Holiday break will soon be upon us. As most great rewards tend to go, such a relaxing time can also come with substantial risk: without proper attention, you may find yourself returning to classes behind, and this is only more of a concern if your school holds first-semester finals immediately after break. Here are four tips to ensure you stay on top of your classes during the holidays.
Compile a list of all your missing assignments and complete them, regardless of whether you can still get credit for them. Most of the time, the assignments you’ve skipped wind up being the subjects on which you require the most review, and even if there are no points to be reclaimed (often, especially if you communicate with your teacher beforehand, there will be), making them up will help you anyway.
Take note of all your lowest exam scores and re-study for those tests. Similar to the first tip, even if you won’t be able to retake any of them, reviewing for the exams on which you struggled most is a way of covering the material you are most likely to struggle with on the final.
Make Cornell notes from your textbook. They’re a way to absorb the material more deeply, and to think about the “Why” and “How” questions—i.e., to critically think—while reviewing the factual material as well. If you don’t know how to take Cornell notes, or if it’s been a while, you can review with this guide.
Reread the chapters you found the hardest to understand. Students are frequently surprised at how easily the topic comes together the second time they go through it, especially if it’s been a while since they covered it.
Hopefully you see the common theme here: if you want to be fresh and in as strong a place as possible heading into finals, you should first turn to your weak spots. Break is a great time to iron them out. Feel free to call our office anytime – we’ll be open all break helping kids get ready for their semester finals!
The modern-day college application and essay tutoring process can be rather overwhelming. With transcripts, letters of recommendation, resumes, SAT and/or ACT scores, supplemental writing questions, essays, etc., it can be a lot to handle. But do not fear, Study Hut is here to help you execute properly and efficiently.
Our college applications & essays tutors will guide you through the entire process. First, they will assist you with conducting an in-depth college search based on your major choice and interests. Then, they will help you to create a varied list of schools and stay organized to ensure all submission deadlines are met. Our tutors will also aid in building a resume as well as requesting transcripts and letters of recommendation.
Most importantly, our tutors have a special set of skills and will help you masterfully write all the essays required in order to paint you in the best light for prospective universities. An original essay is all you need to set yourself apart from other applicants. Taking the time to create a well written essay before you’re bogged down with work in the Fall will not only increase your odds of getting into your dream schools, but will also make you more confident during the application process. Our tutors know how to help you bring out your inner writing genius and will help you write an essay that makes you shine.
Finally, once all of your applications have been submitted, we will help you apply for scholarships that are tailored to your skills and interests. There’s nothing better than finding schools that will pay you to attend their campus in the fall!
Study Hut offers three College Application Tutoring packages:
Skimboard: three universities;
Shortboard: six universities;
Longboard: ten universities;
Eliminate your worries by starting early! Dedicating a small amount of time to your college applications during your summer vacation will save you endless amounts of stress during fall semester, so you can just focus on your classes and enjoying your senior year!
Here is a comprehensive list of programs to help your student stay ahead this fall.
– SAT and ACT classes both one-on-one and group courses. Our group course for SAT’s and ACT’s start after the July 4th weekend.
– Spanish 1/2 and Spanish 3/4 Workshops
– Elementary to Middle School and Middle School to High School Transition Sessions
– Algebra 1, Geometry, and Alg 2 Prep Classes which will start at the end of July. Joey will be teaching some of the courses in the Manhattan Beach Location.
– General Summer School Help
We are open Monday-Friday and you can contact our managers to book appointments for summer. Manhattan Beach Location: Kristen@studyhut.com – (310)546-2408, Redondo Beach Location: Justin@studyhut.com – (310)540-5888, and our El Segundo Location: Alex@studyhut.com (310)648-8526
It’s Science Fair season once again! We are excited to return as judges to Parras Middle School in Redondo Beach on Wednesday May 14th. The students have been hard at work hypothesizing and experimenting and we cannot wait to see what they have come up with this year! As we saw last year, there is no limit to a child’s imagination. The most talked about and memorable experiment amongst our tutors was titled “Fat Cats: Is your cat overweight?” in which a student “interviewed” several cats of various weights and tested their mental abilities. He theorized a high correlation between heavier weights and lower mental ability. In conclusion, he found significant evidence that proved his hypothesis to be true.
To prepare for this year’s science fair, we are currently working closely with the Parras science teachers to create a unique grading rubric for each student’s project and presentation that will correspond with the project guidelines that have been provided to the students. Last year, each student took his or her turn presenting their project to a pair of judges. After they completed their presentations, the judges asked them a series of questions about their experiments and findings.
It was a great experience last to year to see some of our regular students in action at their school, presenting projects some of us tutors even helped them create! We are looking forward to this year’s science fair and hoping we can help make it a fun and memorable experience for the teachers, students, and their families. It is our greatest pleasure to give back to a community that continues to give us its infinite support.
For many years, our tutors have been helping seniors at Palos Verdes High School complete their senior projects called the Capstone. This project consists of a research paper on a topic the student is interested in or affected by and a corresponding research project or experiment. Study Hut owners Rob and Sean Patrick, together with Redondo Beach manager, Justin, are all industry partners and judge the Capstone projects at the end of the year to decide which students will receive prizes and scholarships. In the past, the entire project has been completed during the course of the student’s senior year, but during the 2013-2014 school year, the school made some changes. Now students are required to finish their entire paper in the last quarter of their junior year, leaving the entire senior year to dedicate to their physical project and research. As the school is aware that this can be a very stressful time for students due to Advanced Placement exams in May, AP students are not required to begin working on their Capstone papers until after they have completed all their AP exams.
Early in the school year, I worked with a senior named Cara whose project analyzed the effectiveness of three different teaching styles. She works as a swim teacher at the South Bay Aquatic Center, which was the perfect place for her to experiment with different teaching styles in her swim classes. I recently worked with a junior named Halle who studied the societal influence on the evolution of music. While expanding on previously learned academic skills and preparing students for college level papers and projects, the Capstone also provides students an opportunity to pursue further education about a topic of personal interest.
Last weekend the tutors at Study Hut Redondo found some time to get out and explore Downtown Los Angeles. On Saturday, our group of tutoring veterans piled in to the infamous ‘Study Hut Van’ and headed to Union Station to begin our Urban Scavenger Hunt. After parking, we split in to two teams (girls vs. boys) and loaded the clues and rules, provided by Urban Adventure Quest, on our smart phones and then the race began.
The first clue had us scrambling up and down Olvera Street- A popular fieldtrip destination for high school Spanish Students- in search of a sundial and a statue of King Carlos III of Spain. To solve the next riddle we had to run back to Union Station and play a game of ‘Spot the Difference’ in Richard Wyatt’s City of Dreams mural. At this point the girls’ team took a lead, but some lucky timing catching the train to the next spot closed the gap.
We relaxed on the train, but as soon the doors opened it was an all-out sprint to find the Bradbury Building, the oldest commercial building in the downtown area. From the outside, the Bradbury Building is rather modest and undistinguishable; however the interior reveals a spectacular Victorian Court with a glass ceiling and marble floors. After taking in the view, we used the art and statues to solve the next riddle. Our next clue took us through Grand Central Market and up the Angels Flight, the world’s shortest passenger railway. After climbing to the top of the hill our path took us through some of the many scenic courtyards in the downtown area, complete with reflecting pools and fountains, to the MOCA and Walt Disney Concert Hall.
At this point the two teams were still neck and neck, so we raced off to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. We solved a few riddles about animal statues found on the cathedral grounds and sprinted to the finish line at City Hall. Thanks to some swift sprinting and correct answer choices, the boys’ team was able to pull out the win. After, we went to Philippe’s to celebrate with some original French Dip Sandwiches. It was an awesome escape from our daily routine to explore an area that I never thought could be so beautiful and entertaining.
This week we are featuring three photos from our different offices in our photo blog. Here are some fun updates for this week!
We hope the students that have off are enjoying their Ski-Week. Let us know what you have been doing over the Ski Week and we will post stories on our blog for others to read about.
If you would like to schedule appointment, you can call the Manhattan Beach Location at (310)546-2408, Redondo Beach Location at (310)540-5888 or the El Segundo location at (310) 648-8526.
We have bananas growing at our El Segundo office!!
In our Manhattan office – Ben received an A on his Calculus test! Kuddos to his tutor Josh for helping him out!
Student of the day was Grace!
If there is something interesting that you read about on our blog, you can let us know on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/studyhut
We love getting your feedback on our Facebook page!
Tomorrow our new group courses in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach start again!!! Our group courses take place on the nights of Tues/Thurs from 7-9pm.
The cap for the SAT classes are 10 students and P.J. and Martin are the teachers for the SAT course.
The January group course help the students prepare for the March SAT exam.
P.J. will be the teacher for this SAT Group Course which will help students prepare for the May SAT test. We are only offering one group course on Tues/Thurs!!
We will have one week off for Spring Break so please keep that in mind. If you would like to sign up for our group course in Manhattan Beach please contact our MB office manager Kristen … kristen@studyhut.com or call the Manhattan Beach Study Hut: (310)546-2408. For the Redondo Beach Study Hut please call Justin at (310)540-5888.
We have many tips that we share with our students on how to succeed on the SAT – and today our 1st tip comes from Andrew, one of our SAT tutors.
1st Tip: “Lookout for extreme answer choices in the Critical Reading section! If the answer choice contains strong words like ‘never, always, must, impossible, cannot, only, all, none, etc,’ then it is likely incorrect.”
Lastly, if you don’t want to be in the SAT Group Course, we also offer 3 different SAT Packages: 40 hour, 32 hour, and 24 hour (prices range depending on package you pick). We also do private one-on-one SAT tutoring. We have wonderful SAT tutors including but not limited too: Rhiannon, Jeff, Josh, Andrew, Victor, Brian and many others! One-on-one private tutoring costs $100 plus a $65 materials fee.
It’s that time of the year again… that cliche statement.. “the most wonderful time of the year”… Ok, not really… but it is FINALS SEASON.
This month will be one of the busiest weeks for our offices!! PV takes finals this week, followed by Torrance and Manhattan Beach and then Redondo Beach!
We are in communication with RUEF about doing preparation for finals week so e-mail the principal with your support!
This weekend we will be going to both West (Friday 3 to 6pm) and West (Saturday 9am to 12noon) for free Finals Tutoring.
We hope our 7th grade students are having fun at science camp this week.
We were at Peninsula High and at Palos Verdes High for about 5 hours! This past weekend the Study Hut went to both Peninsula High and Palos Verdes High to work with their AVID programs. We had about 10 tutors that volunteered to help out and tutor in all different subjects.
The Study Hut will be open on Monday January 20st – Martin Luther King Jr Day – since schools have off that day.
Please contact the correct branch to schedule appointments with us. Redondo Beach (310)540-5888, Manhattan Beach (310)546-2408, El Segundo, and Newport Beach.
All our students have worked very hard this semester and we are anxious to know how everyone does on finals!
Once finals are over the students in Manhattan can start to prepare for Ski Week the 2nd week of February!
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry”
We all know the famous song about Summertime! For many of our tutors, summertime is a relaxing few months and gives many of our tutors time to travel and plan fun trips to new places. Many of our girl tutors planned a fun camping weekend in Big Bear and had a great time out in the wilderness.
Our office managers and assistant managers including Co-Owners Rob and SP, MB Office Manager Sam, MB Assistant Manager Kristen, El Segundo Office Manager Adam, RB Office Manager Justin and RB Assistant Manager Tara took a rode trip to the Green River in Utah and canoed for 3 days and over 80 miles down the river. They came back with sunburns and many of them in pain – but also with unforgettable stories and great bonding moments.
One of our tutors went to Europe for a month and a half to backpack through the European Union from the beginning of June until the middle of July.
Other trips included places like Hawaii, San Francisco, music festivals, Mexico, Nashville, and many more.
We are gearing up for Fall and keeping a list of students who want certain days and times during the fall semester – so let us know if you want to be added to our list.
As August slowly approaches, we are getting ready to say goodbye to some of our amazing co-workers here at the Study Hut.
Our MB Office Manager Sam – who has worked at the Study Hut since the beginning – is leaving for Grad School in Nashville soon .
Our El Segundo Office Manager Adam is leaving soon for Texas and our RB Assistant Manager Tara is leaving for Grad School in Northern California soon as well.
We are sad to see them leave, but they are a huge part of our Study Hut family.
