With summer underway and the Independence Day holiday weekend behind us, our enrichment programs at Study Hut are in full force, and learning is back on the agenda.
Tonight we begin our ACT small-group course, which runs Monday and Wednesday evenings for the remainder of summer. Our SAT small-group course also begins tomorrow evening, and runs through the rest of summer on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Students are excited to learn concepts that they either missed in high school or have not yet learned, and they are even more eager to go over their practice tests and learn time management and question prioritization strategies for both the ACT and SAT. Students in previous classes at Study Hut Tutoring have learned all about the tremendous benefits of having an ACT tutor or an SAT tutor in their corner.
Whether a student needs help with SAT math, critical reading, writing, or some combination of these, having a top Study Hut tutor has shown to make a huge difference in students’ scores. Our small group ACT and SAT classes have helped to earn students an average of over 200 points of improvement from their original scores, and many students improve 300 or more points.
At the Hut, we strongly suggest making a game-plan early so as to ensure that your son or daughter has the maximum amount of time to make the gains that he or she desires. The test preparation process is, after all, about opening as many doors as possible, both for college and for opportunities beyond.
If your son or daughter has not yet taken a practice SAT or ACT, now is the time to see where you stand. We offer free full-length SAT and ACT diagnostic tests, and we also provide free consultations to parents and students after the test so that you can fully understand your results. Please email info@studyhut.com today to sign up at any of our beach-front locations.
1. During the school day, teachers’ attention is spread among many students. A tutor can create a targeted plan for your child’s specific needs.
2. Today, kids have increased access to technology, busy parents, and have extremely busy schedules, all of which can potentially distract them from their studies. Time with a tutor gives them the time to focus only on homework or studying.
3. Tutors have the time to explain a concept in several different ways, instead of having to move class along at a certain pace.
4. Tutoring can also teach study skills, which can then be applied to what’s going on in school.
5. Even for students who are doing well in school, tutoring can provide a competitive edge to do even better.
6. Summer tutoring can prepare students for upcoming difficult subjects, such as algebra, or reinforce what was already learned that year so September isn’t spent playing catch-up.
7. For high school students, individual or small group tutoring can be essential for APs and SAT subject tests.
8. For younger kids, tutoring can help boost standardized test scores.
9. A tutor can be a useful sounding board for an upcoming project, paper, or exam, and can help prevent the stress and frustration of leaving an assignment for the night before.
10. Whether it’s third grade math, high school chemistry, or middle school history, tutors have expertise in their subject and can make it more engaging and maybe even fun.
Staying Organized: One of the most important things a student of any age can do to stay on top of their academic game is to keep all necessary materials and information for every class in a place they’ll always find it. This definitely includes keeping and up-to-date and thorough weekly planner. How can anyone prepare for a test without knowing when it is scheduled?
Notecards
In-class Notes:
Proactive Studying: Studying is so much harder the night before the test. By doing just a bit of studying after a new lesson, the information will be much easier to remember when the time comes to prove you know it. Cramming for tests at the last minute only hurts your chances of actually retaining the material.
Improving Test-Taking Skills: Test-taking is a skill. In fact, it’s an entirely learned skill. You were not born knowing how to fill out a Scantron. In this way, any student who struggles on tests can develop the skills to ensure that their best efforts are reflected in their grades. Simple things like recreating test-taking environments while studying and working with practice tests and quizzes can improve scores by miles!
Eliminating Careless Errors: Perhaps the most common point deduction of all, small mental errors can ruin an otherwise heroic effort. This is essential with subjects like math, where one small mistake can turn into a whole page of mistakes. The best way to eliminate mental errors is to set aside time at the end of a test or quiz to double and triple-check their work. Everyone makes mistakes, but the key is to fix them before turning in your work.
Doing All Homework: This seems terribly obvious, but many students fall victim to leaving free points on the table in every class. Anything that yields credit and points for your student should at the very least be attempted. Of course there are extenuating circumstances, but when a simple worksheet can be the difference between an A and a B, it becomes crucial to cumulative grades.
Paying Attention to the Teacher: This is something that sounds obvious, but there’s a bit more to it. No two teachers are the same, and this can present a challenge in preparing in the most effective ways for any given assignment or tests. The all-star student should always be focused on the tendencies of their instructor. If your math teacher favors word problems on tests, you can focus the majority of your studying on those.
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.
The College Board recently announced that the 2016 SAT will have several important changes. While on the surface some of these changes may seem to make the test “easier,” here are some reasons why you’ll still need to practice, practice, practice.
10. You may have heard that the College Board is changing the SAT to get rid of obscure “SAT words” and thought that meant you could throw away all your flash cards. Think again! There’s no magic list of words that won’t be tested, and they will still test on words that will come up repeatedly in college work, such as “empirical,” or “synthesis.”
9. Along the same lines, each SAT will feature historical documents for your analysis, such as letters by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Declaration of Independence. Do you know what “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes'” means? That’s a direct quote from the Declaration of Independence, which also features vocabulary such as “endowed,” “usurpations,” and “arbitrary.”
8. The penalty for wrong answers may be gone, but you’ll still need to focus and manage your time wisely to get as many questions right as you can.
7. The days of finding the answer for a reading comp passage right in the text are potentially gone. Instead, questions will feature graphs and additional information you’ll need to use to analyze an issue and come to a conclusion for your answer.
6. There will be more diverse reading passages from different subjects, including more of a focus on science, that are designed to reflect college-level work.
5. The math section will involve multiple steps to find a solution, and the questions will be presented in real world contexts. Get ready for a whole lot of word problem practice!
4. The College Board announcement stated that the new exam will focus on three main areas in the math section: Problem Solving/Data Analysis, Passport to Advanced Math, and the Heart of Algebra. If that doesn’t sound very straightforward, you’re probably right! The test preparers want to see your familiarity with subjects such as ratios, percentages, proportions, linear equations and systems, and complex equations.
3. The Writing portion has been replaced by the new Essay section, which is designed to mimic a college-level writing assignment. You’ll need to analyze the text, come up with an argument, and support with evidence from the passage using clear, persuasive sentences. The essay is currently optional, but some schools may require it.
2. On the bright side, one change that won’t make the exam harder in and of itself is that it is now offered digitally as well as on paper. However, even if you’re more comfortable taking an exam on your computer, you’ll have to make the judgment call of whether it’s worth the risk of tech issues.
1. It’s still the SAT! It’s a 4+ hour long exam, with math problems, reading comprehension, ands writing that is a large part of your college application process. None of the new changes change the fact that you’ll need to work hard and practice to get your best score.
From iLead to AVID, Study Hut covers ground in the South Bay!
Study Hut has had the privilege to extend our tutoring services to local high schools in the South Bay, including South High, Palos Verdes High School and Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. We are able to do this by orchestrating in-class programs like AVID (http://www.avid.org/) in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District and ILEAD through the Torrance Unified School District. In a typical AVID or ILEAD class, Study Hut will send a number of tutors (typically ranging from four to eight) who each specialize in variety of academic subjects. Our tutors then have the unique opportunity to break the class into smaller groups of students based on subject each student feels that he or she need the most help with.
Last Tuesday was an awesome day at both South High and Peninsula! We arrived at South High for ILEAD at 8am to offer additional tutoring on late start mornings. We then separated the students into a “Math and Science” classroom, and an “English, History and Foreign Language” classroom. Tori and I were put in charge of English, History and Languages room. After an hour of answering questions about everything from World War I and the differences between Preterite and Imperfect in Spanish, our manager Justin was nice enough to take us out to a quick breakfast to refuel before we headed up to PVPHS to tutor in AVID for their third and fourth periods.In AVID we like to take a more hands on approach by encouraging the students to break into groups and take turns writing their questions on the board. Their peers then use their notes and textbooks to help them solve their problem. In my English groups in AVID, we had some remarkable discussions about Animal Farm (my favorite) and determining Direct Objects vs. Predicate Nominatives.
Summer School is ending… our SAT courses are underway and Fall is right around the corner!
Many of the summer school classes ended this week and we have had a lot of students coming to the Study Hut for help through their classes. Geometry, spanish and government were three classes that many students were taking over the summer.
We have an SAT class going on at both our Manhattan and Redondo Beach locations. After the first 2 weeks, the students in Redondo went up an average of 100 points on their exams.
Many students have been starting SAT training so they do well on the SAT exams coming up in the fall. We have many families who are purchasing packages.
Remember, we have a 24 (12 – 2 hour) sessions, 32 hour (16 – 2 hour) sessions, and a 40 (20 – 2 hour) sessions packages!
We also offer ACT Packages as well if you are interested!
We have a free diagnostic test for the ACT and SAT coming up this Saturday – August 3rd, and another one coming up in 2 weeks on August 17th!!
With Fall right around the corner, students are calling in to reserve times and dates for the fall to come into the Study Hut. We have created a list and it’s first come/first serve.
We have also been really successful this summer with our reading/writing/math students who are in elementary and middle school that are preparing for their coming school year.
Contact us if you would like to know anymore information about any of these topics listed above.
Manhattan Beach: (310)546-2408 – Office Manager: Kristen
We had a great turnout at our first ever Study Hut Foundation Parent/Teacher Scholar Quiz on Sunday June 2nd at the Manhattan Beach Country Club!
We had 16 teams participate at our event, and the event lasted from 4pm until 8pm. The winning team’s name was WB and the Funky 3.
The teams were parents and teachers from all the surrounding areas including Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Hermosa Beach. Many teachers from the schools participated including: Palos Verdes, West High School, Manhattan Beach Middle School, and Mira Costa High School.
The questions that were asked ranged from all different subjects, including English, History, Geography, Pop Culture, Math and many more!
We had a silent auction as well which included restaurant certificates, jewelry, signed memorabilia from the Kings Hockey Team, cupcakes from Susie Cakes, and many more.
Many local merchants donated silent auction iteams, including but not limited to wine, plants, hair appointments, free tutoring sessions, and music lessons.
We also had raffle tickets that we sold ($5 for 1 or $20 for 5 tickets). The people who won, received a trip for 2 nights (air fare not included) – and they can pick from over 50 different destinations.
We served Hors d’œuvres while the event was going on including but not limited too: Quiche and dumplings – and we also had a cash bar outside that overlooked the tennis courts.
If you would like to donate to the Study Hut Foundation, you can log on to our website at StudyHutFoundation.org and click “Donate”
As of right now we have 13 students that attend the Study Hut Foundation and next year we are hoping to bump it up to 50 students. We are seeing improvements already in their grades and have changed the way that the students view going to school.
Thanks to all the teams that participated! Congrats to the winners! Thanks again to everyone that came out and supported our event! We really appreciate it!
Stay tuned for Part 2 and more pictures in the next blog!
The Manhattan Beach Middle School Scholar Quiz starts tomorrow and we are so excited to be able to help volunteer throughout the next few days to make the scholar quiz the best it can be!!
Louise DuMont is the Volunteer Coordinator for the MBMS Scholar Quiz and we are excited to be working along side her!
Our jobs are listed below:
Rob – Reader
Sean – Reader
Sam – Reader
Nicole – Flag Judge
Rhiannon – Flag Judge
Kristen – Scorekeeper
Rita – Scorekeeper
Ashley – Scorekeeper
Mason – Scorekeeper
Andrea – Scorekeeper
Jeff – Alternate
Andrew – Alternate
THE COMPETITION:
The preliminary rounds will be held May 22-24, continuing May 28 – 31 during lunch (12:30 – 1:05 pm) in various classrooms at MBMS. The first day, May 22nd, runs a bit longer (12:30-1:20 pm) because two rounds of the competition occur that day. The Finals are scheduled for 1:15 pm on Friday, May 31 in the MBMS MPR.
On our assigned volunteer days, we will sign in at the Volunteer Check-in Table at the front entrance to MBMS no later than 12:00 noon. A brief volunteer meeting will be held each day after sign in. The competition begins at 12:30 p.m. sharp!
Scholar Quiz is a single-elimination event. Only the winning team from each preliminary match will move on. This means that at the end of every round, only half the teams advance. Due to the number of teams competing, two matches will be played in each room on the first day of competition.
THE QUESTIONS:
Questions for the competition are taken from the areas of Math, Science, Literature, Grammar, Social Studies, Geography, the Arts, Sports, and Popular Culture.
Each round of the competition is divided into two parts by a 1-2 minute half-time.
Three types of questions will be asked — Toss-Up, Bonus and Lightning Round:
1)Toss-Up Questions: Both teams have 5 seconds, after the reading of the Toss-Up question is completed, to answer. For Math questions, 10 seconds are given. With Toss-Up questions, if the first team to answer does so incorrectly, the second team is given an opportunity to answer immediately. The question is not re-read for the second team, nor is an additional 5 seconds given to answer.
2) Four-Part Bonus Questions: ONLY the team which correctly answered the preceding Toss-Up question may answer this question. Teams have 20 seconds to confer before the Team Captain must immediately provide all four answers.
3)Lightning-Round Questions: Both teams have 1–2 seconds to answer these 10 rapidly-delivered, theme-related questions. With Lightning Round questions ONLY, if the first team to answer does so incorrectly, 5 points are deducted from that team’s score AND the second team is NOT given an opportunity to answer.
ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS:
Players will signal they are ready to answer Toss-Up and Lightning Round questions by raising their flags. The first person to raise his/her flag receives the first opportunity to answer.
If a flag is raised and a team is called upon to answer BEFORE the reading of a question is complete, the question will not be finished being read and the team must answer immediately. If the answer is incorrect, the reading of the Toss-Up question will be completed for the second team.
SCORING:
· Toss-Up Questions: 5 points each.
· Bonus Questions: divided into 4 parts, each worth 5 points, for a maximum of 20 points.
· Lightning Round Questions: 5 points if answered correctly. However, 5 points are deducted for an incorrect answer.
I tutor a girl who is in the 7th grade and she has a twin sister – both in the same classes. These 2 girls have been struggling in all their classes and have not been receiving the best grades (though as a tutor I knew they could do much better).
We bought the girls planners – so that they could get organized and write all their assignments down instead of using only their IPAD. We really want to help them get their grades up before the end of the year – and I feel like it can happen! I tutor one of the twins and another tutor helps her sister.
For many students, it’s only one or two classes they are focusing on – but these girls need help in all their classes – English, Spanish, Science, Social Studies, and Math.
I am very well versed in Spanish and math – my two best subjects – and not so well in English, Social Studies, and Science – but it’s nice to tutor these subjects – not only to help my student but also to reteach myself things that I have forgotten about over the years.
So together, my student and I have made a good plan and we are on the same page – with preparing ahead – doing flashcards, section outlines, and section reviews right when she finds out she has a test.
Last week we knew she had a Science test – so we prepared very early instead of her waiting until the last minute and not studying and also not telling me she had a test.
We worked on the Cardiovascular system and studied all about the heart, veins, lungs, capillaries, arteries, and many other interesting subjects.
Long story short – she came in today and told me she got a 91% on her test and her sister got an 83%. She told me she wanted to scream with excitement when she got her test. Today, we then studied for her Social Studies test for Thursday and she really wants to get another good grade!!!
