Award-Winning Algebra Tutors serving Reading

The student was very confused with the concept of factoring and factoring by grouping. We spent the entire session completing practice problems. By the end of the session the student felt confident with the material.

We reviewed concepts for the student's algebra test on Wednesday. We went through one of his quizzes and broke down the concepts, one by one, into a multi-step process that he could practice with through several problems. At the end of the session, I wrote up a mini-quiz for him, and he did pretty well at the end. He will also have additional practice in class tomorrow.

The student and I started this session by reviewing a worksheet he was assigned in class that used the method of completing the square to rewrite quadratic equations in vertex form. We had learned about completing the square in our last session, but he was able to apply what he had learned to quickly solve these problems. It seemed that the primary reason he was more comfortable working with these problems was because he was able to rewrite the equation instead of solving for a variable. After completing this activity, we moved on to a few problems from his textbook. The assignment in his textbook dealt with solving quadratic equations by graphing. We did a brief review of graphing quadratic equations by finding the axis of symmetry, the vertex, and some test points. I showed him a few different methods of graphing in order to demonstrate the options he had to choose from. We had the chance to talk about the concepts to be tested on his next quiz. I've found that in our last two sessions, he has been more enthusiastic about discussing concepts, so he was still able to demonstrate his understanding of the material.

The student and I worked on solving inequalities and graphing them. It is clear that he has grown more confident in his math solving skills. He still gets his signs mixed up, but he almost always understands the concept well. We worked on his homework together and the student seemed to have a good grasp on this concept.

We went through an extensive study guide in preparation for the student's test on Tuesday. The problems focused on operations involving polynomial functions, most of which the student solved quickly and flawlessly. Toward the end, word problems proved a bit trickier, but he was able to practice some on his own with confidence by the end of the session.

The student and I did a review for test. We went over adding and subtracting polynomials, as well as multiplying and dividing them. She remembered a bunch of stuff as we were reviewing it, but I think she was glad we went over it.