Mar 23, 2018
March 10th — it came and went. Maybe you took a prep class with your friends, maybe your mom ordered you one of those big scary workbooks. You did what everyone told you to do. But now, here we are. It’s March of your junior year, and your SAT score isn’t where it needs to be.
Don’t panic. There is a good news. For the first time in recent history, the ACT has opened up a July test date. For the second year running, the SAT has an August date. While some students prefer to have their standardized prep done and dusted before breaking out the air conditioners, many find they need to wait until spring before the machine is fully in gear.
I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve thought about your test scores, but one thing is certain: what you were doing wasn’t working. That’s okay! You don’t need to start over. What you need is someone to sit down with you — someone who doesn’t just know the test like the back of their hand, but someone who will get to know you. Someone with the insight and expertise to hone in on your weaknesses and capitalize on your organic strengths. What you need is a Streamline Tutor.
You haven’t missed the opportunity to land your dream score, but now is the time to commit. You need to hit the three T’s of test prep:
Test —
First, you need to decide what test to prep for. We can help. Sign up for one of our free diagnostics, and you’ll receive a comprehensive consultation along with your scores.
Timeline —
You’ve got the July ACT, the June SAT, and the August SAT. If you start in April, you’ll have between two and four months of prep.
Tutor —
You need a tutor that best suits your learning style and schedule. Make sure your tutor knows you. Don’t hide things you don’t understand. Great tutors will tease out the rest.
In short, don’t freak out. Just make sure the steps you take next are carefully considered. And if you need a free consultation, just visit our website at www.streamlinetutors.com and click the tab “learn more.”
Jan 30, 2018
Executive Summary:
Claire was a star lacrosse player at McDonogh. Her junior year, she was recruited at an Ivy League school — all she needed was a 29 on the ACT. Streamline had the perfect one-on-one solution.
Challenges:
Claire’s practice schedule made it impossible to register for a prep class. She needed one-on-one, with flexible timing that kept her committed and focused. The family needed something they knew would work: starting at a 23, those 6 points weren’t going to keep her from a dream come true.
Situation:
Claire came in with the right attitude, readily adapting to the coach mentality. Her athlete’s mindset helped her focus on the tenable goals she was ready to reach. She wasn’t bogged down by a static conception of “smarts” — she attacked the test prep regimen looking to master the concepts that challenged her most.
Streamline’s Intervention:
Streamline saw Claire had the potential to make quick gains. Her coaches needed her scores as soon as possible. We worked with her demanding schedule and found a rhythm that was manageable. We capitalized on her motivation and showed her how much she could hope to achieve.
Results:
Claire was successfully recruited by the Ivy League school of her dreams!
Jan 30, 2018
Executive Summary:
Teresa was a popular girl at Franklin High with a starting score of 21. She never thought of herself as an academic-type, but she needed a 27 for her dream school. Her tutor unearthed the academic plateau and insecurities that were preventing real growth.
Challenges:
Many students anticipate their development will be a linear progression: the more hours devoted to study and prep, the greater the results. After every session, you should be able to earn a higher score. Right? In reality, this isn’t the case. Real educational growth spikes and plateaus: after long periods of time without tangible progress, suddenly a strategy or concepts will lock into place, and you’ll see a tremendous breakthrough. These breakthroughs happen unpredictably, when you finally dig up the root of a misconception or misunderstanding. This requires patience and determination on the part of the student: you can’t be shy about voicing confusion. This was Teresa’s main stumbling block. In class, she was the never the person to raise her hand — she was afraid of being wrong.
Situation:
Teresa’s first official ACT was the exact same score as her diagnostic. She felt deflated. Could it be that tutoring just wasn’t working — or worse, that she really couldn’t manage the content? Teresa’s slow growth is typical of students with her starting score. She needed time to finally shore up those baseline skill sets to experience true growth on the ACT. Her tutor pushed her to keep at it, working to the end of the concept review phase before testing again. This time, her score went up to a 25.
Streamline’s Intervention:
In the one-on-one setting, Teresa couldn’t hide in the back of the classroom until someone else gave an answer. It was just her and her tutor. He didn’t let her off easy, either — he pushed her past frustration, demanding resolute decision making in the face of questions that challenged her most. Despite Teresa’s frustrations with her scores on practice tests, we saw qualitative improvement: with each test, she was getting closer and closer to finally getting the questions she was missing right. Her tutor knew was on the verge of breaking through one more academic plateau.
Results:
Teresa scored the 27 she was hoping for on her final ACT. She’s been accepted everywhere she applied!
Jan 30, 2018
Executive Summary:
Tim was a bright Mcdonogh student with a high starting score — 1420 walking in the door. His parents had signed him up to take a prep class with another local company. After months of tutoring with them, his score had managed to go down. Streamline turned things around.
Challenges:
In a large traditional classroom setting, teachers are obliged to “teach to the middle.” A test prep classroom faces the same constraints. Tim’s weaknesses weren’t the same as his peers: he needed the next level of instruction. In the meantime, his parents had lost their faith in the test prep process. “My kid is smart — he doesn’t need this much help.”
Situation:
What accounted for Tim’s drop in score? Streamline was able to answer this. There is a great variety of concepts that can appear on the SAT. In addition, each concept can be tested in different ways — some easy, some hard, and some in between. In short, every test is different. In order to consistently earn a high score, you need not only to know every concept, but be prepared for the most difficult ways it may be tested. Easy gains can be made by ensuring the student is baseline acquainted with all the concepts — but Tim was already there. He had everything the classroom could offer. What he needed was a tutor.
Streamline’s Intervention:
Streamline created for Tim a rigorous three month prep regime, truncated to fit the time remaining before test day. He had a demanding workload outside of sessions, but we needed that much legwork in order to identify his areas of real weakness. In order for us to be absolutely certain we were going to make a difference, we couldn’t leave anything up to chance. The tailored environment of one-on-one tutoring allowed us to deliver the content Tim really needed to maximize his score.
Results:
Tim’s final score was a 1560! He walked out of the room with confidence that he had given it his all.
