The 2015 AP exams start on May 4, just one week from today. Is your teen ready? If your child is taking an AP exam this year, they’ll be studying a lot in the upcoming week (I hope). The advice contained in this guide will help them make the mostRead More

Thursday night, 9pm. A high school student finishes up dinner and sits down at the computer to check social media before going to bed. They notice a few status updates by friends complaining about the test that they have to take tomorrow. “Hmm, Alex and I have almost every classRead More

Retesting and How It Can Help You Achieve the Score You Want Standardized tests are usually stressful for students. This is understandable, as everyone knows that a strong (or weak) score can have a huge impact on college or private school admissions. To help improve test-taking performance, students and theirRead More

The Huffington Post recently ran an article about a college student who decided to break out of her old study routines by turning her notes into art – specifically, Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” recreated in impressive detail on a whiteboard. By writing out her notes in the form of an ImpressionistRead More

Do you remember learning your times tables as a child? And what about “Minute Math”? Timed math quizzes and drills are commonly used as classroom tools to reinforce basic concepts like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. But according to Stanford professor and education scholar Jo Boaler, these teaching methods canRead More

How much do you know about your children’s homework? How many assignments do they have tonight? Are they on track with their longer-term projects? If you don’t know, you should look into ways of finding out – it could actually make a difference in your child’s academic performance. A 2014Read More

Every minute of every hour each day, we’re sent into sensory overload from a ceaseless stream of updates and notifications about the world around us. As battles rage on in countries near and far, economic downturns and upturns move as swiftly as the wind, and political upheavals constantly change who’sRead More

At the start of January, many people make New Year’s resolutions – statements of intention to improve themselves or their lives in some way. But for many adults, resolutions quickly fade, forgotten within weeks or months. One study found only 8% of people actually achieve their resolutions. For adults in theRead More

New evidence from a 2014 study by New York University neuroscientists suggests that decisions requiring more time are interpreted by our brains as being overall less confident decisions. The study found that when we take less time to make a decision, our brains consider such decisions as very confident. WhileRead More

Winter break is almost here! Even if the weather doesn’t support this notion (currently 65° at General Academic’s office), students everywhere are excited about the coming break. They’d be even more excited if midterm exams didn’t come first. Having helped students prepare for midterms for nearly eleven years, we atRead More

End-of-semester exams are fast approaching. When will your child start studying? At some time during their academic careers, almost all students cram for a test at least once – that is, they wait to study until the day or even the night before, then spend several hours intensely reviewing theRead More

Bubbling answers for hours at a time probably wouldn’t rank very highly for most students if you asked them about their favorite pastime. Most of us have come to understand testing as a necessary evil that must be endured in order to prove a student’s knowledge. If you’re finding yourselfRead More

If your child is in middle school or high school, there’s a good chance they use flash cards to study for tests. Flash cards are a useful tool for reviewing material because it allows students to repeatedly go over individual concepts until they attain mastery. Most students follow the sameRead More

Khan Academy has taken the world by storm in the eight years since its inception. The online video library hosts a wealth of subjects with video tutorials allowing its users to learn at their own pace. The non-profit organization is backed by some of the largest and most influential foundationsRead More

School is just around the corner! HISD starts on Monday, August 25th, but many private schools have already started. Take advantage of the first, slow weeks of school to make sure your student has a strong framework for success. We will cover the following topics: Establishing a conducive study spaceRead More

I do a lot of test prep tutoring, and it amazes me how similar my students’ concerns are regardless of age, gender, skill foundation, and even the test they’re taking. This is for them. An open letter to the kids taking standardized tests: You are somewhere in the middle ofRead More