Archive for year: 2015
How Tutors Help Students Dominate Mathematics!
To much math can be a pretty intimidating en devour. Many people will loudly toss around the disclaimer “I’m not good at math” before performing mathematics in front of people. This disclaimer is used to prepare themselves for failure and to avoid feeling embarrassed in front of their peers. The complexity of math scares many people, but with a tutor this fear can be all but eliminated. This article over at NPR gives an in-depth but quick look at the symbiotic relationship tutors have with their students. Students with tutors do better in math class because not only do they get the one on one help they need, but their anxieties about math have been reduced if not eliminated. Tutors inject their students with the confidence needed to tackle any math problem from any number of different approaches. They find their students strengths and teach them utilize these strengths to excel not just in math, but all aspects of academia and life as well. This article is a great read and one we can’t recommend enough! Be sure to visit Study Tips & Strategies for more useful articles.
Less is More
This fascinating article by Clifton B. Parker of the Standford News sheds light on researcher Michael Franks examination of how children best learn and use words they hear. Mr. Frank surmises that the context for how children hear a word is more important than how often its heard. Here’s a brief section from this incredible interesting article: “According to Frank, the study goes beyond simply addressing how often a child is exposed to a word to where and how the child hears the word. In doing so, he said, it provides evidence that what really matters for word learning is that words be used in a context that is distinctive for the child so that he or she can more effectively decode what the speaker is trying to say. In sum, words used in distinctive ways or in specific routines were learned and used by the child earlier than words that were said more frequently”.
Math In An Attic?
Neil Sloane isn’t a well known name to the general public, but to math mathematicians all over the world he is considered to be one of the most influential mathematician of our time. The 75 year old Welshman worked for Bell Labs for some 40 years where he won numerous awards but the creation he is most famous for is his Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Mr. Sloane spends a considerable amount of his time organizing numbers into sequences and is the leading expert in his field. This interesting article over at Wired.com goes into depth of his work and his history with the exciting field of mathematics.
The 9 BEST Scientific Study Tips
AsapScience has put together this great video explaining not just the best way to study math, but how studying anything effects the human brain. No surprise the first tip is not to cram the night before! The human brain is one of the most unique computational devices to ever exist and AsapScience goes to great lengths showing us how to correctly put our brains to work. Be sure to visit our blog for more Study Tips & Strategies.
Practice Makes Perfect- New Practice Tests!
Practice Makes Perfect, So Go Ahead and Try These Awesome Practice Tests
The popular website CollegeReadiness.org has just put up some fantastic practice SAT and PSAT/NMSQT tests that we highly recommend taking. They’ve also provided an answer sheet so you can check your results right away. Practice makes perfect and Making The Grade, LLC can’t recommend these tests enough. We’d recommend challenging yourself to take these tests once a week for a month, and at the end of the month check to see how you’ve progressed. Taking the tests once will give you a good idea of what to expect on the SAT, but taking the practice tests over and over will help you show the SAT who the boss is. Be sure to visit our ACT Prep page for more tips and information!
Is Infinite Chocolate Possible?
An infinite amount of chocolate from only one candy bar? What chocolate wizardy is this? Well math of course. Our friends over at VSauce take a look at the Banach-Tarski Paradox which is a mathematical theorem that you can split any item into 5 separate pieces, and rearrange those 5 pieces into two of what you originally start of. They take a mathematical and philosophical look at what infinity could actually mean and how the Banch-Tarski Paradox plays with the foundations of this theorem. Can infinite chocolate be possible? Watch their video to find out! Be sure to check out our Math Tutoring page for more information on how you can excel in mathematics!
What It Takes to Get a 36 on the ACT
The ACT’s importance and difficulty can be intimidating for some students and a welcomed challenge to others. With the right prep work anyone can score very highly on the ACT, and with immense focus and drive anyone can get a perfect score. Allen Chang’s article details how he is one of those people who needed to ace the test. By his own admittance he was always better at math than writing and reading but with the correct prep he made sure a perfect ACT score was inevitable. His in-depth article describes his philosophical and physical approach towards acing the ACT and how he used the same methodology to score a near perfect score on the MCAT’s (he scored a 44 out of 45) for medical school. In his own words “In broad strokes, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of smart work, and some amount of luck. But this isn’t helpful. Let’s dig deeper. You have to want it. Really, really want it.” Be sure to visit our ACT Prep page for more information.