At a fundamental level, it’s really simple. Your topic sentence, or first sentence of every body paragraph, should serve three basic roles: Explain concisely and clearly everything that happens in the paragraph that follows. On some level it is an...

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, who knows when the college board will resume testing. They’ve cancelled SAT tests for the spring, and the fall is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain: they will eventually. While it may...

Helpful Tip: While I’ve experimented with Kaplan, College Board, Princeton Review, etc, the guidebook I’ve settled on is the Peterson’s. It has a diagnostic test that divides up questions by type and then provides the content and sample questions that...

Be sure to secure the area you will be tutoring in from outside distractions: children, pets, acts of God. While it’s customary to have the occasional distraction, it will signal to the student that they can take the same liberties...

Helpful Tip: For top performance on a three hour test, sleep during the several days to a week beforehand is critical for top scores. The nights preceding the night before the test are, in fact, just as important to cognitive...

I think we could all use a little lift right, so I’ll start throwing some gems at anyone who needs a little optimism right now. This one is from my favorite guy ever, David Henry: “I know of no more...

Make sure you make an effort to connect with a student personally before launching into the material for the day. It’s especially important to engage on this more informal level with online instruction, when being on a screen can, in...

It’s been a strange month. One of my students asked me what my day was like and the length of my answer was surprisingly long. The tedium I feel apparently doesn’t fit reality. “I wake up when my son starts...

Make sure your backdrop looks professional (or at least marginally presntantable!). The angle of the screen matters… Seeing your cat napping casual side up on a pile of dirty socks might be cute to you, but it’s not a great...

Make sure that you and the student have all of the same hard copy materials you will need. If it’s a math or a science that probably means a textbook. Spring for a cheap, used copy if needed. It will...