Music is great for creating the perfect study atmosphere. Research has shown that music can help to create a more positive mood and that studying while happy or satisfied can help you retain more information. Sounds like a one-two punch of awesome, right? It is, but you need to find the right balance.

First things first, don’t listen to any genre of music that you don’t already like. For example, if you like classic rock, Hannah Montana probably isn’t for you. While I would recommend listening to something soft, it’s completely your choice. The purpose of listening to music while studying isn’t to distract you, but to create a buffer between you/your work and outside distractions.

Some will say that baroque classical music, or even more specifically, Mozart, is best for studying. There are some valid points to this argument: you won’t get distracted singing along with the melodies! But if classical music really bums you out, then don’t bother. It’ll just make your homework seem more tedious and unbearable. Just try to pick music that will keep you awake, alert, energetic, and focused. Not music that will have you dancing around, all thoughts of your homework thrown away while you jam out.

My preferred genre of music for studying is “lounge.” While generally frowned upon by music fanatics, lounge music provides the right combination of atmospheric melodies and hypnotizing beats to get me in the “zone.” This genre includes groups such as Quantic, Thievery Corporation, Klement Julienne, and Moby.

While I can’t tell you specifically what type of music to listen to while you’re studying, I can tell you that it is of the utmost importance that you not be changing songs constantly. If you have a massive music collection, go ahead and make a playlist but if you don’t have a huge collection (or even if you do), I would recommend using Pandora Radio. On Pandora .com, you can set “seeds” for a station and customize it to your liking. It will play continuously with related music so that you can get your study on.

So the next time your parents tell you to turn down the music, feel free to hit them with some study-related research, crank up the tunes, and get better grades. Your favorite music can get you into the right frame of mind to learn and remember the most. I wish you the best of luck in studying, and for more study-related tips, check out our effective study skills website SchoolDestroyer.com

Each SAT or ACT taken by a student costs her roughly $50 and half of a day of her life — a small price when compared to the potential benefits of admission into college.  Now, consider this: one of the best ways to prepare for taking the SAT (or ACT) is, well, taking the SAT (or ACT).  So, take both — as often as one can stand the effort and expense.  But that could mean taking twelve tests a year!  Surely that is too much.  So what else should one consider?

Consider the history and purpose of each test.  The SATs were created in the 1920s by and for several elite eastern colleges (i.e., the Ivy League) to supplement high school grades in the colleges’ evaluation of prospective candidates for admission.  The tests have changed over the years, but the basic testing philosophy has not.  The tests are designed primarily to measure the skills a student needs for success in college.  Despite some controversy (regarding diversity fairness and “trick” questions), the tests correlate well with students’ success as freshmen in college. Today the SATs are taken nationwide, but are most popular among colleges (and their prospective students) located in states on or near the coasts.

The ACTs were created in the late 1950s by and for midwestern colleges unhappy with some aspects of the SATs.  The ACTs are designed primarily to measure what a student has learned in high school.  They also correlate with student success in college, but less so than the SATs (according to some experts).  Today the ACTs are taken nationwide, but are most popular among colleges (and their prospective students) located in the broad middle of the country.  Many students feel more comfortable with the ACT (thinking they did better on it than on the SAT), but they are often surprised to find that their percentile rankings on the ACT are no better than those achieved on the SAT.

Nearly all college admissions officers accept either test.  I help prepare students for either or both.  If time and money are not major concerns, I say “go for both.”  If there is a limit, either test will do.  Personally, I lean toward the SAT because of its emphasis on the skills needed for success at the college level.  Getting into a college is only the beginning.  A student must be prepared to succeed in the college learning environment – which is vastly different from that in high school.

In high school, the teacher covers the material in class.  If she is conscientious, she will then assign reading and exercises.  A student, even one weak in critical reading and problem solving, should then be able to do the assignment because the material was covered in class.  In college, the professor does not cover the material.  The student is expected to come to class having already done the necessary reading and exercises.  The professor then “uncovers some of the material” and conducts a seminar with the (informed) students.

In high school a student is tested often.  Most high school quizzes and tests do not emphasize writing or the solving of problems a student has not seen before.  Most college courses test only three times: a midterm exam, a final, and a term paper.  Depending on the course, each test will demand writing, problem solving, or both.

The skills required of college students are precisely the ones tested by the SAT.  Preparing for the SAT thus helps a student develop the skills needed not only to get into college, but to stay there.  So, for most students, my answer is to take both the ACT and the SAT, but to concentrate primarily on the SAT.

About the Author: Captain Karl K. is a retired engineer, college lecturer and admissions officer, and high school teacher.  He is an active and highly successful tutor in a wide variety of subjects including ACT and SAT preparation, English grammar, reading, and writing, mathematics from geometry to calculus, and science (especially physics and chemistry).  He and his wife live in Atlantic Beach, Florida (near Jacksonville).

TeachAde will be integrated into the newly revamped NEA MB Web site to help members connect with each other, share best practices, and access invaluable resources with a click of the mouse. The collaboration is part of the Web site’s intentional focus on the most important subjects to members: Money, Everyday Living, Health and Wellness, Professional Resources and Travel and Leisure.

“Our goal is to partner with the best programs and services to engage and support our members,” said Mark Stevens, vice president of Professional & Web Solutions, NEA Member Benefits. “Partnering with TeachAde will help educators connect with one another on a personal and immediate level about important topical issues such as National Board Certification, 21st-century skills and curriculum and instruction. TeachAde provides our members with a means to easily share their expertise, resources and tools with colleagues across the county.”

TeachAde, which currently has over 17,000 educator participants, enables educators to collaborate within grades and subjects and across schools, districts and states. For example, through TeachAde, the best math teacher in California is able to connect with and help a new math teacher in central Ohio. Once a teacher specifies their subject/grade, TeachAde’s robust database regularly sends useful and customized teacher-created resources directly to the educator. The NEA MB-TeachAde partnership provides NEA members access to a vast database of proven resources overnight and will ensure courses remain rigorous and engaging.

“As a special education teacher, I have found TeachAde to be an invaluable support tool, allowing me to reach out to other teachers in my school district as well as communicating with my students’ parents to keep them updated on their child’s progress,” said Donna Meyerhoeffer, special education teacher at Staunton River High School in Moneta, VA.

“Because each feature was designed and tested by educators, TeachAde’s interface is easy to use and intuitive,” said Michael Pearce, founding partner of TeachAde. “Collaborating with NEA MB allows us to go further to reach greater numbers of educators, which will increase the services to existing and future TeachAde members and demonstrates our commitment to improving teaching and learning.”

NEA members can access TeachAde through the new NEA MB Web site.

According to the report, the rising cost of college, even before the recession, threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans.  Published college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007 (adjusted for inflation) while median family income rose 147%. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last 10 years, and students from lower-income families (on average) get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families.

The report, Measuring Up 2008, is one of the few to compare net college costs — that is, a year’s tuition, fees, room and board, minus financial aid — against median family income. Those findings are stark. Last year, the net cost at a four-year public university amounted to 28 percent of the median family income, while a four-year private university cost 76 percent of the median family income.

“This study reveals that higher education is becoming a roadblock, not a gateway, to success for low-income and middle-class students,” says Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., chair of the National Center For Public Policy And Higher Education board of directors and former four-term governor of North Carolina. “States must confront these roadblocks to ensure that the United States can remain competitive with other industrialized nations that have made expansion of opportunity and affordable higher education national priorities.”

1. Provide a quiet place for the child to study and review the concepts that have been learned that day. This could be a time after dinner when the table is clear or any another designated study area within the home or the bedroom.

2. Keep track of assignments. The more you are involved in the child’s school schedule, the more the child is going to consult about it with you. Remember when assignments are due, when assignments need to be started and when any tests or quizzes occur within the classroom.

3. Help children with basic skills including math skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These basic skills are required for any further math concepts to become developed throughout their academic career.

4. Use everyday situations to help your child learn math, English and scientific principals. This will ensure the child will realise the importance of the lessons that are being taught while reinforcing the information that has been covered in the classroom setting. Repetition ensures that the child will retain the information.

5. Use worksheets, computer software and educational games to further develop and practice the concepts that have been taught within the school. Using the skills learned on a daily basis will help to solidify the lesson within the child’s brain.

And finally, don’t be afraid to seek professional tutoring help if you’re in over your head or if your child is simply struggling too much.  Tutor Match has thousands of Math tutors, English tutors, and Science tutors available either in your neighborhood or offering tutoring services online.

Math Anxiety

Nationwide statistics shows that math scores have been dropping year after year for all grade levels. Students of this tech savvy generation start to fear math as early as the beginning of middle school level. Being the world leader in science, technology and innovation, this country cannot afford to have its next generation so detached from math. It seems as if unlike other countries such as China and India, the society here as a whole is not laying enough emphasis on the importance of math. Students that perform well in school are considered geeky and “uncool”, adding to the already mounting isolation from math as a subject of choice.

A recent article in the NY Times outlines results of most difficult math competitions for young people, including the American and International Mathematical Olympiads for high school students, and the Putnam Mathematical Competition for college undergraduates. The results show that American students that excel in these competitions are immigrants from other countries. People in countries like India and China still consider math to be imperative for growth, both academically and professionally. It’s no wonder that teachers from India are now teaching students here in the U.S. online. More and more online math tutoring companies are hiring tutors in India to teach U.S. students online. Providing low cost one-on-one tutoring services serves the dual purpose of effectiveness and affordability.

Parents, teachers and educators all around should start emphasizing the importance of math in real life and make learning math easy and fun by providing individual attention whenever possible.

About our Guest Blogger and Author:
Aish Agrawal is a math tutor in Boston, MA on Tutormatch.com.  He also works with http://www.clickandclimb.com which provides live online math tutoring to students in grades 3-12. For the latest information about online math tutoring and to solve the problem of the day visit http://blogs.clickandclimb.com

Early hands on research experiences are, nowadays, absolutely necessary.  If you begin to develop such an interest, offer to work in a research lab for a few hours a week during the academic year and full time during the post freshman and post sophomore summers as well.  At first you will probably just be doing busy work.  Don’t fret, you will be able to talk with other lab members and you can begin to find out what research is all about.  You may have to volunteer in order to get your foot in the door, but if you are reliable and do a good job, you may be able to negotiate a modest wage for your work.  The main goal though is not the income….it is the experience which you definitely need for your graduate school application.  As your plans mature and if graduate school is a serious option, then you will need to increase the amount of research exposure at a later stage in your undergraduate career (see below).

What about later in your university career?  Assuming that late in the sophomore year or at the beginning of the junior year you will likely begin to crystallize your plans for a major and for possible career paths.  If you are seriously beginning to think about graduate school in the biosciences, then this is the time to focus your plans.

You should try to take as many upper level courses in your major area as it is possible in your junior and senior years.  Admissions committees look for a broad repertoire of course exposures. Graduate level courses will be less of a challenge if your background is that much broader.  If you are a Biology major, definitely take biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, microbiology, physiology and any other upper level courses that you can fit in your schedule.  Do not take these courses just for the sake of taking courses but really delve into the material, and at this point some decent grades won’t come amiss.  If you are a chemistry or physics major who is thinking of going for a career in biomedical research, then plan on taking some upper level biology courses in your junior and senior years.  Students who have majored in chemistry or physics and have also had Biochemistry are highly sought after these days. 

About our Guest Blogger and Author:
Dr. Felicity U. is the Director of the Felicity Motivational Group in Nashville, Tennessee, who offers their professional english, math and science tutoring services on TutorMatch.com.

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There are a variety of ways that we can increase comprehension when reading literature. Using these techniques increases the comprehension of a classic novel in a variety of students and can result in successful comprehension of the piece of literature.

One of the top ways to increase comprehension of literature in the classroom, and with tutoring tactics, is to compare the text with a modern day interpretation of the literature. Learning by comparison can be helpful. Comparing classic literature to modern situations can also help students. Often younger generations will be more adept to learn the themes of classics they are able to identify with. If the tutor is able to provide some mirroring within the classic to modern day situations, the student is more likely to learn the information.

Providing a translation for texts written in poetry can also prove helpful. Since poetry is a language all its own, especially with Victorian authors such as Byron, Keats and Shelley, providing a text with a contemporary translation under or opposite of each line in the poem increases comprehension for the student.

Using textual clues such as descriptive words to gain the feeling of the literature can improve comprehension greatly. These identifier words can create recognition of one word, which can lead to the comprehension of one phrase, which can lead to the comprehension of the whole page.

These are just some techniques a good tutor can employ to help their student’s grasp of reading comprehension with classic literature; find a tutor near you to learn more!

Resources for Classic Literature

• Classics at the Online Literature Library
• Classic Lit authors from A to Z
• SparkNotes and Study Guides on Classic Literature
• Free Classic Literature in the Public Domain from the Classic Literature Library
• GradeSaver Classic Notes on Lit Classics
• Free Online Literature and Study Guides

From my own experience, I know that I liked math better in sixth grade than I did in seventh. I was learning basic math in both cases. The only difference was that I had a great teacher in seventh grade (Mr. Williams) and not in sixth.  It’s amazing what a difference a teacher can make. Mr. Williams had a way of making math come alive. He would frequently point out how what we were learning applied to real life situations, such as how it might be used in business finance. One time he actually went around and asked each of us to tell him a profession we were thinking of going into when we graduated. He went through all of them one by and explained how you’ll need to know math to be your best at that field.

This brings me to the topic of math tutoring. I didn’t do too well in sixth grade math. What if I could have had someone like Mr. Williams helping me out after school in sixth grade? I have no doubt I would’ve seen a major improvement in my test scores and my self esteem.  That’s the power of a math tutor.

When you go looking for a math or algebra tutor, believe it or not, you don’t need the most knowledgeable mathematician in the world. What’s more important is their ability to adapt the way they teach to the way you learn.

You might like audio learning instead of visual learning. You might like business math examples instead of sports examples. The beauty of a good math tutor is they can get to know you personally and tailor their style to the exact way you learn best. It might be hard to believe, but effective math tutoring might just make something as treacherous as calculus fun!