Academics Plus Tutoring Center

Someone recently forwarded us this article: The College Crunch Top 50. While we don’t necessarily buy into any college ranking as the end-all be-all, we do find that there are usually some good tidbits of information in them, and this one is no exception.

If you or your child is going through the college application process, we encourage you to do your research. Read lots of articles and brochures, visit the schools’ websites, ask the high school college counselor for advice, take some trips to check out college campuses and chat with current university students. Basically gather as much information as possible. But then decide which school is #1 on YOUR list because, in the end, that’s the only list that matters.

Ok, I know we’ve dropped the ball on our blog since the Spring. We apologize about that. And we promise to ease back into blogging again so that we can continue to provide you with helpful hints, useful information and links to great articles again this Fall. And we’re starting today!

We found a great site with 100, yep you heard right, 100 resources for the SAT. Personally, we think they left out two of the most valuable resources, our SAT books, How to Ace the SAT Without Losing Your Cool and The SAT Success System but we forgive them, maybe they just haven’t had the chance to read them yet. Anyway, check out The Ultimate Guide to the SAT: 100 Helful Sites and Resources; it truly is a gem of a site.

Thank you for visiting! We welcome any feedback and/or comments. For more information, free articles, resources and audio files visit us at www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com.

Scores for the May 3rd SAT I tests are available online today on the College Board website.  Check them out by clicking on the College Board link and signing in. Good luck!

Scores for the May 3rd SAT I tests will be available online tomorrow on the College Board website.  Check them out by clicking on the College Board link and signing in. Good luck!

It’s true. Stress affects kids nationwide. Some students buckle under the pressure of exams, which can have negative consequences on their emotional wellbeing, not to mention their grades. Staci Hupp addresses the topic of how Texas schools are dealing with academic pressure in the article, Texas schools testing ways to ease TAKS anxiety in the Dallas Morning News today. She sites school officials as asserting that scores of stressed-out students can be as low as those of students who don’t know the answers. We think that’s a problem.

Luckily, whether you’re from Texas or Tennessee, you can benefit from practicing some simple steps to manage your stress. Some of our suggestions for dealing with the anxiety, such as breathing deeply, visualizing, and focusing on what you can do, are cited in this article. Check it out at Texas schools testing ways to ease TAKS anxiety.

So the SATs are this weekend. Are you doing all you can to get yourself in the right frame of mind? By now, you’ve done just about as much as you can to study for the exam. You have spent the last few months, or for some of you, past couple of years, learning new material, taking practice exams, studying vocabulary words, and so on. Now it’s time to review the material you’ve learned and start winding down from all your hard work. 

Take some steps each night this week to get yourself into a calm state so that you can take the SAT with ease and comfort rather than stress and strain. Here are a few suggestions:  

Breathe deeply: taking full, deep breaths has a calming effect on your body and fends off fatigue by getting oxygen to your brain and the rest of your body. Practice deliberate breathing exercises for a few minutes each morning and night (and whenever you remember). 

Maintain the proper perspective: I had a student once tell me that she was excited to take the SAT because it gave her the opportunity to show how much she had learned during her year of SAT prep. How great is that? The point is that at this point, you are taking the exam whether you like it or not.  Why not see the experience as a positive, rather than negative experience?  

Visualize success: Spend a few minutes each day imagining yourself achieving your goal score. What would your experience be? See if you can generate the actual feeling in your body in as much detail as possible. If you actually believe in your own success, you are much more likely to achieve it.  Good luck! And congratulations on all your work!

Our goal is to make this blog the most helpful and informative blog on Academic Success and SAT preparation. To do this, we need your help, so please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!!  

For more information, FREE articles, resources and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com. 

In a recent article by Kathy Haight in the Charlotte Observer, two SAT students piped in about how they obtained such high scores on the SAT. If you are one of our students at Academics Plus, or have used our SAT book How to Ace the SAT Without Losing Your Cool, some of their advice may sound familiar. 

Take this tip for example, “assess your strengths and weaknesses before sitting down for the more than four hour test.” Could that be any more similar to our philosophy? Or how about this approach for the night before the exam: relax the night before with a movie, some meditation and a good night’s sleep. Very much in line with what we recommend to our students. If you want to check out the full article, just click on the link: Teens share secrets to SAT success.

Our goal is to make this blog the most helpful and informative blog on Academic Success and SAT preparation. To do this, we need your help, so please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!!

For more information, FREE articles, resources and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com. 

I think we can all relate to feelings of fatigue and overwhelm. And I’m sure we’ve all resorted, or at least wanted to resort, to quick fixes, to help us through. For students these days, the quick fix can often come in the form of prescription medications and energy drinks. However, these solutions are not the wisest and can be counterproductive.  We found a good article about the use of these stimulants during times of stress. Check it out: Stress May Lead Students To Stimulants, and let us know what you think. 

Our goal is to make this blog the most helpful and informative blog on Academic Success and SAT preparation. To do this, we need your help, so please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!!  

For more information, FREE articles, resources and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com.

Here is your fifth and final installment of Jack Canfield’s article, Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide. Look back at the previous blogs for the introduction to, and the earlier installments of, this series.  

Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results. Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, and opinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.  

Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn’t take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.  

Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking — they will become woven into the very fabric of your being.
© 2008 Jack Canfield 

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com. 

Our goal is to make this blog the most helpful and informative blog on Academic Success and SAT preparation. To do this, we need your help, so please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!!  

For more information, FREE articles, resources and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com.

Here is your fourth installment of Jack Canfield’s article, Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide. Look back at the previous blogs for the introduction to, and the earlier installments of, this series. 

Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide 

Index Cards

We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3×5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.

Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization

An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here’s an example of an affirmation:

I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise,and working just four days a week owning my own business. 

Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.
© 2008 Jack Canfield 

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com. 

Our goal is to make this blog the most helpful and informative blog on Academic Success and SAT preparation. To do this, we need your help, so please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!!  

For more information, FREE articles, resources and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com.