Award-Winning Test Prep & Academic Tutoring in Tinley Park, IL

"The student had a test on Friday, so our session on Thursday was a chapter review of her exam. Her test involved conic sections equations and graphing. We reviewed how to graph a parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. She needed practice and help remembering how to find a directrix and focus for a parabola through the equation. For ellipses, she needed to remember how to find vertices and what constituted the major or minor axes, as well as how to find the foci for an ellipse. For the hyperbola, it was similar to the ellipse, but she needed a way to remember which one was added and which one was subtracted, so I gave her an image on how to do that (2 halves of the ellipse come together = +, and hyperbola points away = -). Also, she needed help finding the equation of asymptotes. Lastly, we went over how to take the given info above and finding the equations of the conic sections."

"This session the student and I went over prisms, cylinders, pyramids, and cones. Last session, we discussed the surface areas of the four shape types but we calculated each area on a shape by shape basis. We had broken the shapes into its components shapes and calculated the area of each before finding the total surface area. This week, we learned general formulas for the surface areas and volume of the four shape types. These formulas could be applied to all prisms, cylinders, pyramids, and cones. For surface areas, we recognized that all the shapes were comprised of its base areas (2 for prisms/ cylinders, 1 for pyramids/ cones) and is lateral area. So calculating SA was broken down into two steps. Finding the base areas were simple because they were basic shapes whose areas were previously covered. We derived the formulas for the lateral area by recognizing that it was the base's perimeter scanned over the length of the prism/cylinder. Surface area calculations regarding pyramids and cones required some memorization. Like with prisms/ cylinders, the base area was easily calculated. We derived the formulas for the lateral areas to show from where the formulas came. He had no trouble find SA's after he memorized the formulas. Volumes of the four shapes proved easier to find than surface area. We recognized that volume of prisms and cylinders were just the bases' area scanned through its height and saw that the volume formulas reflected that (Base x h). Volumes of cones/ pyramids were less intuitive but easy to memorize (volume is 1/3 of the volume of its corresponding prism/ cylinder). He had no trouble applying these principles either. We talked about Euler's rule for polyhedrons as well as Cavalieri's principle. "

"Today the student and I went over his classwork and homework on box plots and frequency tables. We also went through some 6th grade math sample state test questions. The questions had covered several topics that he and I had worked on and with some encouragement, he tackled the questions and did well. I was very pleased with how well he did."

"The student did well today! She got an A on both her individual and group exam for the last chapter! :) This improved her overall grade, but I want her to get an A in the course. We're going to work on different tactics/test taking skills so she's getting A's on her quizzes (since they're timed). Today, we went over the material that will be in the upcoming chapter. It's not too hard and I think she will do well. For Tuesday, we'll go over homework she had and start learning some test-taking skills/practice for her upcoming quizzes. "

"We covered solving systems of equations, slopes, coordinate points, and point-slope formula. The student did well on all topics. We reviewed everything in the unit that he is currently in. We went over a review that the teacher provided for the upcoming test. The student was positive and I had no problems tutoring him. I gave him a few test tips for his upcoming test and told him his weaknesses so he can work on them. He seems to understand everything and should do well on his next test. He mentioned that he received a 92 on his most recent quiz. So far most of his grades are in the 90s range. He is more confident and understands more of the material now. He is quicker to learn new concepts."

"Today we worked on the SAT preparation. We covered vertex form of the quadratic equation, and the relation of all three coefficients a, b and c to geometric properties of the parabola. Then we used completing the square to come to the vertex form. Likewise, we solved problems which required use of completing the square to establish the formula for the circle. Then we solved problems relating to similar triangles and special triangles, and relating to the Pythagorean theorem. The student is well prepared and very serious about increasing his SAT score."

"Today we solved the set of the problem involving quadrilaterals. Particularly we classified polygons based on given information. Also we determined unknown sides or unknown angles in rhombuses and in a square. We filled out a chart using properties of sides, angles and diagonals of quadrilaterals. Next we solved triangles using basic trigonometric functions. We calculated unknown sides and unknown angles. Finally we reviewed angle elevation and angle depression and its applications."

"This was my first session with this student. Our goal was to establish trust and to gauge style of learning. We went over her algebra work and organized her past homework. I quizzed her on some concepts of inequality expressions. I asked her to point out homework problems she had difficulty with, and we went over them together. I made a couple suggestions to space out her work in order to avoid simple errors. This was a very productive and useful first lesson for her. She is very capable and has a great attitude. "

"During this session, we went over the skit that was started last week, and the students presented their work. Afterwards, we did some listening activities, and we worked on conversational English. Next class period, we will start working on new vocabulary. "

"We reviewed volume and surface area of three-dimensional objects, scaled values, and adding and subtracting fractions from scaled values. The student struggles with doing the math mentally, but not the process. Remembering the entire process can make keeping everything constant difficult, but shouldn't be much of an issue with practice. The student should practice some mental math with fractions from integers to become more fluent in quick mental math. "