How to Get Great Grades Without Really Trying (too hard)

Do you study for endless hours and still get average grades, or just pass by the skin of your teeth? Or, do you just plain hate to study and can't get motivated no matter how hard you (or your parents) try?
Let me tell you, I've been there and I know how disheartening it can be. I routinely received C's, D's, even some F's in my bachelor's program; I hardly dared to plan or even hope for a bountiful future when my grades reflected less than my actual abilities.

Now, it's so different. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA in my master's program and I just plain love to learn and love school ... now more than ever! I finally learned how to be successful in school, and the steps are really very simple.

You too can be on your way to TOP GRADES, so if that's what you're after, just follow these straightforward steps:

1. Record all assignments in your planner, as far in advance as possible. Diligently record all upcoming assignments, tests, and projects in your planner -- you should have your planner sitting on your desk along with other relevant materials for the class.
2. Secure a syllabus from the teacher for each class. If you were not given a calendar by each teacher for the entire term's assignments, ask each teacher for one, or see if calendars are posted online, so you can record and prepare for assignments well in advance. You can also track your grades, online or in your notebook, to monitor your own performance.
3. Read assigned pages in text and materials before class, ideally as soon as they are assigned. For classes in which you use a textbook, read pages as soon as they are assigned, then bring your text and handouts to each class -- very likely the teacher's lecture will closely follow these materials.
4. Bring text and materials to each class, and highlight lecture points. Read along in the text or handouts as the teacher lectures, highlighting points that are mentioned and recording notes (as needed) directly on the handouts and in the text (if allowed). The teacher will lecture on points s/he wants to emphasize. Since you will have read the assigned material beforehand, the lecture will serve as a review. Depending solely on notes taken from the teacher's lecture is unwise, since even a minor distraction or a little daydreaming may result in a loss of important information. Taking this proactive approach to studying will help you become a self-sufficient learner. Your grades then will not suffer if you are out sick or your teacher's teaching style is less than adequate.
5. Review highlighted areas and any notes every couple days. Every couple of days, look over your text/handouts, paying close attention to the highlighted sections. You should have little need to put in more than your average study time before tests, as you will already have learned what you need to know with regular review of the material. If you're lucky enough to get extra credit assignments, do them! That one or two point bonus just might be the difference between a B and an A.

Before long, you will start receiving and expecting top scores since you will have studied all you need to achieve them. And experiencing success in school is a great motivator for excelling in all areas of life.
Other tips to keep in mind ...

• Be consistent -- study at the same time each day in a distraction-free study zone; take a short break each hour to check in with family or have a snack.
• Take a day off from studying every now and then as a reward, when no deadlines loom.
• And, an important lesson I learned, personally and through tutoring ... if you truly want top grades, you need to prioritize your homework. Balance your social/sports activities with your schoolwork to keep your stress level to a minimum and stay on top of your game, in both your activities and your academics.

You will be amazed to find you can actually trim study time using this plan. Good luck ... but you won't need it, because now you've got the skills to succeed!

How to Make the Most of Your ACT Prep Sessions

You've reserved the exam date, you've made room in your schedule for ACT Test Prep tutoring and focused study, and you've arranged your first tutoring session. So that you make the most of your time with the tutor, here are a few tips for a productive experience.

Bring all the recommended materials to each session, including the Real ACT Prep manual, a permitted calculator, and a completed (timed) practice exam (from the manual), as well as a completed (timed) essay. If you have previous exam scores, either from a school practice exam or from an actual ACT exam, by all means, bring them along to document a start point and gauge your progress throughout the program.

Following each session, review recommended ACT content, take online practice sets, complete another practice exam and essay, and review exam errors carefully, which is key to improving your scores.

Your tutor is your guide in effective time management and study planning, and will help you implement study strategies, improve your pacing, and address weak areas in ACT content. The rest is entirely up to you. The tutor has no control over whether or not you follow through with the study plan, implement suggestions for improvement, or stay out late the night before the exam. In other words, your success on the exam rests in your hands.

No matter if a student has scored high or low on a previous exam, or has come to the program with a high or low GPA -- each student has the potential to significantly improve an ACT score. It really boils down to the level of dedication each student brings to, or develops for, the task.

In my 15 years as a tutor, 9 of which have been in ACT Test Prep, I have been privileged to have met so many dedicated students, and am especially in awe of students who have dug deep inside themselves to find the courage and discipline they didn't know was there to make a difference in their futures.
And make no mistake about it -- how you do on the ACT can set the tone for your life for many years to come. I encourage you to make the most of this experience. Whether you have a few months or a few weeks to prepare, make ACT Test Prep a part of your plan!

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GRE Prep Tutoring

As you know if you are tutoring or taking the GRE soon, the format on this exam will be changing on August 1st. I'll be starting a new student this week who plans to take the "old" exam in mid-July. (The later-July exam dates have all filled as students scramble to take this exam version.)

I use the Kaplan GRE Math and Verbal workbooks (image links below) because, as I mentioned previously, students seem to do better with learning content when it's presented in workbook form. These books give lots of practice both by knowledge area (general, algebra, geometry) and also by question type (quantitative comparisons, word problems, and data representation).

I simply take the number of tests in each manual and divide it among the number of weeks I'll be meeting with the student. This way we'll know how much ground we'll need to cover each week in both in-session and home study.

Links to workbooks for the current GRE are found below; workbooks for the New GRE are available as well.

Calculator Dependency Syndrome

Have you noticed students these days have trouble performing simple computations without the use of calculator? Without this basic knowledge, they are handicapped in their performance on standardized tests that require quick computations in a timed environment. Relying on calculators too much, particularly for times-table- or PEMDAS-type problems can result in careless errors.

Sure, a student may be annoyed at having to perform drills to improve math foundational skills. However, specifying a number of sets for the student to complete by the next session and charting progress is a good way to keep the student engaged and positive about the process.

Try this game to make the process a little more fun! http://www.coolmath4kids.com/times-tables/Timernator-multiplication.html
For practice and a better understanding of long division, Snork will help you! http://www.kidsnumbers.com/long-division.php

Even the older kids appreciate a math game to liven up their study time.
For the more traditional drill approach to learning, I also use www.dadsworksheets.com which offers an extensive selection of materials to practice computational knowledge and speed.

1-month ASVAB Tutoring Plan

I'm starting with a new ASVAB student this weekend and have been looking for a chart that shows the conversion of raw scores to scaled scores. The student would like to see how close he is to the score he needs to qualify for the Coast Guard.

We're using the ASVAB Top 50 Skills (image link below). My ACT and SAT students seem to do well with workbook-style learning, particularly those whose reading and math foundational skills are lacking. For the first time, I'm also trying McGraw-Hill's Basic Training for the ASVAB AFQT (image link below) for homework assignments. I have found that most practice exam manuals contain subject content that is too general for most students' needs.

Since this student only has a month to prepare (and 5 hours per week study time), I've opted not to use CliffsNotes Cram Plan (image link below), which has proved successful for my previous students, particularly for a homework plan, which recommends about 12 hours per week of study time (hence, the "cram").

Discussion questions:
1) Have you tutored the entire ASVAB or just the AFQT portion? Any specific challenges with tutoring the non-AFQT portions?
2) As a student, what prep materials have you found most useful, and why?
2) Where have you found a score conversion chart for the ASVAB?
3) What materials have you found to be most useful or, if you've used any of the above, what is your take on it/them?
4) Other?

Would be interested in hearing your experiences with this exam prep, the tutoring of which has certainly gained in popularity for me in recent months.

Tutoring for Business Correspondence

I've just started tutoring a young woman in Business Correspondence. As a non-native English speaker, her main concerns are presenting messages to her colleagues via e-mail, reports, and presentations that are grammatically correct, concise, well-organized, and effective.

Each session begins with a lesson on Business Writing, i.e. how to write concisely, or knowing your audience, or setting the tone, etc. SkillSoft offers two modules on the subject of business writing. Then the student completes exercises from a grammar workbooks to practice targeted skills. Finally, she applies her skills to business correspondence she intends to transmit and/or evaluates correspondence she has already prepared or transmitted.

Questions for discussion:
1) What other learning materials have you used to support the goal of improving business correspondence?
2) How to measure your student's success?
3) What challenges may be unique to ESL students? (Business idioms? We sure use these a lot in my regular job!)
4) Other?

I welcome your comments, questions, and thoughts!

Hey, Tutors & Tutees!

I invite Students, Parents, Teachers, Professional Tutors, Volunteer Tutors, Tutoring Business Owners, and all those interested in making the most of your potential in any of these roles to take a few moments to read through a blog post (or two or three or ...), and leave your questions or comments, if you like.

As a tutoring business owner since 2003 and a professional tutor since 1997, I've learned lots of lessons along the way, not to mention developed strengths that have helped in other life matters.

Stay Tuned and remember to Bookmark this blog for lots of good info on any and all aspects of tutoring. Much more is to come!