Princeton, NJ Local School Voices

As my sixteen year old becomes more in tune to what is expected of him and from him in the coming months, it has become quite clear as to the advantage he has over those less fortunate.  This program you offer is right on target - keep up the good work and good luck with this necessary endeavor.

Jake - what's the best strategy for a student who has a lot of course material to go over - class notes, many pages of boring text to read . . . but does not have alot of time - what are the shortcuts?  How does the student avoid pulling the all nighter and feeling over whelmed?  Obviously, prepping in advance is a total after thought!

The most important advice I can give to students in a time crunch (read: all of them) is to be very deliberate about how you spend your time studying.  Just because you're sitting down with a textbook in front of you doesn't mean you're learning anything!  Furthermore, just because you're reading the book doesn't mean your learning anything either. 

Planning your "cram session" is critical. This means don't simply start at the beginning and see how far you get.  Don't think that merely reading the example problems is sufficient.  It's not how many hours you spend studying, it's how effectively that time is spent that matters.

Love this information.  Hate the anxiety that comes with SAT/ACT.  How does Milestone feel about meditation for teens?  I think there's an untapped market there . . .

becoming quickly unnerved mother of an 11th grader

Many of our tutors have participated in sports at a high level, so mental preparation is something we think about a lot.  It's certainly true that a student's emotional state plays a major role in his or her performance on test day.  Some students are mature enough to manage this on their own with visualization, breathing exercises and the like.  Others benefit more from simply having someone they trust reassure them; they go into the test confident, but this confidence stems from external reinforcement rather than from a conscious decision on their part to enter a positive emotional state. 

Often students who are athletes or performing artists can relate to this challenge if it's framed the right way.  There are a lot of situations in life that demand a high level of focus (think final-minute free throws, violin solos, and public speaking), and people at any age are rarely too relaxed at crunch time.  As you imply, the challenge is usually staying composed under pressure.

We think the best way to prepare for these situations, both on the basketball court and in the classroom, is to recreate the testing environment as accurately as possible.  This means recreating the emotions you anticipate feeling on test day by using the power of the imagination.  What does it feel like to wake up early on a Saturday?  How does it feel to sit in a room full of your nervous peers, waiting as the test is handed out and you fill in your name and address?  What does it sound like?  Do you hear your neighbors scribbling as you stare helplessly at the first question, or is the clock ticking too loudly?  What about when they put their pencils down, you notice they are finished, and you have 15 questions left to answer?  Make your palms sweat, if you can, then collect yourself and go to work.

We were all told as kids what an asset a good imagination can be.  What an opportunity to put it to use!

Jake

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