SAT Math: Is it simple?

March 4th, 2010

SAT multiple-choice math questions are a nightmare for many students. Consisting of 44 multiple-choice questions arranged in the order of difficulty, this section of the SAT covers areas viz. algebra, arithmetic, data analysis and geometry. By practicing a few strategies, you can do well on the SAT multiple-choice math question section.

What if I say that SAT Math is not purely a Math test? Most questions in the math section do not test much of your math knowledge. Instead, it tests your reasoning skills. Contrary to the belief that one needs to perform lengthy calculations, math problems are quite simple and straight-forward. Students get confused in the language of the word problems. They fail to understand what exactly is being asked.

The Grid-in section on the SAT test is a 25-minute section having ten student-response questions that do not have answer choices. Hence, you would have to find the answer on your own. Be careful while filling the grids with decimals. Rounding up decimal and ensuring that the decimal is filled in properly is important. While a calculator can save time on the SAT, you should not develop a habit of not working without it. Many questions on the SAT can be solved without using a calculator. If at all you have to use a calculator ensure that it’s set to degrees not Radians.

There are hundreds of math strategies that can save you time and also show you the simplest approach to solving even the most complex math problems on the SAT.

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SAT Test Preparation

March 1st, 2010

Have you learned the strategies to crack the SAT? Following a SAT study plan is important to do well on the SAT. The first thing that you would like to do is familiarize with the test pattern. The SAT test has undergone some changes. For instance, the writing section has been added. As a SAT aspirant, you need to know this. Some students struggle with the math section, while others find the Reading Comprehension section tough.

Let us talk about the Math section first. The good thing about SAT is that it does not include questions  from pre-calculus, calculus or trigonometry. Knowing the basic math concepts is not enough to do well on the SAT. Questions on the SAT are simple, yet confusing. SAT practice tests abound in SAT pre test questions that are designed to make students comfortable with the SAT test pattern.

How many times do you read the introduction to a book? Perhaps NEVER. Isn’t it? The preface contains directions to use the book in the right way. Another good idea to do well on the math section is reviewing the math basics. It would do no harm to memorize formulas such as (a + b) (a – b) = a2 – b2.  Areas of geometrical figures such as triangles, sphere, circle and polygons should be clear to the student.

Do you know the difference between whole numbers and real numbers? Or, that between Real numbers and integers? If not, then it’s time to go back to your high school math and look into these concepts.

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Why do children (and their parents) need homework help?

February 27th, 2010

Today, we have access to the best of technology, best of amenities, and the best of education. However, there is one thing that we crave for today. And that’s time. Most working parents do not have time to spend with their children, leave helping them with homework. The problem is worse for parents who have limited academic proficiencies. How many times have you felt that your child’s math homework is difficult for you? What we used to study in our times bears little or no similarity in today’s academic syllabus. If you feel deluged by the homework your child gets, then perhaps it’s time to switch to online homework assistance.

There are a number of benefits of homework.  Homework is not given only to review the concept taught at school; it helps develop a sense of independence in the child. As children have to complete their homework with little or no guidance they learn to work independently. Homework incorporates use of reference material, encyclopedias and dictionary. Hence, children learn to use these things to their benefit.

Schools give homework and attach a deadline to the assignments. If there is no deadline to submitting an assignment, the child will, never learn time management. By instilling time management skills during early years, we can help our children become efficient managers in future.

By choosing an online tutoring company for homework help or assignment help, you get more time to spend with your child. Time is the most precious thing in this world. Let our children utilize it in the best possible way. Education should not burden them, it should instead help them become responsible citizens.

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Online Tutoring: Which is the BEST?

February 24th, 2010

It goes without saying that a good online tutoring program can open new door for your child. He/she can learn new concepts of math, English, science and other subjects with customized tutoring programs. The Internet had undergone radical changes giving birth to entirely new concepts, e-learning being one of them. Advanced tools such as VoIP, digital whiteboard, video conferencing and multimedia elements have made learning fun. Unlucky us as we did not have such technological gifts during our times!

The benefits of online tutoring are many- flexibility, convenience and affordability. What many parents find difficult is choosing the right tutoring program for their children. You cannot afford using the ‘trial & error’ method to choose a tutoring company that is the BEST.

The first thing that parents should look for in an online tutoring company is FREE trial. Using this feature, parents can access the teaching skills of an online math, online English, or online test preparation tutor. After having convinced yourself about the tutoring skills of the tutors, you should see what ‘new’ does that company has to offer. You should see to it that the tutoring company offers you the ‘flexibility’ to choose timings as per the convenience of you and your child.

It is a wrong assumption that an online math tutor holding many degrees in math would always be a good tutor. Pedagogy is the word to be understood and looked for while selecting an online tutoring company. Teaching is not a mechanical thing, it is an art. An online tutor need to know the art of imparting knowledge in a way that is best understood by the child.

Teaching a child 2 + 2 = 4 is not enough. An online tutor for math should be able to explain to the child why this is so. Same goes with ‘if plural of horse is horses, why is the plural of sheep not sheeps’. Teaching requires patience. Children do not want to study. This is a fact tutors must understand. Creativity is a useful skill for online tutoring, especially for young children.

It costs a lot to educate your child. Rising school fee, combined with exorbitant charges of a personal tutor might burn a hole in your pocket. Why to waste money when your child can have all the benefits of tutoring with an online tutor?

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Online Tutoring vs. Out-of-the-Class Programs

February 23rd, 2010

Online tutoring is different from out-of-the-classroom programs- private tutors, after-school programs et al. But how? Why do we look for an apartment to rent in near our workplace? Why do we want the grocery shop and the hospital to be in our neighborhood? The answer is Convenience. When a child starts learning through an online tutoring program, audio, video and chat features come alive, and that too in real-time.

Online tutoring, besides being convenient, is incredibly effective. Here, you would find some of the proven benefits of online tutoring in contrast with the conventional methods of teaching.

No distraction

Being a form of home based learning, web-based tutoring eliminates the burden of commuting to a coaching center. Moreover, it provides peace of mind to the parents in the sense that it does not involve unfamiliar people visiting your house. Online tutoring, as against computer-based learning programs, does not let your child get distracted. Everything is under observation. With an online math or online English tutor, your child will not have the liberty to skip a lesson that he/she finds hard.

Tailor Made

Unlike most conventional learning methods, web-based learning provided your child with a personal touch. An online tutor would not teach what is just given in a book; the emphasis would be on creative ways to help your child learn. Using diagnostic tests, an online tutor would devise a customized program for your child.

Round the Clock Availability

Schools work in fixed hours, so do most learning centers. You cannot ask a learning center to teach your child according to your schedule. This is not the case with online tutoring. You get access to 24×7 support when you enroll your child for a web-based tutoring program.

Parent Involvement

Do you, as a parent, feel left out when it comes to discussing about your child’s progress a school? With an online tutor, you have the option to monitor your child’s progress at any given time.

More on features, less on the pocket

Once you are done understanding the advantages and relevance of online tutoring, you might want to learn about the rates! Would not $10 an hour be a true bargain? Whether it is math help, English learning, homework help or test preparation, a customized web-based tutoring program would still be light on your pocket.

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Online Tutoring: Flexible, Convenient, Productive & Affordable

February 19th, 2010

Sometimes, it becomes a little frustrating to learn something new. Children, in particular, face a lot of difficulty learning new ideas. And often their self-confidence suffers a serious setback. We all know what to learn. The school syllabus is good enough to tell us what to study. The question is – How to study? Online tutoring has a great advantage over other methods of teaching as it lays emphasis on focusing on one student at a time.

At school, a teacher has to address a class of more than 20 students in general. It becomes impossible for the teacher to be able to pay attention to every single aspect of the learning process of each child. But this is not the case with online tutoring. Unlike regular tutoring, online learning is affordable and fun. Children do not feel nervous studying with an online math tutor or online English tutor.

Another aspect that online tutoring takes care of is convenience, especially in case of test preparation. How many test preparation centers for the SAT test are located near your house? Every time your child commutes through heavy traffic to reach his test preparation institute, a lot of time and energy goes waste. And remember- Time does not wait for anyone.

With an online math tutor, your child would be able to learn math with convenience and ease. Moreover, you would be able to monitor your child’s progress in a better way in this case. Research has shown that children who study in front of their parents show better progress than those who don’t.

Does a private tutor guarantee flexible tutoring? At times, children feel sleep, or are in no mood to study. Online tutoring gives you the benefit of FLEXIBILITY. You have the option to choose the time that suits you and your child. How many times have you felt our temples wrinkle whenever you have to pay those hundreds of dollars for private tutoring? With online tutoring, you do not have to burn a hole in your pocket; it is very much affordable. Homework help and assignment help are some other advantages of studying online. The world is taking advantage of the benefits of learning on the web. Why lag behind?

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Answer to the Puzzling SAT test

February 18th, 2010

No other exam has created more fuss among the college aspirants than the SAT test. Growing level of completion to get into top notch colleges makes it almost unavoidable for students to take the SAT. The SAT reasoning test today is the result of multiple changes since its birth. The latest SAT test boasts of the Writing Section.

Unlike most other tests, the SAT (officially SAT I) does not judge students on the basis of their subject knowledge. A lot of research goes into preparing the SAT. The aim of test creators is to make it a fair test for all. This is the reason why this exam evaluates students on the basis of parameters such as reasoning skills, test taking skills, time management, and to some extent, intelligence quotient.

There is no shortage of test preparation books. Visit a book shop and you will be confused seeing SAT test books by different authors. Reading books is not enough. Most Sat aspirants read the same books. Then why only some fair well? You might cite factors such as luck, IQ etc. to answer this question. However, the truth is that (research-based) students who undergo test preparation often get better marks than the un-coached students.

There are three main sections on the SAT- Reading, Writing, and Math. A student is expected to have the basic knowledge of high school math and English. Hard work pays. But isn’t it better to do smart hard work than plain hard work? An online test preparation program can expose your child to researched & proven strategies to take the test. Explanation of ‘why rather than just ‘what’ can make your child develop a better approach to attacking problems on the SAT test.

With an online tutoring program for the SAT Reasoning test, your child can learn the best of both-Math and English. Test Preparation is a rather expensive affair. Visit any of the test preparation institutes in your city and your eyes would pop up seeing those 4-digit coaching fee! It would be wrong to question the skills of the tutors teaching in those institutes. But would not it be a little impractical to opt for a private test preparation institute when you can learn everything taught there (or even more) with an online tutoring program?

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Homeschooling: School at home

February 10th, 2010

Homeschooling, a concept that dates back to those times when school attendance was not compulsory, has come back in an entirely new avatar, and caught the US educational unawares. According to the NHERI (National Home Education Research Institute), there are over 2 million homeschooled students in the US.

This might disappoint the supporters of the traditional schooling system and standardized tests (NCLB et al) those homeschooled students perform better not only in K-12 grades, but also in standardized exams like the ACT and SAT. (Read http://www.nheri.org/Research-Facts-on-Homeschooling.html to learn more).

A homeschool curriculum is flexible and effective. With issues like teen violence and drug abuse becoming commonplace, homeschooling seems to be the right solution. With a customized homeschool program, children can learn at their pace.

homeschool

Online tutoring takes homeschooling to the next level. With tailor-made homeschool curriculum, online tutoring allows you to set your own studying hours and monitor your child’s progress. Parents across the world are choosing homeschool over formal learning methods. Homeschooling, in fact, has been made legal in many developed nations. Researchers have shattered the myth that parents need have certified teaching experience for homeschooling their children.

Education should not force children to memorize concepts. Education, in the real sense, should make a child a responsible citizen. Homeschooled students, according to statistics, grow up into responsible, involved adults. Educating children at home can also let you control their eating habits- perhaps the best solution to Child Obesity. From improving academic performance to character development, a homeschool program can work wonders for your child, and you too.

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The NO Ego test: SAT

February 3rd, 2010

The SAT test tests your reasoning skills, time management and ability to perform well under pressure. What it does not test is your EGO? Among the thousands of students who write the SAT test, a large majority fail to get good SAT scores, not because those students do not have the requisite knowledge, but due to the fact that they take it on their ego when they cannot solve a difficult question in the first attempt.

sat test

Read this- You do not get extra credit for answering a tough Math problem in comparison to answering an easy one.

Still, students waste a lot of time trying to solve tough problems on the SAT. In fact, College Board puts some tough questions on the SAT to trick the students. Here is the best known secret to fetching high SAT scores- Answer fewer questions. Yes, you read it right. Never try attempting every single question. Instead, answer only those problems that you can solve in less time.

SAT test preparation should help you analyze various strategies that can help you spot the easy questions. Beware of those long Critical Reading passages that have just one or two questions. It is better to attack those passages that have 3-4 questions.

Which is the best strategy to prepare for the SAT? There is no ‘best’ strategy. You can figure out which strategy work the best for you under the guidance of an experienced mentor. SAT test preparation asks for patience, hard work, analysis, time management, and determination.

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SAT test & Calculator

January 27th, 2010

There has been a lot of debate over using calculator in the SAT test. And the good news is that you should definitely make use of the calculator. After all, you take the SAT to get good scores and get admitted in your favorite college, and to show off your mental calculation skills.

The SAT test, as well all know, tests our reasoning skills. The Math section contains questions of different difficulty levels. While you might feel the need to use a calculator for simple questions, problems that involve lengthy calculations might eat up your time if you do not use a calculator.

calculator_necessity

When to use the calculator? If you are good at math, and you can do basic arithmetic in your head, you are lucky. However, if math problems do trouble you, using a calculator would be a good decision.  Again, the same problem can attract use of calculator in different ways.

To give an example, let us see how a math problem can be solved in different ways using a calculator, and without it too.

If 16 × 25 × 36 = (4a) 2 Find a

Options: (A) 6     (B) 15     (C) 30     (D) 36     (E) 60

Approach 1: Too much use of calculator

Calculate 16 × 25 × 36 = 14400

See that (4a) 2 = 16a2

So, 16a2 = 14400

Use the calculator to divide 14400 with 16 to get a2 = 900

Again use the calculator to find the Square root of 900. Therefore, a = 30

Approach 2: Little use of calculator

16 × 25 × 36 = 16a2

The 16 on LHS can be cancelled with the 16 on the RHS

Multiply 25 x 36 using a calculator to get 900

So we get 900 = a2

Take the square root of 900 using the calculator. So the answer is a = 30

Smart Approach: No Calculator

Cancel the 16 on both side of the equation.

Also note that 25 x 36 = a2 can be written as 52 x 62 = a2

Hence a = 30

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