The SAT and ACT are the two tests on every college-bound teenager’s mind as soon as they enter their junior year... While college applications don’t boil down to a single test score, having a good score on these tests is still very important in the college admissions process. Whether taking one test or both, it’s crucial to have a study plan for the months prior to the actual test. Here are the top things to think about while preparing for these notorious standardized tests.

Know the Test Structure

Both tests contain different sections and testing times, and it’s crucial to be familiar with these formats before taking the test.

The most recent version of the SAT has two main sections: Evidence Based Reading & Writing (EBRW) and Mathematics. There is also an optional essay section. The EBRW section involves two subsections. The reading subsection lasts 65 minutes and consists of 52 multiple-choice questions, and the writing subsection lasts 35 minutes and consists of 44 multiple-choice questions. These questions test comprehension, vocabulary, the expression of ideas, and argument formation. Likewise, the Mathematics section is broken down into two parts. A 25-minute “no calculator” section and a 55-minute “calculator allowed” section. They consist of 20 and 38 questions, respectively.

The ACT is different. It’s comprised of four multiple-choice sections—English (75 questions, 45 minutes), Math (60 questions, 60 minutes), Reading (40 questions, 35 minutes), and Science (40 questions, 35 minutes)—and an optional 40-minute essay. The Math, English, and Reading sections are similar to the SAT, but the Science section focuses on data analysis and interpretation. This section is a boon for some students but a blow to others.

Understand the Scoring

Probably unlike many of your child’s tests in school, the SAT and ACT don’t penalize for wrong or skipped answers. Only correct answers add up to their composite score. This means that if a question is especially hard, it’s best to skip it, come back to it later and if need be make one’s best guess. Getting as many questions right as possible should be the main goal for SAT and ACT testers.

The SAT is scored out of 1600, with the optional essay scored on a scale from 2 to 8. The maximum score on the ACT is a 36, with the essay scored on a 2 to 12 scale. The average SAT score sits around a 1060, with the ACT national average at about 21.

Take a Practice Test, Set a Goal

There are thousands of practice tests in study books and online. Many high schools even proctor PSATs sometime during sophomore or junior year. It’s a great idea to have your student take at least one practice test to predict their base score and see what areas need the most improvement.

For instance, your teen might score a 1250 on a practice SAT and have a significantly higher Math score, while they may also have a high Math score on the ACT, but score closer to 21, the national average. This signals two things. One, that they should be reviewing their English and Reading skills, and two, that they’re likely to score higher on the SAT than the ACT. After this, it’s possible to set a study plan and shoot for a concrete score—a 1400, say.

Practice Time Management

Since the SAT and ACT don’t penalize for wrong answers, answering as many questions as possible is a key success factor. Answering more than one question per minute is a challenge, but with repetition and practice, it’s something test takers can get better at over time. Using process of elimination, educated guesses, and being willing to skip over hard questions and return to them later will keep SAT and ACT students from leaving too many questions unanswered.

1. 1. Immerse Yourself

   Take all the opportunities you can to speak the new language you are
   learning... Speak with others in the new language as much as possible and if you are taking a class contribute as much as possible. Also, listen to everything you can in the language including films, television, radio and audiobooks.

2. 2. It’s OK to Make Mistakes

   Fear can be obstacle to learning. You’re not going to be perfect the first time. It takes time and practice to learn a language.

3. 3. Don’t Translate Word for Word

   Instead, emphasize the words and phrases you do know and look for contextual clues such as gestures and facial expressions to help you understand what is being said.

For kids of all ages to do well in school, they need to be good readers... Not just to bump their language arts and literature grades, but to improve their critical and analytical thinking skills, train their attention spans, and flex their creative muscles. The skills an attentive, engaged reader develops are handy in every area inside and outside of school, so it’s important to help students of all ages develop their reading capabilities. Here are some great ways to help kids both young and old become confident, capable, and even enthusiastic bookworms!

Encouraging Young Readers

1. 1. Read Out Loud

   For young children, reading can be an intimidating task. The effort required to sound out new words, think about their meaning, and understand them in context is a serious challenge for growing readers. While it’s definitely important to work on silent and individual reading, reading out loud is also a fantastic tool parents, tutors, and teachers can use to encourage reading comprehension.

   Reading books aloud to children from time to time yields great outcomes. It lets kids focus on the meat of the story—the plot and themes. It takes away some of the “work” of reading, which often discourages young readers from trying. This might make kids more excited about reading and exploring books down the road, once their individual reading skills have developed. Reading aloud also means you can introduce readers to stories a step or two above their reading level, exposing them to new writing styles, vocabulary words and more involved plot and character development!

2. 2. Create Reading Guides

   When kids are going through a book, give them “reading guides” to help them denote important events and keep track of characters. This will help them stay on-task while they read and assist with reading comprehension. It’s also good to include open-ended questions, like what they think will happen next or if they think a character handled a situation correctly. These kinds of short prompts will help grow their critical thinking and creative skills.

3. 3. Keep a Word List

   In The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds, the main character, Jerome, keeps track of new words he sees each day. Having young readers keep a list of new words like this will help them increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. It’s also easy to use this list as the basis of a new activity, such as creating a poem or writing their own short story!

For the Older Kids:

1. 1. Read Out Loud

   For young children, reading can be an intimidating task. The effort required to sound out new words, think about their meaning, and understand them in context is a serious challenge for growing readers. While it’s definitely important to work on silent and individual reading, reading out loud is also a fantastic tool parents, tutors, and teachers can use to encourage reading comprehension.

   Reading books aloud to children from time to time yields great outcomes. It lets kids focus on the meat of the story—the plot and themes. It takes away some of the “work” of reading, which often discourages young readers from trying. This might make kids more excited about reading and exploring books down the road, once their individual reading skills have developed. Reading aloud also means you can introduce readers to stories a step or two above their reading level, exposing them to new writing styles, vocabulary words and more involved plot and character development!

2. 2. Create Reading Guides

   When kids are going through a book, give them “reading guides” to help them denote important events and keep track of characters. This will help them stay on-task while they read and assist with reading comprehension. It’s also good to include open-ended questions, like what they think will happen next or if they think a character handled a situation correctly. These kinds of short prompts will help grow their critical thinking and creative skills.

3. 3. Keep a Word List

   In The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds, the main character, Jerome, keeps track of new words he sees each day. Having young readers keep a list of new words like this will help them increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. It’s also easy to use this list as the basis of a new activity, such as creating a poem or writing their own short story!

Passing an AP test with a high mark could transfer to college credit, and high scores look great during the college application process... Here’s a basic guideline on how students should approach studying for AP tests.

Know What to Study

Randomly reviewing facts, theories, or equations won’t cut it when it comes to the AP. Since these tests are nationally standardized, the questions and material on each test are carefully selected, and students need to know what to study.

The first place to check is the College Board website. From their site students can see exactly what material is meant to be covered in each course, which will give them a hint as to what’s going to be on the exam. The College Board site also details the format and number of questions for each individual AP exam, which is also crucial information.

The class syllabus is also a fantastic way to review material. Toward the end of the year, students may begin to forget the material they learned early in the fall. Looking at the course rundown, reviewing old tests, and reading notes from the prior semester are essential for reminding students of the material they need to be familiar with.

Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Once AP test-takers know what they’re going to be asked to do, they should identify what material they feel comfortable with as well as what concepts they need to review. The tests cover a lot of ground, and it doesn’t make sense to study each concept in equal parts. For instance, if a student is taking the AP Psychology test and they already feel confident in their understanding of Developmental Psychology, they might want to spend more time reviewing the unit on Biological Bases of Behavior.

Review College Board’s course requirements to narrow down which units need the most attention. This way, it’s easy to create a study schedule that focuses on relearning and reviewing hard concepts.

Know the Test’s Format

Not every AP exam is set up the same way. The AP US History exam is going to be much different than the AP Chemistry exam, for example. Some exams are multiple-choice heavy while others are more focused on free-response and essay questions. Again, head to the College Board’s website for a breakdown of how a particular exam is proctored. There, you can find the allotted time and number of questions for each exam section. Being familiar with this information will make students feel comfortable and prepared for the actual test!

Don’t Underestimate Practice Tests

Practice makes perfect. And when it comes to the AP tests, nothing could be truer. Sitting through full practice exams helps familiarize students with the kinds of questions asked on the exam, promotes good time management skills, and will get them ready for their three-hour test period (a formidable thought to most high schoolers). Practicing specific subsections—multiple choice, essay, and short response questions—are also good ways to help students familiarize themselves with the AP exams in shorter, less intimidating intervals.

Practice exam questions are available from reliable sources all over the Internet, and there are even entire books dedicated to compiling AP exam questions and answering strategies. Investing in a few hours each week to practice with these kinds of materials will go a long way in prepping for the exam and getting the highest score possible.

Helping your ADHD child succeed in school is a great way to improve their overall self-esteem… and show them ADHD isn’t a cross to bear but a challenge to conquer. Plus, proper support in your child’s academic realm will foster a good parent-child relationship built through trust and openness. This kind of relationship will benefit your child far outside the reaches of school and will make your job as a parent both easier and more fulfilling.

Here are a few great tips on how to support your ADHD child in their schoolwork.

Make schoolwork seem relevant.

As often as you can, find ways to show your child how their schoolwork relates to their own interests. People are much more likely to become invested in things they care about, and the same is true for ADHD children of all ages. If your child loves computer games, perhaps mention how mathematics is the key to coding their favorite game. If they’re reluctant to study history, try and find a way to present the material as an interesting story! This will help your child become more motivated and determined to complete their schoolwork. Your own creativity is the limit when it comes to this approach, but TED Talks and other online videos are great starting points for parents to show how common, “boring” concepts are actually inspiring, relevant, and “cool.”

Break things into small steps.

It’s easy for ADHD children and adolescents to get “lost” in school. They have trouble starting major projects and assignments, and once they start it’s easy for them to get distracted. The finish line seems like a far-off, unreachable place. Making to-do lists with your child and completing one step at a time will help your child focus on the task at hand instead of being overwhelmed by the big picture. When they complete a step, have them cross it off the list! This will make your child visualize the progress they’re making and feel encouraged to keep going.

Focus on the positives.

As parents become frustrated, it’s easy for them to begin hounding their child on what they need to “do better” at or improve on. Try and avoid this. Phrase criticism in a constructive, positive manner, and focus on what you want your child to do, instead of what not to do. Don’t say, “get off your phone.” Instead, try, “Could you please finish this problem?” Nobody likes being told what to do or being told they’re failing, and that includes adults. And this feeling is compounded in ADHD youth, who already have trouble finding motivation for staying focused. When your child receives a good grade, celebrate! When they do poorly, focus on steps they can take to do better next time, and applaud their efforts. Building this self-esteem is a major help when it comes to supporting ADHD children, and it’s sure to help them in school.

Some Thoughts at Thanksgiving about the Importance of Having Family Dinner Year Round for Better Emotional Health and Grades

By Tom Kahan, Study Wizards Academic Co-Director

At Thanksgiving time I often think not only about the wonderful Thanksgiving dinners I had with my family as a child but also about how wonderful it was to have dinner with my family regularly all year round. My mom was an awesome cook but I never realized that I was getting much more than her delicious cooking until I came across research which shows a clear link between families getting together for dinner each night and good grades, overall happiness and tighter family bonds. Now maybe this isn’t all that surprising to other moms and dads who grew up like I did with family dinners every night. But the fact though that research shows academic excellence correlates with daily family dinners is I admit a little surprising – at least at first but it’s important to consider.

According to studies from the University of Illinois, the Harvard Graduate School, Columbia University, and Readers Digest (just to name a few), students that eat dinner each night with their family:

• Have a higher likelihood of earning A’s and B’s on all of their courses
• Have a measurably improved emotional stability, mental toughness, and social skills
• Are able to create better peer relationships
• Are less likely to begin smoking, drinking, or taking drugs
• Have much higher self-esteem, self-confidence, self-motivation skills, and believe their parents are truly proud of them.

Assuming the TV and phones are off and/or put away—very important, especially nowadays — some of the most important skills our children can develop at family dinners are improved conversation, communication and vocabulary skills. This is especially true if we parents focus on positive conversations, with praise for both effort and results, while also asking our children about what they have learned and discovered during the day, and if possible, tying those to our children’s goals. It’s also an excellent time to talk about any issues they might be having at school — or at home for that matter, if you think an all-family discussion is best. A bonus: discussions about current events and history can help our students in those areas as well.

The University of Illinois conducted a study of 120 boys and girls between the ages of seven and 11, and found that the children that performed best with standardized testing – particularly when it came to mathematics and reading – not only enjoyed a dinner as a family each night but also helped in the kitchen!

Cooking isn’t just a helpful and healthy life skill for children. Cooking also helps our children develop math with measuring ingredients, reading comprehension by “forcing” them to understand the recipe, and lab skills, moving through sequential steps to create something (hopefully tasty!) from the sum of the parts. Cooking family recipes, especially with mom, dad, grandma or grandpa also helps children hear family stories and get a deeper feeling for their family and ethnic roots, history and traditions – not to mention home cooking helps them develop healthier eating habits!

Granted in our busy modern lives, family dinners every night are not always possible but the more family dinners you can make happen, the better it is — for your children’s relationship with you, themselves, their school work and their peers.

Read more…

The advent of biotechnology and the explosive growth of the biomedical industry offer some incredible possibilities for students who are drawn to Biology. The advent of biotechnology and the explosive growth of the biomedical industry offer some incredible possibilities for students who are drawn to Biology. While many Biology students go on to become doctors, there are a variety of career opportunities for those who aren’t interested in treating patients or going to medical school. Read more…

Somewhere along the line, often times at home but sometimes in their early years of school, students, especially girls who’re still receiving messages that they’re just not as good at math as boys, buy into the “I’m just bad at math” myth, line, hook, line, and sinker.

Yes, certain people are predisposed to have a particular talent when it comes to complex mathematics. People like Einstein – or even modern mathematic geniuses  – seemingly stepped right out of the womb with an innate ability to handle facts and figures in a way that most of us feel we never could.

But new research is showing that our mathematic abilities, as well as the entire conception of traditional IQ, is anything but hardcoded into our genetics. There is some latent talent for individuals and that isn’t there in others but the reality of the situation is that our brains are so elastic and so capable of learning new things that anyone can become good at mathematic with enough practice and due diligence.

Purdue University psychologists in a recent research project have concluded that there are two real “orientations” towards ability. On the one hand, you have students that feature an incremental orientation. These are the kinds of students that believe in learning new things, that they aren’t locked into their IQ right out of the gate, and that understand hard work is the only way to develop new skills and new abilities – particularly in a field like mathematics.

On the other hand, you have students with an entity orientation, believing that their educational capabilities are not malleable and are instead a fixed quality of themselves that cannot increase. In their study, these psychologists convinced some poor, minority, junior high school students that previously had this orientation they could make themselves smarter by working harder, and it worked…they did get better grades!

In fact, one of the psychologists, Dr. Dweck reported that some of her tough junior high school boys “were reduced to tears by the news their intelligence was substantially under their control.”

The research shows that it’s this belief system – this orientation – and this approach to learning that dictates the success students will have. When they understand they’ll bump into challenges when they try to learn new things but that they can be overcome, they flourish and grow.

There are plenty of pizza places that would love nothing more than to lay claim to discovering or better yet, deeply understanding the trick of bending the edges of pizza slice towards each other to achieve a straight line from crust through the tip to your mouth. But it ends up that a 19th century mathematician went there almost 100 years ago.

At the time of his discovery, Carl Friedrich Gauss wasn’t thinking about tossing dough in the air, but he did come up with the Theorema Egregium (Latin for “remarkable theorem”) that mathematically defines the curvature of a particular surface in a way that won’t change when you bend that same surface.

If you’ve ever held a piece of pizza by bending the two edges of crust in towards each other and “folding” what was a flat triangle into itself to stabilize the piece, rather than having it flopped all over the place, you’ve practiced this same principle without even realizing it.

To further illustrate the principle itself, think about taking a blank 8.5” x 11” piece of paper, then roll it up along its shorter width into a cylinder and place it so it sits 11” high on a flat table. The formerly flat surface has now become a cylindrical surface, but its properties really haven’t changed. If you envision microscopic little ants marching up and down on the surface of the cylinder, perpendicular to the table, you’d be able to clearly delineate an infinite amount of “flat surfaces” they could walk across – even while it was in its cylindrical shape.

Gauss had the mind and the insight to define the curvature of the surface that takes all of those infinite “flat surfaces” into account. Starting at any point – literally any point – an individual could find the two most extreme paths along that surface (the most concave and the most convex pathways) and then multiply the two curvatures of those paths together. The number you would arrive at, in this case with a cylinder, zero, is the very definition of that curvature as defined by the principle pioneered by Carl Friedrich Gauss, or its Gaussian curvature used in differential geometry. The sphere pictured above has positive curvature and the curved cylinder has negative curvature. Gaussian curvatures remains the same no matter how objects are positioned in 3-D space. Enjoy your pizza…

The humble triangle is one of the simplest shapes possible. However, this basic polygon is also a fundamental part of several branches of mathematics, as well as many of the technologies you rely on every day. Read more…

The odds are pretty good that for as long as most of us can remember, the conventional wisdom has been that intelligence, measured by grades and standardized tests, is very important for our children to succeed. Modern researchers now understand that “brainpower” is only one piece of the puzzle, and that it’s a smaller piece of the puzzle than anyone ever contemplated before.

According to a number of major research projects looking to better understand how the most successful people become successful, those with average IQ outperformed those with high IQ 70% of the time when they had higher levels of Emotional Intelligence.

Decades and decades of research now proves out that the real secret sauce to living a successful lifestyle is focusing on building your Emotional Intelligence, learning how to manage your behavior, how to navigate different complexities of our social interactions, and how to make smarter personal decisions that allow you to make the most of your skills, your talent, and your latent intelligence.

Researchers now report that there are five huge personality qualities that the most successful people share in common with one another; five building blocks of Emotional Intelligence that can help your child do well in life.

•           Empathy and conscientious behavior, having the ability to put yourself in the shoes of others and see their experiences in depth

•           An openness to new ideas, to new knowledge, and to new concepts rather than a resistance to the same

•           A general agreeableness that works well with others from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and all belief systems

•           A concrete emotional stability to level out the highest of highs and the lowest of lows

•           A comfort level with people in all kinds of social setting, exhibiting easy extroverted behavior even when performing introverted lifestyles

Emotional Intelligence is closely tied to success in a way that traditional IQ never could be. Today researchers believe that 85% of an individual’s financial success is tied to “soft skills” – people skills – as opposed to their background education, functional knowledge, or level of IQ.

At the end of the day, people are always looking to do business or get into relationships with those they like and trust.

In an effort to improve the educational landscape, particularly in more formative years of a child’s education…, Common Core State Standards have been adopted by all but a handful of states across the US.

Raising the bar significantly while at the same time providing students with more resources to meet these elevated standards, Common Core is designed to help push future generations of US students further and faster than they would have with more traditional educational pathways.

Though there was a bit of pushback in the early stages, new research shows that Common Core is wildly successful. On top of that, it’s becoming even more successful with the adaptation of new teaching methodologies that include Project-Based Learning (PBL).

 Project-Based Learning is Transforming the Classroom

Recognizing just how important creativity and collaboration are in our modern world, and how woefully unprepared our students were for the major shifts and changes that have occurred over the last 20 years, PBL is designed to improve upon the effectiveness of our traditional teaching methodologies.

Speaking on the impact that PBL has had in California schools online, a California state superintendent named Chris Wheaton went on to say “The relevance of a project really inspires children to look deeper, and it allows more complex problem-solving activities to go on”.

Rather than force our students to try and memorize data and information by rote from a textbook in a two-dimensional type of way, PBL instead encourages our students to tackle a project with their peers – searching for solutions, working out creative answers, and in the process learning a lot more about the material they are studying while utilizing skills and knowledge they picked up in other classes as well.

Project-Based Learning In Action

In California, a fifth-grade teacher named Sarah Siebert decided to teach her class about the lessons in the young adult novel “Hatchet” with a PBL approach. Students still had to read the book (obviously), but instead of turning in traditional book reports or having anything but spirited debate in the class about the material, Sarah instead decided to challenge her students to build rafts out natural materials, string, duct tape, and glue – giving the children all of the materials the protagonist has in the novel Hatchet to create their own raft just as he did.

Along the way, students were challenged not only to gain a deeper appreciation of what the protagonist had to go through but also they had to pull from, and in that process strengthen their skills in mathematics, their design and creativity skills to troubleshoot buoyancy issues, and their communication and collaboration skills to work with one another in small groups to come up with effective solutions.

Children challenged to use PBL to deepen their education don’t even realize just how hard they are really working, in large part because they are operating the way they will in the “real world – collaborating with peers, coming up with creative solutions, working through disagreements, and overcoming obstacles.

We all know how computers have made huge changes to our lives but did you know there’s a Computer History Museum here in Silicon Valley dedicated to their history and ongoing impact? It’s in Mountain View, at 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. There you can take your children and their friends, whether they’re interested in math, chemistry, physics, biology or computer science, even planning to have a STEM career or just average tech-oriented kids of today. They’ll be able to see various multimedia exhibitions, listen to computer pioneers tell their story from their own perspective and check out, and maybe chuckle at the difference between those very first computers from the 1940s and 1950s and the ones they use today.

In terms of ongoing impact, one of the cutting edges of computer science and information technology today is artificial intelligence (AI). On Friday, April 20 at 5:30, part of their Friday Night Speaker Series, the museum will be teaming up with Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence (SVAI) for their second annual AI Download. Engineers, researchers, scientists, startup founders and others will be discussing AI activity happening across the Bay Area, highlighting academic research, learning resources, community initiatives and work that’s happening at local, leading AI companies.

Again, whether they’re interested in math, chemistry, physics, biology or computer science, even planning to have a STEM career or needing help in English, Spanish or test prep, and you live in the San Jose area, Study Wizards has experienced and caring private tutors who can help. If they live elsewhere in the Bay Area, KnowledgeRoundTable.com is also a good place to find help.

by John Hankey

 According to the American Test Anxieties Association, at least 33% of students struggle with moderate to acute test anxiety. Physical tension is always a contributing factor to (if not the cause of) test anxiety: you cannot experience stress without tensing yourself up. Releasing this tension is the foundation for becoming a calmer test taker.

The Secret to Mindfulness: Progressive Relaxation

The ability to relax is a skill that you can learn, develop & improve at over time. It is also the core principle of mindfulness. The body scan meditation is a classic, trusted way to progressively relax and involves scanning your body from head to toe, inviting each part to relax. Many meditators believe that relaxing the body is a “warm-up” or secondary benefit to working with your mind. This is not the case. The truth is that the body scan is often the main focus for many silent, 10-day meditation retreats and one of the core concepts taught by the Buddha. Using a body scan audio is a great way to start so you can be supported in being able to feel your body more deeply. One body scan can be as long or as quick as you wish. 5-7 minutes is a common duration. Subsequent iterations of the body scan will help improve your ability to feel your body, release physical tension and sharpen your focus.

Your Subconscious Mind

Your subconscious mind is simply your body and how your body responds to where you put your attention. Close your eyes and imagine you are biting into a tart, juicy lemon. Make it real. Taste it. Ddi you notice that you started to salivate? That’s your subconscious mind.

Visualization for Behavioral Change

If imagining a juicy lemon makes you salivate, what will visualizing the testing scenario do to your body? You probably guessed it: your body will (subtly) tense up. This is actually a good thing because now you can focus on progressively relaxing during the visualization. Changing how you feel when imagining a situation will change how you feel when you next confront the situation in your life. In other words, combining visualization & progressive relaxation will pre-emptively reduce your test anxiety…before test day even arrives.

Mindful Test Taking

My company MindfulTestTaking.com offers a number of techniques & strategies to help students reduce test anxiety, but the fundamental concept is always the same: visualize & relax. It takes time, but with practice, you can eventually “see” yourself taking a test while keeping your body relaxed. Once you hit that level of mental mastery & somatic self-control, you are ready to walk in and simply take the test.

Words of Wisdom

If you have breaks during the test, practice the body scan meditation at this time. This will refresh and rejuvenate you, helping you sustain your energy and focus. Also, avoid exacerbating tension & stress during the test: furrowing your brow, white-knuckling your pen or the mouse etc. Bodily tension and a cloudy, racing mind are two sides of the exact same coin. The less tension you carry, the more clear your mind will be.

Coming up with a hook for your essay that will compel readers to keep on reading… is not difficult but it’s very important and will be used to judge your merit as a writer. Just as a hook with bait on it tempts a fish to bite, you have to lure the reader into continuing to read your essay with a compelling start to your essay.

This can be done with a few choice words that can encapsulate the theme and bring your message to the forefront. It’s not easy, but the following tips will help you write your essay’s hook and even improve your writing skills:

• Start with a Quote

If you are writing an essay on a serious topic, using a famous person’s quote regarding that topic is an excellent way to hook readers in. It makes your essay writing more ‘alive’ and fresh. For instance, to start an essay on endurance, you can use Bruce Lee’s famous quote – “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”

• Start off with a Question

One of the fastest ways to hook a reader is to appeal to their sense of curiosity by asking a question that will make them think. It can be a question such as “Did you know (followed by a surprising or interesting fact)” or it could be a quirky one such as ‘do you know why the chicken crossed the road?’ No matter how silly it seems, if the query matches the theme of your essay, it will ‘hook’ the reader into reading on. However, try to use questions that compel the reader to think rather than those that have a simple yes or no answer. Your essay writing will become much stronger and more meaningful as a result.

• Create an image in your hook

A picture is worth a thousand words, but did you know that your words can create one as well? (Note how this question became our hook for this paragraph.) You can do this by using descriptive words in your hook. For example, if you are writing about summer time you can start your essay with something like this: “There’s nothing like jumping into a chilly pool during the sweltering heat of summer, but a water fight is the next best thing.’

An awesome hook is important for helping students to write a compelling essay. A private essay writing tutor will have extensive experience helping students to write effectively. To find out more about Study Wizards Tutoring home tutoring services in San Jose , California please visit StudyWizards.com  or call a professional tutoring consultant at (408) 713-2984.

Summer Reading Fun

One of the best ways to ignite interest in books amongst children and young adults while encouraging better reading comprehension is with inspirational and interesting works by popular authors. Study Wizards Tutoring suggests these funny, adventurous and mystery reads for summer reading fun.

Funny Books
Firecracker by David Iserson

This is the story of “Cheating Astrid” a vain and self centered girl who manages to get expelled from the exclusive private school where she studies because she simply could not stop cheating in her exams.  The ‘punishment’ meted out to her was that she should attend public school until she had been able to perform some acts of selflessness and kindness. While she had full confidence in her abilities to manipulate people to her whims and caprices, she had not counted on how street-smart her fellow class mates at the public school would prove to be. Her dry humor and caustic comments make this ‘coming of age’ tale a quirky and fun read.

Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling

Kipling’s name needs no introduction since he is arguably one of the most well known writers and poets of the English Language.  Apart from his incomparable “If” and the ‘Jungle Books”, he had also written a hilariously funny book on life in an English boarding school in the Victorian era. Drawing extensively on his own school experiences, he managed to weave a tale in which his lead protagonist “Stalky” gets the upper hand over his school masters time and again in side-splittingly funny situations.

Adventure Books
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The family that reads aloud together has summer fun together and JRR Tolkien’s timeless masterpiece is perfect for this, especially with elementary aged children. If your child really likes The Hobbit, they’ll surely enjoy its three-part sequel, The Lord of the Rings. This epic trilogy is written at a more young adult level so it will also help expand their taste, sophistication and reading comprehension.
The Famous Five Series by Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton has probably managed to get more children to fall in love with books than any other author in the 20th century. Amongst her most famous creations are the “Famous Five”.  It follows the travails of three siblings and their cousin and her pet dog as they flit from one hair-raising adventure to another. There are a total of 21 books published in this series.  And each book is as fascinating as its previous one. Almost all of them have been turned into TV shows and quite a few have even made it to the film world in many countries.

Mystery Books
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators Series

The famous movie director was also a guest of honor for a series of book about three teenage private detectives who called themselves “The Three Investigators”. Their motto: “We investigate everything”. And indeed that is precisely what they did, investigating everything from “Screaming Clocks” to stuttering parrots to “Vanishing Men”
Operating from a junkyard in sunny California, their leader is the scientific and deductive genius Jupiter Jones, the athlete of the trio is Pete Crenshaw while Bob Andrews handles records and research. Together they solve the most baffling mysteries that elude the police. There are 43 books in this series and all of them are excellent summer reading.

The end of the school year is already here, meaning it’s time to get your children ready for final exams. High-pressure tests like finals can intimidate even the highest-performing students, so preparing well in advance is key to making your student comfortable enough to do their best.

At Study Wizards Tutoring in San Jose, CA, we know how difficult finals week can be, so we’re glad to offer these study skills and test prep tips from professional tutors.

First off, you can help your kids get the most out of their studying by making a schedule starting a few weeks before hand. Specific periods should be dedicated to studying certain areas with the priority being what definitely, then what probably, then what might be on the test. If they use their phone for calendaring, then that could be set up for alerts to keep them on track. They’ll also need break with one of the best being playing with the family pet.

To maximize the effectiveness of your child’s study strategies, also find out what they are struggling with the most and consider giving them one-on-one time with a highly trained professional tutor.

At Study Wizards Tutoring, we offer proven, effective, in-home math, reading, and writing tutoring from experienced, enthusiastic experts who are committed to helping each child succeed. Visit StudyWizards.com to learn more about our tutoring and test prep services, or just call (408) 713-2984 to discuss your needs with our Academic Director

Entering high school, your children will start learning high-level math that’s much more abstract than what they learned in junior high.

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You don’t have to spend a lot of money on camp if you make your home and summer trips super fun and educational!

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Summer can have a negative impact on your child’s academic performance — unless you take the proper steps to ensure they get intellectual stimulation along with their other activities.

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Final exams are just around the corner, which means it’s time to start helping your high school student get ready.

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One of the biggest stumbling blocks for struggling readers is motivation. While you as a parent can stress the academic importance of strong reading skills, enjoyment is the strongest motivating factor for getting your children to read.

If your middle school or high school student is struggling with reading, the reading tutors at Study Wizards Tutoring in San Jose, CA, have some suggestions on finding books your children will want to read.

Even if a book is easy to read, your children may get bored and give up if it’s not engaging to them. First, it’s important that the story is engrossing to a reader, including having a good rhythm and realistic characters. Readers of every level want a story where they care about the characters and receive a resolution of their problems. Forming this connection with characters is even more important for those who don’t enjoy reading. For those struggling readers, it’s important to find high-interest books with a low-difficulty, controlled vocabulary, and realistic characters involved in situations the reader can relate to.

Your child’s years during middle and high school are a crucial time, especially for reading and writing: it’s at this time that they develop the language, vocabulary, and writing skills that will serve as a foundation for the rest of their lives.

The reading and writing tutors from Study Wizards Tutoring in San Jose, CA, want to help your child succeed, so here are some helpful writing tips for you and your student.

Practice Makes Perfect: To write well, the first thing you need to do is encourage them to write! Have your child practice writing regularly, even if it’s only small exercises like paragraph construction or creating an outline for an essay. These are the building blocks that make great writing, and having them do these exercises will get them thinking about the big picture. You might want to even suggest they start a diary or given our times, a blog. If your child has opinions and observations and wants to tell the world, a blog is the perfect vehicle.

You might think of tutoring services as a resource for students who have fallen behind in their studies. However, this is not the case, as almost any student can benefit from academic reinforcement — whether they’re struggling in a particular subject area or excelling in school.

At Study Wizards Tutoring, our team has highly trained mentors with the experience to provide a broad array of in-home tutoring services to students throughout the San Jose area.

Many parents are familiar with remediation tutoring, which focuses on filling gaps in your child’s understanding and building the underlying skills that academic success depends on. Remediation tutoring typically focuses on supporting abilities in a certain subject matter, like math or writing.

Maintenance tutoring services are sometimes necessary to support your child when transitions like changing schools, moving, or family events throw them off. Tutoring sessions focused on maintenance are geared towards helping your child develop study skills, and they may be combined with remediation tutoring to reinforce any deficient skills.

On the other hand, children who excel in school may be ready for additional challenges. In these cases, enrichment tutoring services can help them achieve their full academic potential. In fact, without enrichment attention, gifted students can occasionally get bored, leading to slipping grades.

Another common tutoring service is academic test prep, which is designed to help your child do as well as possible on the SAT or ACT. Professional test prep can help your child overcome the kind of serious anxiety these high-stakes, high-pressure tests can cause, even in the most gifted students.

Whether your child needs remediation, maintenance, enrichment tutoring or academic or academic test preparation, our tutors have the training and background to help. Learn more about our wide range of academic tutoring services online, or call Study Wizards Tutoring at (408) 713-2984 to talk about how we can help students succeed today. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter to connect more with our facility and tutors.

Just because school’s out for the summer doesn’t mean your child has to stop learning.

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Having a child who suffers from ADD / ADHD presents some serious parenting challenges, especially when it’s time to do their homework.

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Finals are just around the corner. Stop the stress of finals and foster success with help from Study Wizards Tutoring. Offering in-home tutoring throughout San Jose, Mountain View and surrounding areas, we provide exceptional test prep and year-round academic support. Our highly qualified tutors support learning with expert study strategies, fostering effective study habits and academic success. Start helping your student study better today with these tips from our experienced team. Read more…

Day in and day out many children experience loss and failure. Whether these experiences crush or strengthen an individual child depends, in part, on their ability to be self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency and belief in oneself are qualities that reflect the important human capacities to face, overcome, and be strengthened — or even transformed by — the adversities of life, something we all have to deal with…. Read more…