It’s that time of year again. Break out the pumpkin-spiced refreshments and crack open those textbooks; it’s midterm season!!! Do you feel like that last sentence would’ve been better punctuated with a sad face emoji? Here are a few tips from the Study Hut on how to rock your midterms!
Don’t wait until the last second to prepare.
Yeah, yeah, I know, you’ve heard this one since you had to study for your colors of the rainbow test in kindergarten. But avoiding procrastination is particularly important when it comes to midterms. Maybe you can skate by with one of those lunch recess cram seshes for a normal test, but midterms usually cover the entire semester’s material. You’ve gotta space out your studying. Better yet, come up with a concrete plan of attack. Use your planner to map out which material you’ll study on a given day, or a given hour.
Make flash cards.
Or Quizlet. Or both. Studies show that flashcards are one of the most effective study tools in the game. If you’re studying vocabulary, don’t just write the word and the definition; include the part of speech, and synonyms and antonyms. If you’re studying for history, make flash cards for historical figures. Even in math, make flash cards for theorems and postulates and vocabulary. If you’re doing midterms right, you should be keeping Office Depot in business.
Attack areas of weakness first
If you’re totally listo for Español, but not at all ready for Algebra, make sure you allow plenty of time to get yourself up to par in math. Sticking to material you already feel comfortable with is, well, comfortable, but the most effective study strategy is to allot the most study time to midterms for which you feel least ready.
Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Our tutors are trained in the art of midterm-prep. If you’re looking to create a personalized study plan, or you’re just plain stumped in a subject, we’re here to help! All of our sessions are one-on-one, and we still have openings!
Try not to Stress too Much
Space out your studying enough to have some time to yourself. Cramming leads to burning out which leads to high stress and low test scores. Get outside. Enjoy autumn. Eat some pumpkin-spice Twinkies, or pumpkin-spice hummus, or pumpkin-spice Pringles (all real things).
Freshman year of high school can be overwhelming. All of a sudden, your school is the size of a small city, the students you pass in the hallway have facial hair, and your classwork becomes a heck of a lot harder. Colleges understand that the freshman experience is one of acclimation more than acceleration, even for the most gifted students. Having said that, there’s a dangerous misconception that the freshman year of high school doesn’t count at all. Here at the Study Hut, we want to dispel that myth. The maiden voyage of high school does count, and if it goes something like the Titanic’s, that could be a problem.
Freshman year grades are a slim, diet-sized slice of the pie chart of factors colleges consider–but they are a factor. If a student’s freshman report card reads like the sound of a deflating tire, colleges will take notice. Some say that if a student’s freshman year grades fall between so-so and oh-no, the student will be alright if they show steady improvement throughout the remainder of high school. In a lot of cases, this is true, but improving steadily is easier said than done. If a student gets Cs and Ds, C-and-D work ethic and study habits got them there. Those poor patterns can be tough to break, especially because classes get harder the further a student progresses.
Contrary to popular belief, we at the Study Hut believe freshman year counts. Colleges consider freshman year grades. Equally important, students establish academic habits, for better or worse, which will endure throughout their academic careers. Here at the Hut, our tutors are trained to instill in students the skills they need to ace the first stop on the path to college. We teach students to track their assignments effectively, create study plans tailored to their unique schedules, and learn accountability. Our tutors have an masterful grasp of the high school curriculum and can help with any and all subjects. If you’ve got the freshman year blues, stop by or give us a call!
Transitioning into middle school or high school can be a scary prospect. Fortunately, Study Hut is here to help! The Summer can be a great time to learn or enhance those skills that will be critical to success at a new school. Students often find the expectations at their new school to be higher than what they’re used to. Study Hut will work with your student to create organization skills that will keep them on track and completing work on time. We’ll teach them how to set up an effective planner to stay on top of their work.
In this age of technology, we often find that students are resorting to taking photos on their devices instead of taking traditional notes. Study Hut will spend time with your student to help them learn to take effective electronic or paper notes, so they’ll get the most out of their lectures next year. We’ll also spend some time perfecting study skills so students can be studying for their classes in the most effective way possible and make the transition year as smooth as possible.
In addition to higher expectations, students may also face harder content than they were used to in fifth or eighth grade. Study Hut can help your student get a jump start on some of the material they’ll face when they start school. Whether it is math, science, reading, or writing for future middle schoolers, or biology, algebra, geometry, or english for future high schoolers, we can help! We’ll start out with an assessment in their subject area to locate the areas that need the most work, and we’ll work through the Summer to build a solid foundation for the subject. Your student will be able to start the first day feeling confident and familiar with the material.
Study Hut knows it can be intimidating to start a new school with new classes and new material. Fortunately, Study Hut can alleviate those fears and get your student ready for the next few years in a new environment.
Check out our Summer page for more information on packages!
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!
Ok the weather is pretty nice…blue skies for days…Ahhhh. Winter Break! A time to relax, eat, hang out with family, and celebrate. You should definitely do all of those things… (here comes a but)…(drumroll please)…
BUT
You should ALSO use your break wisely! Open that backpack and do some studying over Winter Break. It’s been a long, hard semester, and you do not want to spoil all that you have put into it by slacking right before finals. With the biggest test of the semester right around the corner, many of you already have a study guide or an idea of what your final will look like. Use that!
You can start making flashcards for vocab. That’s something you can do with Mariah Carey belting out “All I Want for Christmas…is an A!” and it’s been proven that listening to music while studying can improve your performance on the test!
You should make a detailed outline with flow charts, timelines and pretty colors. This will refresh your memory of the topics and provide a beautiful study guide you can use once finals week arrives.
Grab your old tests or practice tests, and retake them, checking your answers as you go. This will help you decide where you need to allocate the most time for studying, and where you can skim a bit because you already have a good handle on the material.
DO NOT simply run your eyes over every single chapter in the book, or every single page of notes you’ve written. This is a waste of your time. Rereading is a passive activity, plus it is much too general. With so much material to cover, you are better off zeroing in on what’s important (hint: what’s on the study guide or what was on old tests). Have fun over break, but spending the entire two weeks binge-watching Parks and Rec for the 3rd time will come back to haunt you when finals week arrives! Put in a few hours over break and I promise you’ll thank yourself later!
1. Start Early! – This is the most important one. The internet provides plenty of ways to waste your study time, but you’ll be happy you stayed away from Netflix and Reddit when the final finally comes.
2. Study in Chunks – Your brain works best in 50 minute intervals. You may feel studious after your 6 hour study marathon, but a tired brain doesn’t absorb information like a fresh one. Take 5-10 minutes breaks every hour to make sure you’re making the most of your study time.
3. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place – Studying in bed may sound like a good idea, but once you’re in bed, so will a nap. Find a place that works for you. It should be somewhere where you can focus, spread out your notes, and get in a studying groove. And if you get sick of one place, switch it up!
4. Know Your Teacher – Ask questions, take notes, review old worksheets. Figure out what your teacher thinks is important because that’s what will show up on the final.
5. Study Alone – Start with what you don’t know. Review your old tests, quizzes, and homeworks, and take notes on what you missed. Then spend some time on your own with each of these topics. Write down any questions you have because the next step is…
6. Study in Groups – Once you’ve figured out your own strengths and weaknesses in each subject, form a study group. Here you can ask questions you had on your own and answer some of your study buddies’. Explaining concepts and hearing them explained in new ways will strengthen your understanding of the material.
7. Exercise – Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, and you may need all the brain blood you can get for finals week. It’s also a great way to take a break from book to soak up some sun.
8. Sleep – It may be tempting to cram all night, but
it may not help as much as you think. Give your brain a rest! When the night before the test comes around, be confident in the studying you’ve been doing all week and get some extra sleep.
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.
I’ve been tutoring Kelsey from Redondo Union High School (http://www.redondounion.org/) for about three weeks now. After briefly talking about Kelsey’s day, we discuss how she thinks she did on her most recent quizzes or tests, what assignments she needs to work on in that moment in time, and how we can prepare for her upcoming quizzes or tests. Kelsey mainly comes into Study Hut to get tutoring for Chemistry and Algebra 2. My goal is to help Kelsey overcome her struggles in these two subjects by accommodating her with tutorials that will help her retain information efficiently, develop excellent study habits for any of her future assessments, as well as motivate her to be the best student she could be.
The first day I worked with her we completed her review packet for her upcoming Chemistry test. At the time, Kelsey was learning about specific heat capacity and how to find the missing variable, whether it was the amount of heat gained or lost, specific heat, or final or initial temperature. Kelsey came into Study Hut confused about the basics of this particular subtopic in Chemistry, so I went over the fundamentals by breaking down every significant piece of information she had to know.
The second day I worked with Kelsey, we reviewed for the Algebra 2 test she took last week. Kelsey was being tested on her knowledge of conics, including parabolas, hyberbolas, circles, and ellipses. Kelsey was confused about the difference between each of the conics, how to go about finding the different types of points for each type of graph, how to formulate an equation when given specific points on the graph, and lastly, how to graph each type of conic. I went over the details of each graph and provided her with simply strategies on how to memorize the specifics of each graph.
It’s time for students to put their phones down and disconnect. (And to be clear- this includes tablets, phablets, iPads, smartwatches, Chromebooks, netbooks, web-enabled eyeglasses, and all the rest of the gadgets.) In an era where education and study habits have been transformed by some pretty remarkable online tools and toys, there are still good reasons to disconnect.
For instance, in study after study, researchers have determined that multitasking simply doesn’t work. Multitasking is an especially terrible practice when you need to focus and study. Think about it, it is pretty difficult to think through your essay on Beowulf if you are constantly interrupted with urgent texts, snapchats, tweets, and instagrams all clamoring for your attention. A recent study [1] on college students’ study habits revealed that 10 hours or so of smartphone use reduced their empathy skills or the ability to put oneself in other peoples’ shoes. They became so self-absorbed with their multitasking and devices that they were not able to meaningfully understand and connect with their friends. It seems like multitasking with distracting technology is not only is a bad way to study, but if you are not careful it can also make you a jerk.
So what should we do, abandon our phones altogether when studying? It has been estimated that 75% of Americans are within 5 feet of their smartphones every moment of everyday [2]. There is simply no escape and the phones and their distractions are here to stay. What we need is a way to use these tools responsibly and in way that helps rather than hurts learning. A modern student must be proficient with these tools but we need to strike a balance.
Food for thought: some of the best learning happens when you have the opportunity to thoughtfully reflect on what you’ve studied…just for a minute, put the phone away and go for a walk
Here at the Study Hut we have a unique teaching method that seems to work very well. At the Study Hut we hope to empower students. Here’s what it says on our website:
“Our tutors are young, local, and experienced. We offer one-on-one subject tutoring, SAT test prep, and a variety of other services. Students love coming to Study Hut because it’s cool and they see results. There are many large, impersonal tutoring companies out there. Study Hut is proud to say that we’re not one of them.
Instead of using a “one-size-fits-all” method, we focus on each student’s unique learning style and teach to his or her strengths. Our tutors emphasize progress and growth for all students at all levels—no matter how unmotivated or defeated they may start out feeling.
Our highly trained tutors have all graduated from local high schools and universities. Study Hut tutors have experience teaching every subject you can think of, from elementary school through AP high school courses, we have done and seen it all.”
I am one of the tutors here at the Study Hut and proud to work for such a great company. I normally tutor elementary and middle school students and truly enjoying working with each of my students! Here’s a story about one of my personal tutoring sessions!
I tutor a little girl whose a 1st grader and together we work on her homework packet. Each week she has a different number of packets… each for a different subject including but not limited to – Math, Social Science, Literature, and English. She mostly struggles with math (subtraction)… and refers to the numbers as “big numbers” – which make her nervous. During tutoring we work on the homework packet and if she gets it done early we play Word Bingo since Bingo is her favorite game.
Some of the assignments in the packet include coloring different pictures and words – which the little girl certainly enjoys! We work on pronunciation of words, spelling words, definitions, and other fun assignments.
The little girl also has started to learn Spanish, so we work on Spanish vocabulary as well and basic phrases every week. I write the words down for her in English with the Spanish translation and she always highlights the English words with a highlighter. She studies them at home and does a great job!
Every student you tutor is different and they each work well in their own ways.
