To recommend a specific book for a teenager is always a challenge. Kids are different, and the same book that makes one reader thrilled leaves another absolutely indifferent. In my reading class I never force studenst to read a book which does not interest them, even if I think that the book is great. Instead, […]

I have a few students who want to learn how to write fiction. As a rule, they are voracious readers with great vocabulary and strong desire to write. They come to my class hoping to get a professional advice and/or motivation to develop their skills. It is enjoyable to read and discuss their short stories and see how their daily […]

Reading Comprehension part of the SAT test can look easy but it is not! In fact, to increase your score on reading is harder than on any other SAT section including Math. Why is that? At first sight, the Reading  section seems pretty easy: just to read a passage attentively and to choose the best answer out of […]

Lack of interest in homework may clearly indicate that a student has problems with his/her work assigned for home. Perhaps, earlier a child missed his teacher’s explanation and as a result does not clearly understand how to approach certain math/science problems. Once I had a new private student whose parents were concerned about her low grades […]

I have already written about some grammar questions that are typical for the SAT Grammar (or Verbal) section. In this entry, I am going to focus on the Rules of Punctuation, especially on the difference between a semi-colon and a colon. Actually, the difference between a semi-colon (;) and a colon (:) is relatively simple. […]

Tim is a great student who knows how to write a good essay, but the suggested topic for his college application essay (which was simple and personal) made him confused. He knew that a good essay should have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, the prompt was so simple that any introduction […]

MATH TUTORING OPERATIONS WITH INTEGERS: EASY WAYS TO DEAL WITH “NEGATIVE-POSITIVE” NUMBERS Victoria is an 8-th grader. At the moment she is struggling with calculating the slope of linear equations. Although Victoria knows how to find the slope, she experiences difficulties in pure calculations. Every time she has to subtract a negative number from a […]

Advice from an experienced tutor. This is one of the frequently asked questions that I hear from my students: Do I need to go over all theoretical information about Subject, Predicate, Direct object, etc? The answer is no. Although the SAT Writing and Language section includes pure grammar questions, few of them are about theory. […]

Do not panic! Three weeks seems like a very short time, but it is surprising how much one can improve. Let’s imagine that you are a student whose SAT is scheduled ….hmmm… very-very soon. Here is our first session. OK, what shall we do? Let’s look at the format of the test, starting with Section […]