Award-Winning Test Prep & Academic Tutoring in East Amherst, NY

"We went over homework problems involving converting repeating decimals into fractions. By the end of the session, the student was able to solve the problems correctly."

"The student and I went through several topics that are going to be on a test she is having later this week. This included solving equations and inequalities with absolute values, graphing ordered pairs with relations and functions, vocabulary, and solving open sentences with two variables. She was able to do the first few topics well and also knew her vocabulary when asked. She was less sure about the open sentences but that is material that her class started today. We also went over a few questions from her most recent test. She still needs to work on checking her own work but she does understand what she did wrong on that test. She also seemed more relaxed and confident this session. "

"The student scored 90% on his last Algebra 2 quiz, which is a fantastic improvement. This week we moved on from complex numbers and continued with our study of quadratic equations. Over the course of the last few weeks the student's class has been working with various methods of simplifying and solving for variables within quadratic equations. More recently, he has been factoring quadratic equations and using the zero-product property in order to solve for the variable. This week, we moved on to situations where factoring the equation isn't a possibility- which happens to be a lot of the time. In order to do this, an equation referred to as the "quadratic formula" can be derived from the model ax^2 + bx + c = 0, which uses the values of a, b, and c in order to solve for values of x. What we covered first are the requirements and indications of the use of the quadratic formula. First, our quadratic equation must be equal to 0, and if it isn't, it must first be manipulated so that it does. Second, we have to ask ourselves, "Can this quadratic equation be factored?" If the answer is no, or if it would take a substantial amount of time to compute the answer, then we continue on to the quadratic formula. This formula is stated as follows: x = (-b +/- sqrt (b^2 - 4ac)/2a. When a, b and c are plugged in from the quadratic equation in form ax^2 + bx + c = 0, then you will receive 1 or 2 possible solutions for x. The student's homework that we reviewed during this session covered 12 problems that tested the use of the quadratic formula. In many cases the objective was to simply plug in values, but there were several that required some initial manipulation to get our equations into our ideal a/b/c format. The student realized how to maneuver through these problems quickly and the homework soon became a game of repetition. He had very little difficulty with setting up the problems and also little difficulty executing their solutions. The one thing we need to work to improve is his more general understanding of the purpose of the quadratic formula and of solving quadratic equations for their variables at all. His class has moved through these techniques in a very logical fashion, so we will continue to move forward and review at the same time to make sure that he is grasping the "why?" of quadratic equation solving as well as the graphical implications of what he is doing. He is doing very, very well now and has improved greatly since the first session. "