Friday, August 27, 2010

Smells like school

As the weather changes and back-to-school ads creep up everywhere, the anticipation builds. Those seemingly endless days of summer are, well, coming to an end, and the onset of a new school year beckons. But back to school doesn’t have to mean back to old habits. A new school year marks a new beginning, a fresh start. So consider the slate wiped clean of last year’s mishaps, and start the year off right.

Here’s how.

Get organized. This means different things to different people, but the key is adopting a system (and maintaining it) that works for you. Try to find an efficient way to file school materials you’re currently using and to archive those that you’re done with but may need to refer to later. And use a calendar—be it on paper, on a whiteboard, or on the computer—in order to keep up with deadlines and better manage your time.

Get to bed at a reasonable hour. Staying up until 2:00am is all good and fun in the summertime, but you’ll regret when you wake up to a pop quiz in your first-period algebra class. Your academic performance greatly depends on how much snooze time you get, so be sure to set up a healthy sleep schedule (8-9 hours a night), and stick to it.

Get to work. This is the one time of the school year that you’re not behind on assignments and you don’t have any catching up to do. So take advantage, and keep it that way! If you get a homework assignment, do it. Don’t shove it at the bottom of your locker or use it to line your birdcage. We all know schoolwork can pile up quickly, and putting it off is a sure-fire way to end up overwhelmed and stressed out.

Get acquainted with your teachers. Introduce yourself, sit in front, ask questions—do what you can to show that you have a positive attitude toward school. Your teachers are the ones reading your papers, evaluating your homework, and grading your tests, and—let’s face it—they’re biased. Making a good impression on them paves the way to higher grades.

Get involved in school activities and SAT tutoring. If you’ve ever thought about pursuing an extracurricular interest, now’s the time to do it. Find out what clubs/teams/groups your school has to offer, sign up for try-outs, and give it a go! These activities are a great way to express yourself, and colleges love seeing them on your application.

Here’s to a successful 2010-2011 school year!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

How To Learn SAT Vocabulary

Mastering and memorizing hundreds of vocabulary words can oftentimes be a daunting and tedious task. However, have no fear- the days of flipping through hundreds of flashcards are long gone. Easily accessible and available in a variety of mediums, the number of resources ready for students these days is so dynamic that no excuse prevails for eschewing vocab preparation, or private SAT tutoring for that matter.

Vocabulary Cartoons
This book comes equipped with mnemonic devices designed for learning new words. It makes vocabulary fun by providing definitions, links, illustrations, and humorous sentences for hundreds of SAT words.
Price: $12.95

SAT Vocab for Dummies
This groundbreaking guide is packed with tips, tricks, stories, and jokes that will help build your vocabulary. It organizes vocab into easy-to-remember categories, lists numerous antonyms and synonyms, and focuses on those words that pop up over and over again on the SAT.
Price: $16.99

SAT Vocab Novels
Visit Amazon.com for a variety of novels that come with SAT vocabulary words identified and defined within. For example, the classic novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comes with 279 highlighted SAT words within the pages of the intriguing mystery.
Price: $5.00 - $15.00

SAT Vocab Challenge Vol. 1
(For your iPhone)
This iPhone app will help you master 250 vocab words by testing your knowledge of each word’s positive or negative connotation, synonyms, antonyms, and definition.
Price: $4.99

SAT Word of the Day
Increase your vocabulary by receiving the word of the day sent straight to your phone. Reach a step further and challenge yourself to use this word in casual conversation sometime throughout the day!
Price: Free, Standard text messaging rates apply.

SAT Words Shower Curtain
Improve your vocabulary and hygiene at the same time! Use your 15 minutes of daily shower time to master plenty of definitions.
Price: $28.00

Friday, August 13, 2010

Procrastination And How To Defeat It

Procrastination is something that we all deal with, even your private SAT tutors! For example, I spent the last half hour procrastinating from writing this post by reading the description on all the food products in my apartment.  I have a hard time believing that Snyders Pretzels were born from "an Old World recipe."

The point is, procrastination is an issue that plagues all of us at one time or another, and in order to best overcome it, it's important to first understand it.

In every student's head live two conflicting forces that don't like each other: the Rational Young Adult (RYA) and the Bratty Little Kid (BLK). And they're always fighting. Think of it like the old angel and devil on your shoulders.  On one shoulder is the Rational Young Adult—he (or she) knows what you have to do, and knows that it'll be a lot more fun later if you just get your stuff done now. The RYA is logical, and the thing is—he's usually right. You see, the RYA isn't some joyless old hag trying to steal Christmas—he's true to his name: he's rational.

On your other shoulder is the Bratty Little Kid. The BLK doesn't really care what happens, as long as it's the exact opposite of what the RYA wants to do. He's resistant by nature, and even though the RYA part of you knows you'll have a lot more fun later that night if you just get your work done now, the BLK wants to resist.

So, back to procrastination—when you're procrastinating, the Bratty Little Kid is winning the battle. When you're being productive, the Rational Young Adult is prevailing.

Here are five ways to help the RYA win the fight (and trust me, he's the one you should be rooting for):

1) Start small. People always tell you to shoot for the sky. Well when it comes to homework, don't. If you set too lofty a goal, it's too daunting to start working toward it. Say you have a three-page paper to write—tell yourself you're going to write half a page and then do something fun. Then after 15 minutes, you have to write another half a page, and then you can take another break, etc. This way, you're giving the BLK some time and then the RYA some time. If you can't beat the BLK, accommodate him.

2) Get the easiest things done first. They'll tell you to do the exact opposite, but they're wrong. You have to do the hardest things at some point. What's easier—starting the hardest, ickiest part of the homework when you've done nothing and the whole night of work is ahead of you? Or starting the hardest stuff once everything else is done and you know it's the last hump to get over before you're free? 

3) Talk to yourself. In general, when in doubt, it's a good idea to talk to yourself like a crazy person. So when you're procrastinating, say out loud, "This isn't that hard. I'll be much happier later if I just do this now. I have to do this at some point no matter what, so I might as well get it out of the way, rather than spend the day with it hanging over my head." If it doesn't work, say it again…and again. Until you'd rather do anything other than say it, even homework.

4) Give yourself a light at the end of the tunnel. It's a lot more fun to work if there's a good reward at the end. If you start work too late, the only thing that's happening after you finish is sleep. Well, that's no good. So start earlier, and plan to watch a favorite TV show, or go to a movie, or hang out with a friend, or play with stickers or whatever kids these days do for fun—after you finish.

5) Just start. The hardest part is the first word. Or problem. Or page. Or whatever. Starting kills the morale of the BLK. Just take a deep breath, and get the very beginning out of the way. The rest will follow.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Podcasts - A Beacon of Nerdy Awesomeness

With no “disrespect” to the iPhone and Facebook, the podcast is quite possibly the greatest tech invention of the 21st century, used by many private SAT tutors to teach you online!

What is a podcast? It’s a downloadable audio snippet ranging from two minutes to an hour, on any topic from nature to talk shows to audio versions of TV shows – basically, anything that you might want to listen to, there is a podcast that caters to your interests. The podcast subscription is free, and you listen to it on your iPod, iphone, or other portable device.

Why are podcasts beyond awesome? Instead of spending idle time (e.g. driving, walking, working out, doing chores) listening to music and learning nothing, you can listen to a podcast and absorb immense amounts of information. It’s like having your favorite teacher or professor at your beck and call and getting them to tell you incredibly interesting stuff on the topic of your choice.

Productivity! By my calculation, I spend 1.5 hours a day doing idle tasks (commuting, running errands, etc). I listen to podcasts the entire time – so, by my calculation I will listen to 500 hours of podcasts every year. This learning time is the equivalent of about THREE MONTHS of full-time lecture in school. So, assuming I listen to “productive” podcasts (e.g. not sports related), by the end of each year it will be like I took off three months from work just to catch up on current events and learn more about my areas of interest. This delights me, and only with the practicality of podcasts would I be able to achieve this added productivity.

How Does This Apply To Students? Students’ lives are packed to the brim with school work and extra-curricular activities, which makes it extremely difficult for them to keep up with the ever-changing world around them. The biggest road block for young people becoming engaged with current events is: a) it takes time, and b) they feel like they have no idea what is going on, so they have no clue how to go about finding out more about something they don’t know much about.

Podcasts easily tackle both issues by giving students a really easy way to stay up to date with current events without having to sacrifice free-time (because they listen to them when they are otherwise doing nothing) AND they are easily obtained and updated by a quick iPod or phone sync. The ease and convenience of podcasts makes it easier to start keeping up with the world and stay caught up!

Interested in podcasts? Here are some links to help you get started:

Download iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Download Awesomely Nerdy Podcasts (here are some of my favorites):

Front Page
– Basically 8 minutes every day of some guy reading you the front page of the NY Times. If you only listen to this, you will at least have a basic idea of current events.

The Economist
– Discussion of random articles from The Economist – also includes “The Week Ahead” which gives a great 12 minute overview of world events for the week.

ESPN: PTI
– A daily audio version of the acclaimed ESPN show – surprisingly little is lost without the visual. A great treat for the end of the day commute home.
NBC Meet the Press – The weekly audio version of the show where republicans say what republicans are supposed to say and democrats say what democrats are supposed to say. This one isn’t so much fun as “necessary torture so you know what is going on in Washington.”

NPR: It’s All Politics
– Two extremely silly and amusing men give a great rapid fire breakdown of the week’s political news in about 20 minutes.

NPR: Intelligence Squared
– Oxford style debate by really smart people on really interesting topics. Is Russia Friend or Foe? – good question, I’d love to know.

60 Minutes
- The weekly audio version of the show - just generally cool, easy to absorb, and interesting.

TEDTalks
– Incredibly smart people talking about interesting stuff.