Certified Tutors From DeVry University's Keller Graduate School of Management-Indiana

This session, we went over his math homework, dealing with plotting points on the coordinate plane and translation geometric shapes. The student has a strong grasp of this concept, as he was able to answer the questions without difficulty. There were a few questions dealing with proportions that he needed more time on. I think it would be helpful to continue to develop an understanding of the relationship of numbers to see the reasoning. We then studied for a safety quiz and then moved on to science, discussing the differences between asexual and sexual reproduction as well as genetics.

The student had a geometry quiz the following day, so we worked through her homework and reviewed the concepts that she was having trouble with. The homework dealt with writing rules for composite transformations (rotations, translations, and reflections) using coordinate notation. She knew how to write and interpret the rules, but mostly needed practice with combining the coordinates. This was more of an algebraic concept, so I took this opportunity to review distribution and substitution. She caught on quickly, remembering the concepts from her math class last year.

We looked at graphs of sinusoidal functions combined with other functions such as linear functions. We practiced sketching the combined graphs and finding the equations of the two parallel lines that enclose the sinusoid. We also looked at how to determine if a function is sinusoidal, particularly if it is a combination of two sinusoidal functions. We talked about the tangent function, what its graph looks like, and how it is periodic, but not sinusoidal. Lastly, we went through several PSAT math practice problems. We reviewed polynomials, inequalities, and word problems.

Today's session covered the last 3 sheets of the student's backlog and she made good work of it over our hour. One sheet introduced the idea of graphing inequalities and she took to it quite nicely. She is all caught up now and when we meet next Tuesday we'll be able to focus on things that she's currently learning.

The student and I reviewed multiple choice writing questions. He did very well on punctuation and combining sentences. We also went over the questions he missed on the math diagnostic.

The student and I went over the old version of the reading test - all 3 sections today. She did fantastic work, as always. We are in a very good place. I advised her as to things to look out for. I advised her to stay within the lines. If the question asks you to refer to only 2 or 3 lines, stay there! Don't read into them based on information you found in the rest of the passage. I also encouraged her to read the passage with the intention with which you read your lines on stage. This should guide her to the important pieces of information in the line and the correct assessment of the subtext. We tackle math next!