Here's how you as a parent can help your kid improve on the SAT.I'm a tutor. Dozens of parents spend thousands of dollars on my services each year ... to help their kids with homework. Yes, just to finish homework.
I usually mention some of the following tips when I am sitting with the kid. I feel that it's important to get homework done, but it's MORE important that we all look at the bigger picture.
Who care's if your kid got a D or a C or even if he failed a course. If he has a 700 out of 800 in the verbal SAT, he's going somewhere. If your daughter gets a 720 in the math section (yes, she can!), then it doesn't matter if she failed a couple math courses.
TIPS1. Do lots of SAT questions. You can find SAT questions in workbooks and on
www.Number2.com (a FABULOUS web site).
2. Post words on your refrigerator. Use the words in sentences when your child is in the room.
Your new friend seems be loquacious. "Huh?" She's not a laconic person, is she? "What did you say?" Just point to the word list.
3. Get your kid to practice a thirty-second "elevator talk." Imagine that Oprah steps on an elevator that you are riding down. You have 15 floors before the car arrives at the ground floor. What do you say...? Learn about Social Intelligence, sometimes called Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Quotient (Daniel Goleman's work). 1/10th of success is related to academics. 2/3rds of success is related to knowing what to say and actually saying it. The rest is luck. (What fraction of success is luck? Email me if you can't figure that out from this information...)
4. Improve your' child's GeoQ. (*It's like IQ about Geography.) If your kid doesn't learn a second language, at least get the kid exposed to students from other countries. Find an international school or find a school that has kids from other countries. Invite a kid out for coffee. Bring your kid along and encourage some talk with a map. Get your kid to ask questions. If you are in Fort Lauderdale, come to my school and meet my students from Europe, Asia and South America.
For more tips, write to me at
s2314@tmail.com If you can't do these steps X, Y and Z -- then hire me!
or when that fails – hire me! Let's get your kid ready for the SAT.
(Send me questions and I'll post the reply here as well as reply to you directly).
