February 13th, 2015
By the time you get to high school you have already heard all about the SAT and the ACT. But what about the SAT II Subject Tests? Many colleges require them, but people do not seem to talk about them as much as the other two tests. So, what exactly are the SAT IIs?
The SAT IIs are hour-long tests that focus on specific topics. Most tests are multiple-choice. For the language tests, there is a listening portion. The cool thing about the SAT II is that you can choose which subjects you take. That means that you can pick the subjects you know best and feel most comfortable in. Even if the college you are applying to does not require SAT IIs, they can still be helpful. Getting a great score on an SAT II can set you apart from other applicants applying to the same program. Doing well on certain SAT IIs can also count for placement in higher-level classes than you would be placed in without an SAT II.
You can take up to three SAT IIs in one day, but you may take just one as well. The subjects on the SAT II are covered in a deeper context than on the regular SAT. You will need to fully grasp concepts instead of just having broad overarching knowledge of the topic. Unlike the regular SAT, you should not wait until your junior or senior years to take the SAT II. You should take it after the class you have taken that corresponds with the topic you are picking for the SAT II. That way the majority of the information will be fresh in your head and you have a greater chance for success!
Tags: one-on-one tutoring, sat ii, sat ii tutoring, south bay, Tutoring
Posted in high school, SAT |
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February 11th, 2015
The Capstone Project is a research paper and project that students attending Palos Verdes High School work on throughout their junior and senior years. The Capstone Project requires students to think critically about a topic of their choice. It manifests with the students giving a presentation on their research and work to a group of teachers and parents. The Capstone Project helps students narrow down options for a major and find out if they would be passionate working on their topic long term.
Laura helped her student Olivia with her Capstone Project during her junior and senior years. Olivia was having trouble deciding which topic to pursue for her project. After weighing her different options, Laura helped her decide on examining how documentaries affect public perception of issues. They decided to use the film Blackfish and how it changed the public’s view on captive whales as the basis of Olivia’s paper. She researched the differences between the lives of orca whales in captivity versus in the wild. She worked in the field scuba diving for research and polling people on how Blackfish changed the way they looked at captive whales.
Once she had all of her research completed and data collected for her project, it was time to put it all into an essay. Laura helped Olivia organize all of her data into paragraphs. There was a lot of research, so it took time to narrow down all the facts so that Olivia could prove her initial thesis while still being concise. Olivia was chosen to be part of Capstone Elite where she competed against other selected students as some of the best Capstone projects of the class.
Tags: Capstone, Capstone Project, one-on-one tutoring, Palos Verdes High School, PVHS
Posted in high school, Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes High School |
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February 10th, 2015
The start of a new semester is a great time to change any bad habits that were keeping you from earning the best grades you could last semester. Zoning out in class, not turning in homework, and not getting help until it was too late are all bad habits students fall in that keep them from getting amazing grades. Here are some helpful habits to start this semester that will keep you on top of your grades.
If you are in a class that is constantly giving you trouble, set up a regular weekly tutoring appointment. A tutor can make sure that you fully understand the concepts taught in class. This way, you will understand your homework and will never feel left behind when you are confused by new material. Many students avoid doing the work for a class when they do not get it, which only exacerbates the problem. The added structure of learning outside of class will help you keep up with the work.
Make sure you take amazing notes this semester! Some students do well with Cornell style notes while other students remember information better with an outline style. Figure out which format works best for you. Make sure that all of your notes are legible. There is no point taking notes only to go back and not be able to read them! While going back through your notes, write additional notes or highlight key terms and important concepts. Going over the material only while taking the notes is not enough for most students, so rereading them and marking them up will leave the concepts fresh in your mind.
Don’t forget to stay organized this semester! You cannot do well in any class if you lose the notes and cannot find the assignments you need to be turning in.
Tags: one-on-one tutoring, one-on-one tutoring south bay, study skills
Posted in high school, organization, study skills |
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February 3rd, 2015
We had a huge day at the Newport Beach Study Hut today, and our top students are all quite eager to hit the ground running with a fresh start second semester.
Mortimer, a diligent and eager-to-learn student, worked on his reading comprehension skills with Rob. They worked on pre-writing essays and the different components that make up an essay. He understands topic sentences, conclusions, and can already write an entire introductory paragraph. This student is already impressively working on various writing prompts for the SAT at the young age of 10!
Another sophomore from Corona Del Mar High School, Mukil, fresh out of a successful finals week, worked on common core math today with the guidance of his tutor. He picked up the brand new concepts taught in class with ease. The new concepts were then drilled by practice problems to reinforce and check understanding. Not only did he get to master previous lessons, but we also helped him prepare and get ahead for his next class. He also worked on Spanish and went over some vocabulary and phrases for his Spanish quiz on Friday.
Lastly, a senior from Mater Dei came in for precalculus tutoring. Although she’s received multiple early college acceptances, she’s not letting senioritis get to her. When she first came in, the packet that her teacher gave as homework made no sense to her. There were lots of blanks and question marks scattered all throughout the packet. However, after just an hour of working through the packet with her math tutor, she ended up fully grasping the points that she didn’t understand an hour ago. Not only did she finally understand it all, but she then demonstrated her understanding by completing difficult practice problems to further enhance and reinforce her learning.
Tags: high school, Newport Beach, one-on-one tutoring, orange county
Posted in high school, Newport Beach |
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January 27th, 2015
A lot of younger students may not need as much regular help with homework and assignments as high school students, but enrichment can be just as important. Enrichment helps students solidify the concepts that they learned in class. It also helps them get ahead of their classmates so they are more prepared for the next step.
Tutors will always go over any of the current homework the student has by going through problems that they have not solved with them and checking the student’s work on problems they have already finished. Reviewing the material makes sure that the student has a full grasp on the concepts that they are expected to know in class. Next, they try more difficult problems that take their concepts to the next level. Doing more challenging practice problems boosts student’s confidence and makes the problems they have been doing in class seem like a piece of cake.
Many students also work ahead with their tutors. This is especially helpful for student’s whose learning styles do not mesh with the teaching style of their teacher at school. They will go through the lesson and do example problems as well as a few practice problems. Learning the content before the material is presented in class gives students the confidence they need to participate in class discussions without being afraid of getting a wrong answer. It also makes sure that the student has someone one-on-one guiding them to make sure that they completely understand the key concepts they need to succeed.
Tags: california common core, elementary enrichment, one-on-one tutoring, South Bay tutoring
Posted in Comprehension, focusing, General, Learning, local tutoring, Self esteem |
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January 26th, 2015
Joey started coming in to Study Hut because he was really struggling in his Spanish 3 class. All semester he had not been getting the grades that he wanted on tests and large assignments. He worked hard in class and did all of his homework, but he still did not seem to really understand the material. As much as he practiced it just did not stick.
Joey worked on Spanish 3 with his tutor Ana. The concepts became easier and he began to fully grasp the material thanks to the practice he was getting outside of the classroom. They worked on pronunciations, how to write using multiple different tenses, and how to make sure his grammar was perfect. Joey was really worried about his final because so much of the semester had not made sense. He put a lot of effort and work into studying and preparing for it. The final was an oral recitation with a lot of difficult future tense and new vocabulary. He and Ana spent a lot of time making sure that he was pronouncing all of his verbs correctly and that all of his irregulars were conjugated the right way. They also paid close attention to making sure that Joey remembered to follow the accents when he was giving the words emphasis.
Joey ended up getting a 95% on his final. He was incredibly proud of himself, and Ana was proud of him, too!
Tags: foreign language, one-on-one tutoring, Spanish
Posted in high school, Self esteem, South Bay, Spanish |
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January 25th, 2015
Grace started coming to Study Hut because she was struggling in her math class. The way her teacher taught the was confusing, and she did not help the class try and keep up. There was very little time to learn all the new concepts that were being taught before the test. The homework did not help either because the instructions were vague and there were very few problems covering each topic that had been covered in class.
Grace began coming to Study Hut twice a week to work on math close to the end of the semester. She worked with her tutors Jason and Charlsey on the homework that had been assigned that night as well as the classwork she did not understand. Her tutors made sure to go through each California Common Core Standard with her. On the math learning targets that she did not do well on, the tutors made sure to review and teach her the topic. Then they did numerous practice problems together, until Grace felt comfortable doing the work on her own on higher level of difficulty problems.
She was worried because she thought that she would not have enough time to bring her grade up before the end of the semester. She made sure to bring in her study guide each week that she had a big test. With all of her hard work, Grace was able to raise her low D all the way to a B before the end of her semester!
Tags: Common core, Math tutoring, one-on-one tutoring, South Bay tutoring
Posted in local tutoring, middle school |
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January 20th, 2015
Many times, students do not consider doing preparation and tutoring for standardized tests.However, prep is important in improving a student’s overall score.
Our student Grace is a shining example. Before she started her ACT test prep with her tutor, Jason, Grace scored a 28 overall on the ACT. She received a 25 in English, 28 in Math, 34 in Reading, and 25 in Science. Jason and Grace worked through all of the Study Hut ACT materials. These include a menagerie of strategies to help you improve your score on the ACT. From ways to avoid falling into trap answers, to key words to be on the look out for in questions, as well as time management tricks, everything is covered in our one-on-one ACT tutoring. Jason gave Grace practice sections in all the areas where her score could be improved. Afterward, they would go through her answers together and go over what she missed, and how she could improve on her next run through. They did more practice sections in the areas that she was weaker in. Alongside practice ACTs, Grace also took custom quizzes with the concepts that she was consistently weakest in. Being familiar with the content also boosted Grace’s confidence in taking the test, which is a huge factor for any student’s success. After finishing all of her prep, Grace took the ACT again. She raised her English score 9 points to a 34, her Math score 3 points to a 31, her Reading 2 points to a PERFECT 36 and her Science by 1 to a 26, bringing her overall score up 4 points to a 32!
Tags: ACT, ACT prep, ACT tutoring, one-on-one tutoring
Posted in ACT, high school, SAT vs ACT, Senior Year |
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January 17th, 2015
Keeping up with homeschool can be difficult. There is no regularly scheduled class that you have to attend every day, your teacher is just a strange, faceless online entity, and the classes are rarely as interactive as ones in a traditional school environment. All these factors, combined with the fact that most students find it very difficult to teach themself new material, make it very easy to fall behind. At first, it can seem like a harmless thing to do. “Oh, I’ll just make up that day tomorrow.” But soon one day behind becomes two, then three, and suddenly you are fifteen class days behind and the end of the semester is just two weeks away. It is important to remain diligent in keeping up with your homeschool classes. There are a few things that you can do to make sure that this happens.
Try to have the work completed by the day that is assigned, or the date it is scheduled to be done. If you know that you will not have any time to log in to your online class on a certain day or week, get it done beforehand and be ahead instead of waiting until after and struggling to play catch up. Schedule a regularly recurring appointment with a tutor twice a week if you cannot motivate yourself to keep up in classes, or if the material is challenging to teach to yourself. Our one-on-one tutors will make sure to keep you on track, and make all the material easy to understand.
Tags: homeschool, homeschooling, one-on-one tutoring, south bay, Tutoring
Posted in Home Learning, Home Schooling, South Bay, Tutor Tips, Tutors |
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December 29th, 2014
With finals quickly approaching, it is time to start relearning or brushing up on any concepts that you may have missed and just skimmed over during the semester. A lot of students just never learn a concept if they do not get it because they have the mindset of “it will just be on this test and then I will never see it again”. This is a dangerous pattern of thinking because in most classes, the concepts build on top of one another and show up again on later tests and on the final. There is still plenty of time to relearn something that you missed earlier in the school year before finals.
If you did not understand the concept because of the way the teacher taught it, seek out a different way to learn it. Come in to Study Hut for one-on-one tutoring. If you are cramming the night before and do not have time for a tutoring appointment, try researching the concept. There are plenty of free online resources that are solely for teaching, such as Khan Academy. Remember, these are not as good as someone who knows the material walking you through it, but they definitely come in handy in a pinch.
While trying to learn a concept, it is important to practice practice practice. Do practice problems. Try different types of problems. Fill out worksheets. Anything you can do to engage with the content and solidify the concept in your head will benefit you in the long run.
Once you think you have mastered it, try teaching it to someone else. Explaining a difficult concept to someone will help you learn it better.
Tags: finals, one-on-one tutoring, south bay, Tutoring
Posted in Finals Tutoring, high school, study skills |
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