Academics Plus Tutoring Center

Increase your Self-Knowledge     

Having a clear understanding of your own learning styles and preferences can have a significant impact on your SAT preparation process.  If you have comprehensive knowledge of your own skills, talents, strengths and weaknesses, you are in a much better position to achieve a higher score on the SAT.  As you move through your SAT preparation process, monitor and assess your own process by identifying the methods, strategies, and habits that work best for you. Ask yourself the following questions…During the SAT preparation process, ask yourself the following questions: What problems give me the most trouble? Which questions make me doubt myself the most? At what times am I most productive? Is time management a problem for me?       

At our tutoring center, Academics Plus, we promote the exploration of various studying methods and strategies during the SAT preparation process.  Keep in mind that EVERYONE LEARNS DIFFERENTLY. For example, SAT preparation students who are visual learners often benefit from making vocabulary index cards with fun and silly pictures while SAT preparation students who are auditory learners benefit from audio taped vocabulary lists and definitions.  Learn what methods work for you (not for your SAT preparation coach, not your friends, not for your sister or brother) and support yourself by using those methods consistently. This will make for a much more effective SAT preparation process. Here is a funny story told by Leo Buscaglia that illustrates the fact that everyone learns differently. The story makes the point that when you try to force yourself to learn in a way that works best for someone else, the result can be quite undesirable!

Leo Buscaglia – “The animals got together in the forest one day and decided to start a school. There was a rabbit, a bird, a squirrel, a fish and an eel, and they formed a Board of Education.  The rabbit insisted that running be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum, and the squirrel insisted that perpendicular tree climbing be in the curriculum.  They put al of these things together and wrote a Curriculum Guide.  Then they insisted that all of the animals take all of the subjects.  Although the rabbit was getting an A in running, perpendicular tree climbing was a real problem for him; he kept falling over backwards.  Pretty soon he got to be sort of brain damaged, and he couldn’t run anymore.  He found that instead of getting an A in running, he was getting a C and, of course, he always got an F in perpendicular tree climbing.  The bird was really beautiful at flying, but when it came to burrowing in the ground, he couldn’t do so well.  He kept breaking his beak and wings.  Pretty soon he was getting a C in flying as well as an F in burrowing, and he had a heck of a time with perpendicular tree climbing.  The moral of the story is that the person who was the valedictorian of the class was a mentally retarded eel who did everything in a halfway fashion.”

Please give us your feedback and make comments to our blog!! For more information, free articles and audio files, visit: www.howtoacethesat.com and www.academics-plus.com

Tags: 12