A tutor can help in improving your child’s academic standing, improve his confidence and retain his focus. But this will only be possible if you can find the tutor that can fit your child’s temperament and learning style. Before you hire a private tutor, ask yourself these three important questions: 1. Is the tutor approachable? One of…

Even though your teen is out of diapers you still have a huge influence on them. They still look up to you and want to make you proud. Your support throughout their high school years will have an enormously positive effect on their grades and attitude towards school and studying. It can be difficult to know just exactly…

Studying is usually defined by the same, old, boring methods – reading, writing study notes, and rote learning. While these tasks should take up the bulk of your teen’s studying time, there are certainly other less well-known methods that effective studiers use to make sure they get the grades they’re aiming for. The five methods below…

Even just the name ‘Summer School’ comes with all sorts of nice connotations: summer = sun = holiday = fun = relaxation. The irony is of course, is that summer school is anything but relaxing. If your teen is about to embark on Summer School or a summer course, they may be about to have this…

I graduated from UC-Berkeley in December, 2000 with a far less than stellar GPA.   But, I took everything I learned from my mistakes and  guided my younger sister to  graduating with honors in a much more challenging major. Looking back I really wasn’t prepared for the challenges of college life and if I had been…

It seems like those of us who spend most of our day at a computer are slowly losing those handwriting skills our elementary school teachers spent years drilling into us. More than anything else, it’s a matter of disuse: many people hardly ever write anything out by hand and, if they do, it’s a quick…

It’s back to school time, yet again.  In the spirit of the season, I decided to gather together the best tools, websites, and advice I know of to help make you a more effective and relaxed student this semester. Since I know you’re broke, it’s all free! 10 Free Applications Every Student Needs Unless you…

Over 40% of Americans claim not to have read any books in the previous year. The survey was last conducted in 2002, and noted falling reading rates from previous years. I’m sure if you’re reading through lifehack.org that you probably don’t expect reading to stop after you graduate. Yet, with such dismal…

There are many ways for students to annoy their professors: “Did I miss anything important?” (No, nothing like that happens in our class.) “Will this test affect my grade?” (No, not at all.) “What are your office hours?” (They’re the first thing on the syllabus.) Most professors understand that such questions are harmless; few, if…

My friend Stefan Hagemann has observed that so many students on a college campus seem to be elsewhere. As I walk around my university’s campus, I understand what he means: phone conversations, text-messaging, and iPod management can take precedence over attention to one’s surroundings. Even without the distractions of a gadget, the sidewalks and quads…

Study sessions can be a mess; even if you’re not the gossipy, procrastinating type of student. All you guys have to be on the same page and in a good environment for study. A routine can help this tremendously, but there is more. Develop a standard notetaking method. Different students like different note taking methods. Whether you…

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on note-taking skills. One common experience many people have, and that several people mentioned in response to that post, is that when they take good notes they remember things well enough that they rarely end up having to look at their notes again. In fact, it…

Gideon at Scholastici.us had some advice for students recently, saying that when it comes to scholarly reading, there really is no substitute for hard work, for actually sitting down and reading.Most the time in school what you need to do is very simple: Sit down with the book, a pen and paper, and perhaps a…

Note-taking is one of those skills that rarely gets taught. Teachers and professors assume either that taking good notes comes naturally or that someone else must have already taught students how to take notes. Then we sit around and complain that our students don’t know how to take notes. I figure it’s…

It’s back to school time, and it’s time to make good on the promises you made yourself last year to be more organized this time around! One of the stumbling blocks I see most often in my students is taking — and keeping — good notes for their classes. Ideally, you’d like to have…