Summer is a time for much needed fun and relaxation, but it’s also an opportune time to address persistent learning gaps that some students face.  On average, students show an overall learning loss of one month of progress during the summer, and that figure jumps to 2.6 months for math learning! (Fairchild, 2009)  Focusing on eliminating those gaps and losses in a relaxed summer atmosphere can help children enter the next school year with a more solid foundation, feeling confident in their abilities.

We are preparing to assist many students this summer with a variety of learning needs, whether it is to close learning gaps, provide enrichment, or simply prevent seasonal brain drain.

Many of our favorite tutors will be staying local to NYC this summer and are filling up their schedules for June, July, and August.  Please give us a call at (212) 928-5016 or email will@partnerswithparents.com if you are interested in arranging summer tutoring.  We are currently offering a new customer discount of $100 off 10-hour packages started between June 15th and August 31st.

If you’re not interested, feel free to share this discount with others and then take the rest of the summer off!

This is the time of year when New York City families with late elementary and middle school students begin to think about preparing for the ISEE, SHSAT, or SSAT in the fall.  Partners With Parents has a long history of successfully preparing students for these tests.  If you are considering tutoring, we recommend scheduling a couple of sessions before the summer to lay out a cohesive study plan for the next 6 months.  If you get an early assessment of your child’s needs then the appropriate plan can be set in motion with enough time to make substantial progress.  Our students benefit from preparation that focuses on test taking strategies and building academic self confidence, as well as simply mastering the test content.  Remember, the best tutors book quickly, so the sooner you contact PWP, the more likely you’ll be to get the best match for your child.  Below are the bios for a few of our favorite test prep tutors. (more…)

1) Take a few practice tests. Try to imitate real test conditions as much as possible.  Don’t skip the essay.  Take pride if you are meeting your target score.  Get to work if you are not!

2) Prioritize! With only a little time before the test, you must tailor your efforts to the areas where you are most likely to see improvement.  Don’t get stuck on a particular concept if you are having difficulty with it.  You can always come back to it later.  You want to be able to answer as many different kinds of questions as possible.

3) Improve your vocabulary. At this point you should be hitting those word lists with considerable intensity.   Keep words you don’t know with you at all times (flash cards, iphone apps, etc.).   Learn a new word while you’re in the car, waiting in line at Starbucks, or, dare I say, in the bathroom.  Think how many words you could have learned in the time it took you to send those 863 texts today. (more…)

Here is a basic outline of what high school students need to be considering when it comes to preparing for the SAT:

Freshman Year

RELAX!  You’ve got lots of time.  You shouldn’t be thinking about formally preparing for the SAT much at all.  If you must, you may consider the following activities as your early SAT prep: reading books, learning new words, paying attention in math class, writing persuasive essays, taking a Latin class.

Sophomore Year

It’s a good idea to take the PSAT in October of your sophomore year.  If, and only if, you know that you experience crippling anxiety when taking standardized tests, then one or two tutoring sessions are fine to alleviate the stress.  Don’t go overboard.  The PSAT is the Preliminary SAT.  Taking it in your sophomore year is essentially practice for the practice.  The reason for taking it is simple:  there are precious few opportunities to experience real testing conditions.  The more comfortable you feel in that kind of environment, the better you’ll do when the SAT rolls around.

The other thing that really makes sense sophomore year is to put a little extra emphasis on vocabulary.  Get an SAT vocabulary list and start learning 5 new words a week.  Finding a list of Latin roots (assuming you are not taking Latin) can help immensely.

If you think you might be eligible for a National Merit Scholarship (which is only open to juniors who take the PSAT/NMSQT), then it can make sense to start working with a tutor during the summer after sophomore year.  The scholarships are highly competitive. Among other things, you need to be at the very top of your class, demonstrate leadership and community service, and essentially show that your PSAT score was not a fluke by performing comparably on the SAT.  Although the award is a lot of work for $2500, it sure does impress college admissions officers.

Junior Year

This is the time to start SAT tutoring in earnest.  If you are like the vast majority of our students, we recommend starting with an SAT tutor in the fall, and using the PSAT in October to gauge your progress and motivate/scare yourself into working harder.  Remember, it’s better to have started early and have too much time than the alternative.

At the beginning of the junior year, it is a good idea to set a target SAT score.  You need to be thinking about where you’d like to go to college when deciding your target score.  While you don’t have to finalize a top 10 list, you should get an idea about the range of SAT scores for accepted applicants at the schools that interest you. Your target score should put you in at least the 50^th percentile of accepted applicants’ scores. (If you attend an elite independent high school in NYC, you will likely need to aim for the 75^th percentile rather than the 50^th, due to the degree of competition from your peers.)  Of course, to strengthen your chances of getting into your first choice school, it’s better to aim for the top end of the range. . . if it’s doable.  Once you are consistently reaching your goal in practice, formal test prep should be finished.  You might be the kind of student that is highly motivated by knowing that you can stop once you reach your target.

The SAT is offered in March, May and June.  Generally speaking, we recommend taking the test as soon as you are meeting your target goal.  If you’re ready in March of junior year, then go ahead and take it.  If you’re unhappy with your performance, you’ll be able to take it again in May or June.

Remember, if you are taking multiple AP tests & SAT Subject Tests (SAT IIs), make sure you spread them out so you don’t get overwhelmed (or at least so you get less overwhelmed).  You really don’t want to be taking the SAT, two AP exams, and an SAT Subject Test in the same week at the beginning of May!

Senior Year

If your scores aren’t where they need to be after the June exam, plan on summer tutoring and taking the SAT again in September.  The final exam date in November, just before college applications are due, is cutting it really close, but it’s nice to know it’s there as a final option if early results aren’t what you hoped.