This is an awesome email I got recently from the President of the company that helps us with our “Getting into College” services. They have developed some really cool software that helps us create the most efficient and fun tutoring process humanly possible. While their company is located in Newport Beach, and we do offer this college tutoring service in Newport Beach, we are also starting to work with many students in Palos Verdes, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach as well. Please email sp@studyhut.com with any questions.
We have a woman that asked if we had a reference for the licensing program and I thought about you. Granted, you are the first tutoring company that we have brought on as we are ramping up our training now before we start selling our program on a wide scale level. If you would be willing to discuss your thoughts on the value of the licensing program, even though you haven’t been on it for all that long, that would be really helpful.
Diane is the name of the lady and I will share with her you contact information, if that is cool with you. She will be joining our next focus group training, which will be June 2-3, at our office here in NB. June 2 will be all about Product Knowledge – which you did- but June 3 will be Build Your Business. This is completely new portion of our training and integrates what I think was the missing piece from the initial training at Study Hut. We are really excited about the entire training program and know it will provide the utter confidence and understanding in delivering the program, along with how to really assimilate the program into a tutoring company to ensure their ultimate success. I know your students have been seeing a ton of success with our software, so I really appreciate your help.
You and Rob are invited to attend the upcoming training, or just the second day if you’d like.
We have been turnin’ and burnin’ in Newport Beach. Study Hut is fast underway, and now tutoring several local students from Newport Harbor High School, Ensign Middle School, Corona del Mar High School, and a few other private schools. The buzz is spreading, and the vibe is good.
We have been getting the Hut open early and often here in Newport. We want to have the coolest tutoring facility in Orange County, and the only way to guarantee that is to put the extra time in early and often. Each morning, Rob and SP get to the shop at 6:30, get the coffee brewing, and work on painting, fielding phone calls, preparing lesson plans, and talking to other local business owners.
Study Hut Tutoring recently joined the Newport Chamber of Commerce, and Rob went to his first Chamber event on Thursday. The mixer took place at Tommy Bahama’s Grille on Avocado St. near the Bristol, and was meant to be a membership reception for new and potentially new members.
All in all, it is just really fun and exciting to be a part of this new business. I remember our first few clients in Manhattan Beach, and many of those young men and women are now finishing up college. Unbelievable!
As a new test-prep tutor for Study Hut, I have learned loads of information about the SAT, ISEE, and HSPT. I was surprised to find that, despite the differences in the exams, the overall study technique was very similar and ultimately comes down to one word – strategy.
This reminded me of my fourth grade teacher, Ms. Green. She told my class that she was SO good at taking tests that she could take a multiple choice test on any subject and still get most of the answers correct. At the time, I thought she was crazy – or maybe just really smart. What I have come to learn while working at Study Hut is that any test, whether for school or the SAT, has two different parts to it: the information it covers and the specific way that you put that information on the test. Failing to recognize this often makes the difference between an A and a B, or several hundred points on the SAT.
During my first test-prep tutoring session, my student seemed very stressed out about the ISEE test he was only a month away from taking. We were reviewing vocabulary words, many of which he had never even seen before. Becoming very concerned, he asked me: “How can I EVER remember all of this information?” I told him not to worry and that, by the end of our session, he would be able to figure out the meaning of at least half of the words he had never even seen before. Now, he thought I was crazy. He only had three weeks until the test and his parents had chosen Study Hut to provide that extra special test-prep service that only Study Hut can provide. Now, it was my job to show him the first important strategy to use when studying vocabulary words. While that’s not a secret I can reveal now, let’s just say that by the end of our two-hour one-on-one session, he not only knew most of the word meanings, but also answered 14/15 correctly on a practice quiz directly afterward.
Today in AVID 10 at Palos Verdes High School, Rob and SP introduced our first lesson for the Critical Reading section of the SAT. Training for the SAT can be very difficult, and for many students, the vocabulary component of the Critical Reading section can be extremely daunting.
In an effort to keep things simple, but at the same time teach students a new and complex concept, Rob decided to start the SAT tutoring with the “plus-minus-neutral” approach, a strategy that can help students eliminate incorrect answer choices by assigning a value or feeling of worth to the blank space, as well as each of the answer choices.
Students then practiced eliminating wrong answer choices and making educated guesses about which vocabulary words would and would not work in each sentence. The process was rigorous and slightly painful, but I think we all walked away from the experience with a new tool in our quiver of SAT strategies.
Here is an example of a question students will see on the Critical Reading section of the SAT. You will probably understand why training is the only way to attack a test that contains hundreds of problems like this:
1. Today Wegener’s theory is ____ ; however, he died an outsider treated with ____ by the scientific establishment.
A. unsupported – approval
B. dismissed – contempt
C. accepted – approbation
D. unchallenged – disdain
E. unrivaled – reverence
Please let Study Hut know if you need any tutoring or training for the SAT, specifically the Critical Reading section. We have excellent SAT tutors who earned great scores, went to top universities, and follow our streamlined approach to no-nonsense SAT training.
AVID 10,
Bagels tomorrow! Yay! Thank you bagel families!
Grade POs due. EC to write a letter to last guest speakers: Michelle and Laura.
Room 306 is ours thanks to Ms. Sheridan who wanted to keep the room but realized it was perfect for our AVID class and gave it up for us. A big thank you to Ms. Sheridan who comes back from maternity leave this coming Monday!
Thanks to all who RSVPed (Yes or No). I attended the AVID 12 dinner tonight and it was a great time. I doubly look forward to ours on Wednesday!
Tomorrow we will spend half the class on our essay. Tuesday will be the same and notes are due Tuesday as well.
We had a great lesson from Studyhut’s SP and Rob Stone on Wednesday where we learned that for difficult problems with “easy” answers, it’s a great opportunity to “work backwards” and plug in the answer choices into the problem to find your answer (starting with the middle number). Thanks Rob and SP! HW for practice on this lesson is out of the book and is due our next Wednesday A day in 2 weeks.
Getting into colleges and universities is becoming more and more difficult nowadays. The mean accepted GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and the number of extra-curriculars expected are becoming more difficult every year. Although all these elements are critical in one’s application, another important but often forgotten aspect is the personal statement. Not only can the Study Hut help you with your GPA and standardized test scores, but we’re also prepared to help you write the best possible personal statement you can. We tutors have been in your shoes before, we’ve all gone to college, and some are also in the process of applying to graduate schools. Needless to say, we’ve all written personal statements in one form or another, and know what colleges and universities are looking for in their candidates.
However, coming to the Study Hut for help on your personal statement does not mean we are going to write it for you. Rather, we are going to guide you as to the rules and tactics of writing a good personal statement, and give you the tools to make the perfect personal statement for yourself. A good personal statement has multiple aspects to it. It is both professionally written, but also genuine and personable. You are telling the admissions committee what makes you YOU, and why they should want YOU to study at and represent their institution in the future. All this may seem like a tall order for a one or two page statement about yourself, but with the right guidance, it’s very possible to do. So feel free to stop by the Hut at any step in your process, from planning your essay, to a final review before you submit it.
Wednesday is a tutorial day in AVID. Also, your SAT homework is due. Please have that ready to be turned in to the bin. Hand it in after you go over it with our SAT tutors. The SAT plan is as follows:
1) go over “Plug in the numbers” assignment from two times ago,
2) review any questions on the internet/computer problem assignment (although those were meant to be on the easier side….not to make you feel bad if you got them wrong….).
3) a new lesson will be taught with a new assignment. New assignment will be due on Wedneday November 30.
Tutorial to follow SAT prep.
Friday we will:
1) meeting with tutors (please have your planner for the meeting)
2) finish the 60 Minutes
3) read some Lone Survivor
4) catch up on some recently ignored vocabulary
5) take a long since promised excursion to the market in the last 40 minutes of class
Guest speaker was rescheduled for that date.
Tuesday before Thanksgiving:
Notes due. Guest speaker. Read some Lone Survivor
Monday after Thanksgiving:
Nothing due. Tutorial was cancelled.
Important dates:
Jan. 11, 12 and 17: after school tutorials from 3:00-4:00 with PVHS teachers
Jan. 14 (Saturday): Study sessions from 9:30 to 11:30 and 12:30-2:230. Attend one or both. Taco Man coming from 11:30 to 12:30. Everyone to be fed. This is a reward for an amazing job on the car wash!
When a student comes to me for SAT tutoring, one of the first things I ask is how familiar he or she is with the test already from school (the idea being to build on whatever foundation teachers have already laid). Most of the students I ask glance up to the side and wrinkle their foreheads, combing through the past couple of years of high school, but come up with nothing. At most, they have taken the PSAT as sophomores. But for the majority, “SAT” is an ominous but vague trio of letters representing something on which a great deal of their futures will depend — what it is, they can’t say, but something.
I see these possible alternatives: either schools aren’t adequately introducing students to college entrance exams, or they’re just not introducing them at all. Whatever the case, this is an error. The arguments in favor of students attending college are by now well known and need not be reiterated, but it does seem a good time to repeat that preparing students for college is incumbent on high schools. Now, I do not believe in a model of “teaching to the test” — that kind of teleology narrows, shortens, and twists students’ vision of education and understanding of what it’s really for. I do, however, believe in a pragmatic approach to school; we must recognize that until the SAT (or ACT) can be replaced with something better, it will stand as a necessary hurdle in the college application process for most students. We (students, schools, and SAT tutors) have to face it.
How and when to do it, though? From my experience as an SAT tutor, I can say that the test is a puzzle unlike most others that high school students have to contend with, calling for certain strategies that don’t lend themselves to other tests or studies. Private lessons are still the best thing for many students (although the price of SAT tutoring through some companies has become prohibitively expensive). But is it wise to wait until students are juniors before suddenly thrusting the test upon them? Is the test so difficult that they can’t handle it before then? Is it really so foreign, so unlike anything else in high school, that it should be kept out of classroom discussion? Well, let me tell you a story.
Recently, I had an unusually productive tutoring appointment — one of those which seem to get progressively better as they go on. I and my student were in the zone. This student — let’s call him James — had brought his algebra homework and laid it on the desk alongside his SAT math assignment: he hadn’t been able to tackle either of them and was eager for help. Looking them over, I realized I could teach him the information and strategies he needed to know for both assignments simultaneously, thereby accomplishing two lessons for the price of one (if you will). I explained them to him, and we worked through some practice problems together. When our appointment time was done, he gave me a broad smile of surprise and satisfaction. “Wow,” he said, “we did a lot today!” I agree and disagree with that. Yes, we accomplished a great deal insofar as he was confidently acing every problem by the end of the session. But our actual workload had been fairly average. I think the accomplishment felt bigger to him because he had seen his knowledge adapt itself so smoothly from one area of study to another. In my experience, nothing inspires students to develop self-assurance and enthusiasm more than the realization that knowledge is connected and versatile. James was encouraged because the skills he needed to take on the SAT (or at least that part of it) didn’t seem completely foreign and unrelated to all the schoolwork he has invested so much effort to master.
So what is the point of this? I urge (not so humbly) that teachers and tutors begin incorporating SAT prep into their lessons from the time students first enter high school. To begin with, students need to be acquainted with the purpose, scope, and format of the test from early on. This supplement to the curriculum, however, need not be heavy-duty: a ten-minute multiple-choice exercise a few times a month would probably suffice. I don’t mean for teachers to assume all, or even most, of the responsibility for students’ test prep. The point is merely to show students early in the game how they will eventually need to apply their knowledge and skills beyond the parameters of regular homework and tests. Incidentally, teachers may find that students are galvanized by SAT prep to do better in their school subjects, since the test offers tangible evidence for any student that he or she will be using knowledge from high school to reach the next stage of life.
When a students claims Junior status in HS, we realize it’s not only a moment for discrete gloating but also a time for stress and scrambling for steady ground. Juniors have the most coursework. Unfortunately, this is just how things work. Juniors have to mark down the upcoming SAT dates, ACT weekends, and AP exam weeks. On top of that, they have to start looking at colleges and majors. College Board is responsible for all the SAT & ACT exams. Juniors have to get off their FB accounts for a couple min, stop Twittering, and get onto the College Board website, make an account, and register for tests. Once you register, the stress starts. We will do all we can to ensure students meet their deadlines and are ready for the exam. We provide SAT, PSAT, ACT, and ISEE diagnostic tests. We assist not only in the academic coursework but also in how to juggle the immense workload of stuydying for the SAT, AP, and midterms in U.S. Government. ACT is optional, but if students find themselves splattering over the SAT, they have to take the ACT. So, how do students know if they need to take one or the other if the SAT and ACT registration dates are so close? SAT diagnostics. Juniors, whether they are confident in their ability or if they are not even planning to study, have to test the waters and check where they stand. Once they know where they stand, everything starts growing clearer — set a schedule, take another SAT diagnostic every other week, and stay for extra time at Study Hut to ensure you will know what you are doing when the awful date comes. We have cereal so feel free to stay — but no overnights…obviously. With SATs done, Juniors should be ready for AP exams. What the — ? While studying for the SAT, Juniors have to stay on top of their AP courses in order to prepare for the AP exams. Unfortunately, this is how it is. On top of all of that work, Juniors have to start thinking about Senior status. Start volunteering in community events to rack up the minutes, join a writing competition, work your stress away in track and field, juggle your academic coursework with extracurricular activities — it will all come back not only when college apps are due but also when you gloat about it in interviews and over Christmas when you are starting on the 30s. While this may be an overwhelming academic year for Juniors, Study Hut is there to set a schedule, give diagnostics, comment, give quizzes on the functions of the mitochondria and the political reasonings of the English Civil War. We will assist in the year of cramming and if students start hallucinating from the stress — we are there with crunchy granola with dark chocolate — and then it is back to grinding out information, constantly editing the weekly schedule to fit their needs, and prioritizing work to make things just a bit less stressful.
