Award-Winning SSAT Tutors serving Cambridge

For our last session, the student and I did a timed mock exam. We went over how she should approach the math section, and what questions she should skip. We reviewed test taking strategies for the verbal section, and did a few reading passages. I reminded her to not get frustrated if she came across a problem she did not know. I think she will do great on the test.

We debriefed the SSAT which the students took last week. Then Student 1 worked on his vocabulary by taking practice tests on the website. With Student 2, I reviewed geometry. Then she did some math practice problems on the website. I recommend that Student 1 work on vocabulary by looking up words that he does not know and then writing sentences that use those words. I recommend that Student 2 write geometry test questions and also do more of the math practice problems on the website.

The student was feeling confident in his math so we started reading comprehension today. He was excited for this. We went over some techniques to try while reading through paragraphs. We discussed how reading these passages is different than reading for pleasure. The student was able to write one or two key words next to each paragraph, determine the "what" and "so what" for each passage, and then use the process of elimination when answering the questions.

Yesterday the student and I met to continue her studying for the SSAT. She would like to increase her reading score. Her first set of scores were VERY GOOD but the student would like to see if she can score a bit higher- particularly in the reading. I bought some practice reading tests from the SSAT middle and she and I did a few of them together during our session. She does great on all of the questions. She does fine identifying things that were not explicitly stated. We also did a few math problems, synonyms, and fable readings as breaks from a total reading comprehension focused session. She and I will continue to work on reading exercises.

The student and I did practice questions today. We focused on math, and we discovered that geometry is currently his weakness. We learned geometry vocabulary (perimeter and area), and we practiced finding the perimeter and area of triangles and squares. We also discussed circle vocabulary (perimeter = circumference, how to find circumference, diameter and area). He needs more practice with geometry, but he hasn't really learned it in school yet.

We started with the first few chapters of the student's SSAT study guide. The first couple of chapters we covered were some lower-level math used to lay the foundation for the student to be ready to understand the more difficult types of problems found in the test. It took some time for him to get warmed up, but once he is engaged and actively participating it becomes very easy for him to understand and perform. Once we covered a few chapters of math, we moved on to the first two reading chapters in order to gauge his proficiency in this area. He did very well in reading.