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Newport Beach Finals

January 19th, 2016

Newport Beach finals are coming, are you ready? Here at Study Hut Newport Beach, we are prepared to help students ace their exams and achieve their goals. With tutors coming from top colleges and graduate programs, we are prepared to help students in a large variety of subjects. Our tutors are not only experienced in multiple content areas, but are experts in study habits and test taking strategies as well. At Study Hut Newport Beach, we seek to create positive study habits that will follow students throughout their academic careers. As the new year begins and finals are approaching there is no better time to get started!

Newport Beach Finals

How do I get started? Give us a call or shoot us an email! We will pair you with a tutor that is an expert in the subject you’re looking for. We believe in providing students with a one-on-one service. This allows the tutors to target the student’s strengths and weaknesses and to focus on each student’s individual needs. Going into Newport Beach finals we want to ensure that each student gets the information and skills they need to succeed.

When should I get started? The sooner the better! Cramming for an exam is never a good idea. Students should be going into an exam prepared and confident. The sooner we start, the sooner we can fill any gaps and give students helpful strategies tailored to them. We see the best results with students who consistently come in week to week. Tutors are able to track their progress and get them ready for the test. As Newport Beach final get closer, our schedule tends to fill up, so call ahead!

So whether it’s physics, chemistry, math, or even Spanish, we are ready to help! Study Hut Newport has you covered for all of your tutoring needs. It’s time to buckle down and start studying.

Brain Activities

December 18th, 2015

Try these fun brain activities! Now that it’s winter break, it’s easy to just turn off your brain and become a blob for two weeks. While you definitely do deserve a bit of a break from school, now is not the time to shut down completely. While celebrating the holidays, you can get creative! Ditch the books, but do some mental exercises. Here are some things you can do to keep your brain active over break.

 

  1. Read a good book: Put Animal Farm and Macbeth away and grab a book to read for pleasure. Cuddle up with a blanket and a hot chocolate and dive into Oprah’s latest faves.
  2. Do Chemistry conversions through cooking: As you’re helping prepare Christmas dinner, practice converting things from grams to ounces. Don’t forget sig figs!
  3. Write an essay analyzing on your favorite Holiday movie: Jk this is excessive.
  4. Maintain healthy habits: While it’s tempting to stay up all night devouring Orange is the New Black, doing that every night is going to make January 4 tough. Maintain a somewhat normal sleep schedule, work out and stay active!
  5. Color Coordinate your gift list: This is good practice for making effective finals study guides.
  6. Do something new: Try paddle boarding, bake a new recipe, or complete a puzzle!
  7. Brush up on life skills: Learn how to do a load of laundry (an important skill before you go to college!)
  8. Study for finals: With finals coming up at the end of the month, putting in time now will get you in good shape. Start by reviewing old tests, making notecards, or organizing your notes into flow charts.
    Brain Activities

Making the Grade

May 24th, 2015

Sometimes students have teachers who simply do not teach in a way that is compatible with their learning style, which can keep them from making the grade they deserve. In cases like these, it is very beneficial to have regular tutoring appointments with someone who can cater specifically to the way that your child learns. At Study Hut, our tutors truly care about and get to know their students, so they are aware of what methods of teaching will and will not work with them.

Making the Grade

Riley began coming to Study Hut because she was having trouble in her Chemistry and Geometry classes. Her Chemistry teacher was terrible at explaining difficult concepts and did not go over any practice problems with the class. They were just expected to go home and know how to do the homework. She worked with her tutor Charlsey on actually learning the material and putting it into practice on her homework. Actually understanding the content helped Riley complete her labs more easily and started making the grade on her tests. Charlsey observed that Riley did not really absorb the content without actually doing it in problems, so that was why she had been having trouble in Chemistry.

Geometry was the same way. Together, they went through which pieces of information Riley should plug in to the formulas she had been given so that she could get the correct answer. Reviewing topics from earlier in the year also helped her with trigonometry and setting up similar triangles.

Math with Mira: Determination

April 17th, 2015

Mira began coming to Study Hut for Chemistry and Algebra 2 midway through her sophomore year. She had a decent handle on both classes, but the content was beginning to get much more challenging. She showed determination and found some extra help to make keeping her A that much easier. She worked on math and chemistry with her tutors Charlsey and Maher.

Maher and Mira worked together on her difficult chemistry homework. He taught her when to use different gas laws, and easy tricks to help her remember which was which. He also helped her through the tricky steps of finding the empirical formula for different types of chemical equations.

While Mira mostly got amazing grades in math, she bombed one of her tests on probability and permutations. It was difficult for her to determine when to use a permutation versus a combination. She was determined to ace her retake while learning her new material on sequences at the same time. She and Charlsey worked on memorizing the different sequence formulas and how to tell whether a sequence was geometric or arithmetic. Sequences were super easy for Mira, so they spent more time reviewing permutations, combinations, and other probability problems. They focused special attention on what words to look for in word problems that would signify whether Mira should use the formula for a permutation or combination. On top of that, she had to figure out when she would be dealing with repetition or not. The countless practice sheets and determination paid off, because Mira received a 95% on her make up probability test and a 97% on her sequences test!

Chemistry Tutoring

March 5th, 2015

Chemistry can be very difficult. Students have so many things to memorize: rules for naming compounds, charges for different elements on the periodic table, whether or not a solute and solvent will form a precipitate. All this information can quickly become overwhelming for students, especially as the year progresses and concepts build upon one another. It is helpful for students to go over chemistry outside of class with a tutor to review concepts the teacher may not have explained thoroughly enough.

Chemistry tutoring is especially helpful when covering more difficult and complex topics. Jason worked with his student, who had fallen behind in chemistry class and was struggling to catch up. They started with the basics: families in the periodic table, elemental charges, ionic vs. covalent bonds. These building blocks helped the student begin to understand the higher-level concepts. It was no longer a mystery why certain compounds formed and other elements could not combine, or why an anion was formed instead of a cation. Now that what elements came together to form compounds was no longer a mystery, it was time to move on to nomenclature. Together, Jason and his student went through all the rules for naming different kinds of compounds. There are different rules for ionic and covalent compounds. They also reviewed how to tell which version of certain metals formed, and how to tell when to use an –ic or –ous ending. All the extra review really helped and Jason’s student was able to bring his grade up twenty percent!

The Rigors of PV Curriculum from a USC Alum

April 1st, 2014

The Rigors of PV Curriculum from a USC Alum

As a former student at Palos Verdes High School ( www.pvhigh.com ), I have found that the Study Hut curriculum for PVHS Math, Biology, Chemistry, Spanish, and English are perfect for the PV High curriculum. The PV school district’s expectations for Math classes, ranging from Geometry to Calculus, are very high and the homework and study workloads show this. At Study Hut ( www.studyhut.com ), I give one-on-one tutoring to help students understand and manage their challenging Algebra, Algebra 2, and Geometry workloads. Adding to this, most students are required to take Biology and Chemistry. From my experience as a Natural Science major at USC ( www.usc.edu ), I can personally attest to the very high level and challenging requirements that Palos Verdes high school students face.

At Study Hut, I help students in understanding the difficult materials, as well as in preparing for their tests (whether they be finals, AP, SATs, or SAT 2). Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 are also requirements for PVHS students and during my time at PV High, I remember that many students also take Spanish 3 and Spanish 4. These classes can be especially problematic for students who have never taken Spanish before or are not used to the verbal and written demands of the classes. At Study Hut, I really enjoy helping students improve their Spanish vocabulary, as well as their grammar and pronunciation. With all of these subjects, it really works to my benefit that I have taken the classes that I tutor at PV High (a lot of times with the same teachers), so I have a good understanding of the expectations and style of work that PVHS requires for a good grade. Adding to this, the atmosphere and tutoring style encouraged at Study Hut meshes well with Palos Verdes High School students and generates very positive results.

Algebra and Chemistry tutoring for RUHS

March 27th, 2014

I’ve been tutoring Kelsey from Redondo Union High School (http://www.redondounion.org/) for about three weeks now. After briefly talking about Kelsey’s day, we discuss how she thinks she did on her most recent quizzes or tests, what assignments she needs to work on in that moment in time, and how we can prepare for her upcoming quizzes or tests. Kelsey mainly comes into Study Hut to get tutoring for Chemistry and Algebra 2. My goal is to help Kelsey overcome her struggles in these two subjects by accommodating her with tutorials that will help her retain information efficiently, develop excellent study habits for any of her future assessments, as well as motivate her to be the best student she could be.

The first day I worked with her we completed her review packet for her upcoming Chemistry test. At the time, Kelsey was learning about specific heat capacity and how to find the missing variable, whether it was the amount of heat gained or lost, specific heat, or final or initial temperature. Kelsey came into Study Hut confused about the basics of this particular subtopic in Chemistry, so I went over the fundamentals by breaking down every significant piece of information she had to know.
The second day I worked with Kelsey, we reviewed for the Algebra 2 test she took last week. Kelsey was being tested on her knowledge of conics, including parabolas, hyberbolas, circles, and ellipses. Kelsey was confused about the difference between each of the conics, how to go about finding the different types of points for each type of graph, how to formulate an equation when given specific points on the graph, and lastly, how to graph each type of conic. I went over the details of each graph and provided her with simply strategies on how to memorize the specifics of each graph.

 

The Study Hut Foundation

May 9th, 2013

The Study Hut Foundation officially opened last Wednesday and we are super excited about it!

Nestled on a quiet corner in Lomita, directly across the street from the Lomita Public Library, the Study Hut Foundation is perfectly located to conveniently serve the students of Nathaniel Narbonne High School.
Description
The Study Hut Foundation aims to provide the same tutoring and test-prep services, which our students in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Newport Beach, and El Segundo have become accustomed to, free of cost to students who could otherwise not afford them.Afford hard working, motivated students the opportunity to reach their highest academic potential and achieve their goal of attending college.

Improve our community by supporting the good work of committed students.

How Funding Will Be Used:
The goal of the Study Hut Foundation is to support the education of students, in Lomita and neighboring communities, who could not otherwise afford to receive tutoring. As such, the primary function of the funding that the Study Hut Foundation receives will be used to fund scholarships for students who meet Study Hut Foundation qualifications. The scholarships offset the costs of tutoring, including the tutor’s time and the materials used during the session.

Our Redondo Beach Office Manager Justin went to our Study Hut Foundation on Monday May 6th, and he tutored two students, Gabrielle and Joe. Gabrielle used to get all A’s and now she is getting F’s in Chemistry and Geometry. She forgot her Geometry book so they worked on Chemistry.

Justin then worked with Joe. He is getting D’s in both Algebra 2 and Chemistry. Joe has a hard time balancing between sports and classes but is very capable of getting good grades. He just needs someone to sit down with him and help him with his work.

We have a physics teacher from Mira Costa who is volunteering to work there!

We will be holding our Study Hut Parent/Teacher Scholar Quiz on Sunday June 2nd from 4-9pm at the Manhattan Beach Country Club to help raise funds for the Foundation.

Finals Season coming to an end…

January 29th, 2013

We did it! We made it through finals season!! Last week was a long week here at the Study Hut.

Last week we went to different schools and helped them study after school for a few hours.

We went to  Peninsula High for 3 hours and at Palos Verdes High for 5 hours and the weekend of  the 19th/20th – we went to West on Friday afternoon, West again on Saturday morning and  then to South on Sunday for free Finals Tutoring in the library.

We had such a great turn out at  each session.

I tutored in Spanish on Friday afternoon from 3 to 6 in the library at West. There were over 100 students who came and another 100+ on the waiting list to participate in the free tutoring.

When the students came into the library, there were signs hung up on both the 1st and 2nd floor of the library, with the names of all the different subjects that we helped tutor in. The High School also sent some of their students to help tutor as well with us which was greatly appreciated.

We tutored in multiple subjects – Algebra 1 & 2, Trig, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Spanish – just to name a few.

Each student chose to either be tutored in one subject for all three hours – or be tutored in three subjects, one subject per hour.

For my first hour I had about 6 students – 2 in Spanish 1, 2 in Spanish 2, and 2 in Spanish 3. Then for my 2nd hour – 5 of the 6 students went to a different subject so I tutored a student one-on-one. Lastly, for my final hour, a few more students showed up and I finished with 5 kids. My subject was one of the smallest groups. I enjoyed having a small group since I was able to help each student individually.

Both the Science and Math subjects had about 30+ students in their group.

We always enjoy going to other schools before finals to help them study and we also helped many AVID classes study for their finals – including Newport and PV High.

This finals season went really well and we are proud of all the students!!

How to study for Science

December 6th, 2012

Biology can be a complex subject to grasp. Difficult terminology and concepts, typical of chemistry and physics, partnered with vast and often times redundant biophysical processes make General Biology, AP Biology and SAT Biology a hotbed of tutoring activity. Relating specific concepts within daily notes to the seemingly endless volumes of information in Bio texts is paramount to success in the classroom and on standardized tests.

Developing teaching and testing strategies that work is our passion. Our tutors formulate a step by step approach to address problem areas within the subject matter. Our tutors focus on relating in-class information to everyday case studies and experiences to help students identify with the subject matter. We feel that resolving conceptual errors and becoming versed in basic biological processes is the first step to success in Biology. Using advanced placement tests, practice SAT’s and in-house report cards, we are able to assess, in real-time, the progress our students are making.

During our one-on-one sessions, we provide a tailored experience that partners with the pupils own personal study strategy. We provide a wide range of study materials: Texts, workbooks, flashcards, SAT Prep, SAT Tests and online materials are all resources we utilize in order to help students gain a better understanding of the subject matter. Students are also paired with extremely capable and knowledgeable tutors who are familiar and have a background in subjects such as Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. We do our very best to deliver the most advantageous tutoring session for each individual student.  Working with a tutor is much like working with a personal trainer:  we are here to make your “work out time” more efficient so your results are better and come faster.  We are not here to do their work for them, but to help them make the most of what little time they have!