Certified Tutors From Fort Hays State University

We covered imaginary numbers, roots of polynomials, and synthetic division. We will continue working toward a good grade on the final, as it is worth a considerable amount and can replace his worst test score.

Today was our first session together. We spent the bulk of the session working on functions. We did a series of word problems together and by the end of the session it was clear that she had a much better grasp of the issue. My plan for our next session is to continue to work through the problems that have been giving her difficulty; she has a packet that she must work through before a big upcoming test.

The concepts that I covered ranged from critical reading skills, math (trigonometry), and chemistry. The student was initially struggling how to answer questions that require critical thinking skills. After helping him understand the word problem, I started to include more techniques and approaches to the word problems that he had a tough time with. He was fairly attentive in our session. I did leave him with some extra practice, particularly trigonometry problems, reading problems, and some chemistry (significant figures).

The student requested to practice using proportions to solve percent and fraction problems. We worked through about a dozen problems and talked about how to set the problems up correctly. Besides that, there were just a few different isolated math ideas that she wanted to review. These included changing repeating decimals to fractions, and reviewing the properties of addition and multiplication.

This is a very good student who works very hard. For the first hour we continued to work on math. Although it was a struggle for her, she worked very hard. Then we took a break and wrote a story. Finally we read more of "Sophie the Snoop," and then talked about one chapter in which there is a substitute teacher in Sophie's class is like the book "Ms. Nelson is Missing." For homework, the student has 10 sight works a few pages of math. She will get two prizes if she finishes everything. Next week, we are going to finish "Sophie the Snoop" and read "Ms. Nelson is Missing," then make a Venn diagram comparing the substitutes in each book.

During this session, we reviewed the part of the practice test the student had completed. His accuracy is definitely improving in the reading section. We discussed ranking passages and skipping around to complete the easiest ones first and leaving the hardest for last. We also did math review. I suggested he write out important things to remember for the math section (e.g., the slope when lines are perpendicular or parallel, formulas for area) to study. He had not completed the analogy portion of the test, and I advised he do this as well, even before taking the next full length test. Practice is the best way to improve for analogies.