The four weeks between Thanksgiving and the winter holiday break can be the toughest lap of the academic race for many students. Everyone loves to buckle down and cram for the “last lap” before Finals in January, but this “second-to-last lap” in December is brutal. With tons of distractions, from family coming into town, holiday shopping, and making sure to enjoy the holiday spirit, it comes as no surprise that many students have a tough time focusing on their tests and assignments.
But this is not the time to be distracted. In fact, this is the most crucial season of all. These four weeks are a perfect time for teachers to play catch up. Oftentimes, teachers will try to cram in two full chapters or units during this brief period, and the effects on students’ grades can be tremendously impactful. Some students will be distracted and choose to focus time and energy on interests other than school. These students will pay the price come January, and many grades will be far too low going into the break to be brought up. Other students will realize the incredible opportunity in front of them. They will buckle down, hit the books, and earn excellent grades on the tests, quizzes, and assignments offered.
For math classes, including geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus, the methods and concepts discussed this month will probably be the toughest content you will see on your first semester Final Exam. Keep this in mind, even if you are feeling overwhelmed by the material. If you can master these tough concepts now by studying in advance and working with your tutor, your holiday break will be significantly less stressful, and your Finals preparation in January will be a much easier process. This holds true for other classes too, including history, Spanish, English, biology, chemistry, physics, and even your elective classes.
As young students, everything seems prescribed and planned out all the way through high school. However, as soon as students hit senior year, everything changes; all the sudden they have to figure out where to go the following year and the mysteries of how to get there. Applying to colleges can be a very scary task and often students may not even know where to begin. With a little guidance, though, the application process can be smooth and painless. For most students in California, the Cal State or the UC schools are a popular option. Most students are able to find at least a few state-run colleges that suit their goals and will offer them a top-tier education. Of course, choosing colleges to apply to is the first step. Once that part is done, the important part commences. Fortunately, both systems of colleges use the Common Application, which is quite simple and straightforward. With the help of a tutor, students can perfect their application essay and personal statement, as well as properly organize their applications to highlight all of their strengths. With a little preparation, careful writing, and timely organization, the college application process can successfully position students to go on to the school of their choice.
At the Study Hut, we offer a specialized program to help students perfect their college applications. From the basic beginning steps to helping students pick the qualities they most want to highlight and the achievements they should recognize, our tutors understand the college application process inside and out. We offer packages tailored to each student’s needs. Students can rest assured that we will help them stand out and look as exceptional as they possibly can, and that we will aid in making this as easy of a transition as possible.
Well, this is it, summer is almost over! It’s time to set those alarm clocks, get your notebooks ready, and get back in to the swing of the school year. Here at the Hut we are preparing for an influx of students who need a little extra help during the school year. For high school students, we are offering an SAT prep course as well as free diagnostic tests to get ready for this all-important testing season! To get the process started, just sign up for one of our “diags”, we’ll score it and schedule a meeting to go over the results and discuss college and training options. The class is 7 weeks long, and meets from 9/18 until 11/1. We cap it at a maximum of ten students for more student/teacher contact, and it will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-9 pm. This means that each student will get 28 hours of extra preparation! The total cost of the course is $895, but if you sign up by 8/31, we will discount the price by $100. That means it will only be $795 for 28 hours of class! We will also be offering diagnostic tests on four Saturdays: 9/8, 9/29, 10/13, and 10/27 at 8 am. These tests will give us an initial score to improve upon, and track the progress each student makes. It will also give the students a good sense of the timing of the test, and come test day, minimize their anxiety. Let us give you a helping hand in tackling this important test!
Summer is halfway through, has your brain turned to mush? Are you forgetting how to
do basic math? This is normal when you aren’t using your brain like you do during the
school year. Just like any other muscle, your brain needs regular exercise to stay fit!
While taking a rest once in a while to recharge is important, it’s also important to
keep your mental fitness during the summer so you are ready to tackle school come
September. A great way to do this is to work on subjects you struggled with in the
previous year to stay caught up, or start learning material in advance so you don’t feel like
you’ve been thrown in the deep end of the pool once school starts up again.
While things are quieter at the Study Hut during the summer, we still have great tutors
here ready to help out with any and all subjects you may need help with this summer.
Math tripping you up? Spanish giving you dolor de cabeza? Chemistry confusing you?
Think of the Study Hut as summer camp for your brain!
Summer school classes are short in duration, but very intense, and Advanced Placement (AP) summer classes are even more intense. The school day tends to be four hours long. This may seem long to students, but trying to cram a year’s worth of materials in is a big challenge for teachers. Therefore, much of the work must be done outside of class.
AP history classes are the most common summer courses that high school students take. These classes require students to do a lot of reading, a lot of writing, and a lot of studying. Teachers typically do a chapter a day. The student then goes home, reads the chapter, and does the work that goes along with it. This work can be defining key terms and people, making timelines, conceptual questions, or essays. Essay writing is the most time consuming and difficult part of these history courses. They allow the teacher to make sure the student understands a wide range of material. Also, the student must demonstrate good writing skills and critical thinking. It can become difficult to come up with new ideas and examples when writing essays every week.
Getting anything lower than a B in an AP class doesn’t look good to college admissions officers. Putting in so much effort into a college class and then performing badly is a waste. The tutors at Study Hut can help students with their AP summer school work. We have tutors that specialize in essay writing. They can edit and revise rough drafts or help students from the very start. They help guide the student through their brainstorming and outlining process, to their rough draft, and then the final draft. Don’t let your summer AP class go to waste! Let us help you!
BYU online summer school is a great way to stay productive during the summer and to get ahead on classes for the next school year. It is independent study and puts no deadlines on the work and tests. This can be both good and bad. On the one hand it allows students to have a flexible schedule that allows for sports and travel. On the other hand, however, it can be challenging to learn the material without a teacher and to keep a good pace. Study Hut can help with all this.
High school students are accustomed to having a teacher present to explain the material to them. Studying independently is a skill that students often don’t master until they go to college. Therefore, learning concepts online can be difficult and frustrating. Our tutors are familiar with the BYU classes, how they are structured, and what is expected from the students taking them. Coming to the Study Hut allows students to go over any material they have trouble understanding on their own, or simply confirming that what they have learned is correct.
Time management is often a challenge for high school students. They tend to procrastinate and get behind in their work. It is not unusual to see a whole BYU course being crammed into the last two weeks of summer vacation. The result is usually a low grade and a stressful end to the break. Seeing a tutor at the Study Hut is a perfect way to make sure this doesn’t happen! We will lay out a timeline and hold the student accountable.
Study Hut is an official BYU proctoring center. So if tutoring is not necessary students can still come here to take their tests. We administer the tests for $50. And if the student is being tutored here, the tests are free!
Finding the time to prepare for the SAT during the regular school year can be difficult. Between homework, sports, activities, friends, family…its hard to find the time and easy to come up with reasons to put off studying for the SAT. Don’t put it off anymore! What better time than the summer time to get started and stay focused on preparing for the SAT without the stress of schoolwork.
Beginning Tuesday July 10th, and ending Thursday, August 23rd, Study Hut will offer a two hour, twice a week group course. The course will focus on fundamental academic skills and test-taking strategies required to succeed on the SAT. This course will include four proctored full-length practice tests and fourteen personalized online homework assignments catered to each student’s specific weaknesses.
Study Hut will also offer one-on-one Sat courses with a variety of different packages. The packages range from a 24 hour course to a 40 hour course. The number of proctored tests and online homework assignments varies with each package. Students can also come in for hourly SAT tutoring using the same materials as the courses.
The courses will be taught by experienced and local tutors that students enjoy being around, and our students on average see
200 point increase!
There will be a FREE diagnostic test for students on Saturday June 16, from 8am to 12pm. Please contact Justin at Justin@studyhut.com or (310) 540-5888 for more details.
Every year, Parras Middle School hosts a lively fundraising event that gathers the local community for a day of creative entertainment –ranging from vivacious drum circles to colorful sidewalk art. This would be the second year Study Hut has been participating and supporting local schools like Parras Middle School in Redondo Beach.
The 5×5 ft sidewalk canvas was set up next to dozens of other participants who also wanted to support the local Redondo Beach schools. Our tutors, Valerie Chavez & Vin Castillo represented the Study Hut with chalk in hand and pastel in the other. The creativity was billowing in the air with chalk dust as everyone meticulously crafted their art.
The Study Hut design, with the help of designer/tutor, Jenny Smith, depicted a surfer riding the waves of a book with the great Study Hut logo in the foreground. We thought it was a creative design that united two of Study Hut’s fundamental values: Study hard and have fun doing it. Needless to say, Valerie & Vin couldn’t help but break from their artistic endeavor and join in on the drum circle/limbo contest across the field. Banging on drums and joining the youth in a friendly game of limbo dancing, Study Hut truly exemplifies what it means to be active and supportive in the community.
There was much energy that filled the air at Chalk It Up, but what enticed our olfactory senses was the luscious smell of freshly popped kettle corn. The smell of the sweet and salty treat came in waves that re-energized us from the scorching heat of the sun. I’m sure the Redondo Beach locals were satisfied with the nice heaping bag of kettle corn, shave ice and graphic sidewalk art. Study Hut definitely had a great time at Chalk It Up. We will definitely be there next year to support the local schools of Redondo Beach!
After an entire year off from Algebra, students often need help getting reacquainted with the foundational math concepts that they will build on in Algebra II. Students who were geometry masters, may become flustered and embarrassed when, come September, they realize that they’ve since forgotten how to find and graph the equation of a line.
Don’t fret, though, there is hope! This summer, Study Hut Tutoring is bringing back its five-week Algebra II prep course, just in time for Fall!
Beginning Tuesday, July 24th and ending Thursday, August 23rd, this two-hour, twice weekly course will span the Algebra II coursework delineated by the California State Standards and will offer experiential and material support for students to bolster their mathematical comprehension before the start of the school year.
Algebra II expands the mathematical concepts learned in Algebra I and Geometry, such as: utilizing order of operations, solving equations and inequalities through computation and graphing, coordinate and trigonometric geometry, and manipulating functions and inequalities. This course’s content will serve as the basis for your student’s success in future mathematics courses – Precalculus, Statistics, Trigonometry, and Calculus alike – as well as on the SAT Exam’s quantitative reasoning section!
Hut’s Algebra II Summer Prep course will begin with a review of basic Algebra, including: solving systems of linear equations and inequalities by substitution, elimination and graphing; solving polynomials by factoring and long division; and review the most foundational mathematical concept: the order of operations.
In the span of just twenty hours, students will be introduced to the concepts of: quadratic, logarithmic, and exponential functions; complex numbers; and conics and radical expressions; long before their classmates have even heard of such mathematical monstrosities! And their enhanced ability to demonstrate a working knowledge of how these equations are related, both arithmetically and graphically, will give them a log up come Fall.
The school year is almost over and summer is just around the corner. While many students are excited for the break from schooling, it is important to remember that the summer can be a time of great learning too. Here at the Study Hut we are excited to be offering a number of summer courses to help prepare students for the upcoming school year. One program we are particularly excited about this summer, is the Summer Reading and Writing Workshop Program. This Program is designed to help students with their summer reading assignments and prepare them for the upcoming school year.
This program offers a variety of specialized packages for private one-on-one tutors sessions for all grade levels. Packages range from 10 sessions @$50/session to 30 sessions at $40/session at your convenience throughout the summer. Our Kindergarten through 2nd grade programs focus on the building blocks of reading and writing including “fun-ducational” activities. The 3rd through 5th grade program focuses fluency and comprehension and will include a book report and at-home reading assignments. The 6th through 10th grade programs will focus on advanced writing and literary analysis skills including analyzing literary devices and developing a strong well written essay. All of the programs will include supplemental reading and educational materials to help further develop reading and writing fundamentals.
The Summer Reading and Writing Workshops will be held at both the Redondo Beach and Mannhattan Beach Study Hut locations. For more information about the Redondo Beach location please contact Justin at justin@studyhut.com or call (310) 540-5888. For more information on the Mannhattan Beach location contact Samantha at samantha@studyhut.com or call (310) 546-2408. However you decide to spend your summer,enjoy yourself and remember that here at the Study Hut, we are always happy to help.
