What a wonderful year it was for the West Torrance High School Finals Cram Session in the library this year. Tension and angst run higher than usual amongst West Torrance High School students this week, predictably of course. The stress of Finals week finds a way to creep into almost every high school campus in California, and Torrance Unified School District students are not immune to the phenomenon. That is why Study Hut once again partnered with West Torrance High School over the weekend and sponsored a massive, two-day, Finals cram session. The event was a huge success, attracting over 200 students and more than 20 Study Hut tutors over the course of the two-day event. According to one Study Hut geometry tutor, JP Birk, “This was the most successful Finals cram session event that we have held at West to date. I have never seen such an eager group of students; these young men and women were prepared in advance with notes, previous tests and quizzes, and study guides.”
Finals tutoring at the West Torrance High School Finals Cram session is nothing new for Study Hut. We have sponsored and supported the event for over five years, providing study support twice each year as students gear up for their most heavily-weighted, comprehensive exams. Although tutoring is provided in all subject areas, the most popular, in-need subject areas are typically geometry, chemistry, biology, algebra, and Spanish.
This year, the biology tutoring table had the best energy, by far. Students were eagerly taking notes and asking questions about ecosystems, parts of the cell, and other foundational components of the study of life. Although biology is always a tough class, and students have always sought a tutor for the subject, the demand for biology tutoring has still been on the rise this year, so the idea that West Torrance students are mirroring that trend is no surprise. Regardless of the surge in biology tutoring interest, the Finals cram session still went off without a hitch, and many students got a huge advantage on this week’s exams.
Ok the weather is pretty nice…blue skies for days…Ahhhh. Winter Break! A time to relax, eat, hang out with family, and celebrate. You should definitely do all of those things… (here comes a but)…(drumroll please)…
BUT
You should ALSO use your break wisely! Open that backpack and do some studying over Winter Break. It’s been a long, hard semester, and you do not want to spoil all that you have put into it by slacking right before finals. With the biggest test of the semester right around the corner, many of you already have a study guide or an idea of what your final will look like. Use that!
You can start making flashcards for vocab. That’s something you can do with Mariah Carey belting out “All I Want for Christmas…is an A!” and it’s been proven that listening to music while studying can improve your performance on the test!
You should make a detailed outline with flow charts, timelines and pretty colors. This will refresh your memory of the topics and provide a beautiful study guide you can use once finals week arrives.
Grab your old tests or practice tests, and retake them, checking your answers as you go. This will help you decide where you need to allocate the most time for studying, and where you can skim a bit because you already have a good handle on the material.
DO NOT simply run your eyes over every single chapter in the book, or every single page of notes you’ve written. This is a waste of your time. Rereading is a passive activity, plus it is much too general. With so much material to cover, you are better off zeroing in on what’s important (hint: what’s on the study guide or what was on old tests). Have fun over break, but spending the entire two weeks binge-watching Parks and Rec for the 3rd time will come back to haunt you when finals week arrives! Put in a few hours over break and I promise you’ll thank yourself later!
This week West Torrance High School will be having two finals week cram sessions at the library. Friday will be in the evening from 3PM to 6PM. Saturday will be in the morning from 9AM to 12PM. Study Hut tutors from the Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach locations come to the study sessions to help students in large groups as well as individually.
The library is split up into different sections where students can get help in the specific subject that they are studying for. This helps them focus because they do not become distracted by their friends who are trying to learn different subjects at the same time. Once a study feels like they can move on to a different subject, they can move on to the different area of the library and fully concentrate on the new material. Sessions like these are also helpful because then students can work with other students in their class. Many times, students are unable to find a convenient time and location to work together with their peers. These West High study sessions resolve that issue. Students are also able to work through problems together and go over any difficult concepts on the study guide together until a tutor becomes available. This makes their study time more efficient and effective. Many students often have the same question, so the tutor can answer all of them at once. Alternatively, the students can help each other and figure out the problem together. Whether you plan on attending one or both sessions, these study sessions will be highly beneficial to any student.
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.
We are proud to announce that next year, we will be offering our first ever Study Hut ACT Group Course.
With the growing popularity of the ACT, we are now offering a course to get your student ready for the test coming next Spring on June 9th. Here are the details:
The course runs April 30th through June 6th.
It meets Monday and Wednesday nights from 7-9 pm (24 hours total)
It includes two full-length practice tests, and assignments catered to your student’s weaknesses.
This course is very similar in structure to our popular small group SAT course, which has been showing excellent improvement in student’s scores across the board. This is NOT a huge classroom or an overwhelming environment. Our SAT and ACT group courses are conducted in a small office, with a maximum of 10 students. Our instructors are young, fresh, smart, and witty, and we all have one thing in common: we know how to dominate both the SAT and the ACT.
Please email rob@studyhut.com or call us at the Hut – (310)-546-2408 to sign up or get any questions answered.
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.
Last weekend Study Hut held its 2nd free tutoring seminar at West High and Redondo Union High School. For two hours after school last Friday, and for three hours on Saturday, Study Hut was on campus for free group tutoring coordinated with school administrators. Over one hundred students from West and over 50 from Redondo came to receive free tutoring with highly specialized tutors. The students were separated into group by school subjects, ranging the whole high school academic spectrum from geometry to U.S. History; where one to two Study Hut Tutors prepared them for the upcoming finals. Last time was such a success that teachers at West High rewarded students with extra credit for attending both days. The best part of the whole event was the great attitude of all the students who came. They were all eager to receive the help and get the most they could before the all important finals. We at The Hut would like to thank the helpful staff of both West High and RUHS, our great tutors for their effort, and the all students who came down to make this another great experience.
