energetic, friendly core of Study Hut that I grew to love a year ago is itself booming. The tutors love their students and the students their tutors. People are learning, and having fun doing it. Rather than pressure students with the threat of grades or financial success, students here focus on their academics because they are working with tutors whose opinions the students genuinely care about. I feel very grateful and proud to once again be associated with the Study Hut name!
Tags: Palos Verdes, Peninsula tutoring, study Hut, Tutoring, West Torrance High School
Posted in 6-8, 9-12, General Articles, high school, Learning, life skills, Manhattan Beach, math, middle school, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, study skills, Teaching |
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May 19th, 2011
Pay less for college, regardless of how much money you make!!! Is that ridiculous or what? That’s what we thought when we first met ALL IN EDUCATION and they showed us financial resources that we never knew even existed for families, especially not for middle and upper class families!
In short, in talking with the founder of this organization, Kyle Shelley, he explained to me the program that is changing the way families do college, while reducing the cost of college, for any family, by tens of thousands of dollars. How do they do it? Well, below is the bulleted list, but that’s why I’m touching base with you. We’ve always strived to produce the best results for our students and provide the most value for our families. In that same spirit, once your student/s get into a great college, wouldn’t it be brilliant if you could pay a fraction of the cost? We think so! And we think you’ll agree.
We’ve asked ALL IN EDUCATION to provide an event for our families on May 25th, at the Belamar Hotel in Manhattan Beach. Is it worth your time? Go to www.facebook.com/ALLINEDUCATION where, in less than 3 minutes, you can complete the College Savings Calculator and see just how worth your time it will be.
A few ways ALL IN EDUCATION is reducing the cost of college:
* free college credits
* tuition reimbursement
* local scholarships
* in-state tuition for out-of-state students
* credit recapture (for transfer students)
Tags: All in Education, college savings, cost reduction college plan, Financial Aid
Posted in 9-12, El Segundo, General, General Articles, high school, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Redondo Beach, SAT, South Bay |
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May 2nd, 2011
So you have a huge end-of-the-year comprehensive biology test coming up, and since you’ve been cramming every chapter test since the beginning of this year, you don’t remember anything. What do you do? Where do you even start? To begin, you should realize that for a huge subject such as biology, cramming all the details just isn’t going to work. There are way too many intricate details to be able to memorize each and every one from all the chapters. And before you think about cramming again for this final, consider this: most science majors require at least a year of biology in college, and a good chunk of the information is overlap from what you learned in high school. Therefore, the better a foundation you set for yourself now, the more it’s going to pay off not only now in high school, but in college, and maybe for the rest of your future as well.
To begin, break down biology into manageable chunks of information. Don’t just rush through reading every chapter and then realize you’ve already forgotten everything, but break it down by paragraphs and really try to visualize what’s going on. Carefully analyze the diagrams, draw your own pictures, watch (relevant) youtube videos, etc. There are lots of excellent visual resources online that can make understanding the material much easier, and they’re free! After visualizing the information, you’ll find it a lot easier to memorize, and then it’s just about reviewing the information consistently to reinforce what you’ve learn, while slowly adding more details to your knowledge.
Another great way to study biology is to review the information with your friends. Choose a topic, and popcorn each other to begin describing everything you know about the topic. Everyone always focuses on different aspects, and you’ll be able to take notes on what points you forgot to pay attention to.
Remember: there’s something in biology for everyone! Whether or not you love or hate science, biology plays a very relevant part to our everyday lives. Whether you want to learn the most effective way to work out, want to learn what to do to eat healthy and stay fit, or just how to prevent breakouts, biology will teach you the basics of how the human body works and allow you to make educated decisions to improve your health!
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Posted in 9-12, AP Biology, Biology, El Segundo, high school, Learning, life skills, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, retention, science, study skills, Tutor Tips |
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April 27th, 2011
“When am I ever going to use this?” That may just be the most common complaint vocalized by the students at Study Hut. And their concern isn’t entirely unjustified. It really does seem that a solid chunk of the material covered in high school may never again need to be used later in life. No one is going to ask you to regurgitate the quadratic formula any time soon, right? Maybe not—maybe so. Students at Palos Verdes High School are currently participating in a Brobdingnagian battle of brains (Brobdingnag is the land of the huge in Gulliver’s Travels, in case that’s a question). The annual Scholar Quiz kicked off last week and the competition has been heated. Some of the tutors from Study Hut and I had the opportunity to watch our tutees flaunt their knowledge of (seemingly random) topics from across the board, academic and otherwise. I watched as competitors embarked on missions of rapid thought, evaluating solutions to formulas, testing knowledge of geography, and requiring an appetite for up-to-date pop culture and news. As one of the official sponsors for PV’s (and Mira Costa’s) Scholar Quiz, Study Hut has been thrilled about the emphasis on knowledge of both the fundamentals and specifics of topics we teach every day. The final showdown is tomorrow—come out and support your favorite team! Peace out.
Tags: Palos Verdes tutoring, pv high, PV High Scholar Quiz, PV tutor, Scholar Quiz
Posted in 9-12, El Segundo, General Articles, high school, Learning, life skills, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Redondo Beach, Tutor Tips |
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