SAT II Test Exam Preparation in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, Menlo Park, Atherton, Redwood City, Mountain View, Los Altos, Woodside, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga Hills, Borough, San Carlos.

650-575-5867

Here’s the truth about this field: students rarely really apply themselves to homework when it conflicts with class assignments, practice for sports teams, rehearsals or time with friends. When homework gets done, if it gets done, there is actually very little A) I can tell from their performance and B) the students get from the experience. They do rush jobs in the 10 minutes before the lesson. They give halfhearted attempts while watching TV or monitoring the status updates of their friends on facebook. They go radically over the time limits because they don’t want to “get a bad grade.” It’s the dirty little secret of the tutoring industry that no one else wants to admit.

For this reason, several years ago, I stopped assigning homework I know will be done halfheartedly. First, it does nothing to improve the student’s testing skills because on the day of the test, his or her performance will have to be anything but halfhearted. Second, it gives me a lot of credit with the student and that translates to a stronger rapport, which is my most valuable asset. Third, it prevents the burn out that so often occurs 3/4ths of the way through these sorts of programs. Instead, by trading away homework, a very limited pedagogical tool, I am able to pull out of my students a much more dedicated, serious and engaged performance. They appreciate that all I’m asking for are the two hours of the lesson, so they work harder and stay focused longer, and in my professional opinion, that’s worth a whole lot more than 10 pages of homework done by the light of a TV screen.

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MRTESTPREP@GMAIL.COM 650-575-5867