Thursday, March 26, 2020

Creating Chemistry and Attraction

Creating Chemistry and AttractionChemistry and attraction have been widely discussed in the media lately. Although you may not know how to talk about it, there are many things you can do for both of these topics. If you find yourself falling in love, you will want to make sure you are on the right track so that you will remain a happy couple.The first thing you should do is decide what you are studying. If you are studying chemistry, this is one of the most popular topics that have been studied for years. Chemistry and attraction have been studied for a long time as well, and they are a valid subject for learning. However, if you are just starting out, you may want to choose something that isn't too complicated.For instance, if you are interested in an aerospace career, you may want to avoid the physics courses. On the other hand, if you want to be an astronaut, it would be great to take a course that focuses on chemistry and space exploration. There are many other courses available as well, though.Another thing to keep in mind is that you may need to learn how to put two things together to create chemistry and attraction. For example, you might need to study food and love. By reading various books, you can learn about the different nutrients you need for a healthy relationship.You will also need to learn about the different types of food and how it affects your body. This is going to help you understand how the two different factors interact. You can even go on vacation and find a place that has healthy foods for everyone.You will also need to learn about the way you think and which area of your life is the center of your interests. If you are interested in sports, for example, you may need to find ways to connect with people who share the same passions. People have different strengths and weaknesses, so working on these areas will help you work on your chemistry and attraction.Once you find the subjects you are most interested in, you should get into the habi t of thinking about the topics as often as possible. This will help you see what is attractive about something. It is very important that you constantly find out what attracts you, so that you can build a relationship with someone you love.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Qualities All Career and School Counsellors Should Have

Qualities All Career and School Counsellors Should Have What You Should Know Before Looking for Jobs as a Career Professional ChaptersWorld of Work: Gain Personal and Professional SkillsGet to Know the UK's Education SystemBecoming a School PsychologistBecoming a Career Guidance ProfessionalPeople who want to give career guidance or are interested in working as a professional school counsellor often find themselves at interesting, career path crossroads. Not only do people working in this profession have to understand the intricacies of career development and career planning, but those who want to work with children and teens also have to have skills as a career counsellor. These kinds of skills can include a range of qualities, from being able to perform a career assessment to having a grasp of child psychology.Career management, however, isn’t the only type of field these professionals have to master - having great interpersonal skills is often more important for a career advisor to have. This is especially true as well for child psychologists, an occupation that often saves the lives of many young adul ts. Becoming a career coach of sorts, whether that be for adults in the professional world or for students working on their university applications, is becoming ever more important.With the way digital media has transformed the job market, those looking for a career change or who are interested in understanding what kind of job opportunities await them in the future - having a guide to help improve their job search strategies can be vital. Here are some of the qualities you should make sure to acquire if you’re looking for career options in counselling.Search for self development courses here. Explore career options in counselling - there's many diverse options! TraceyPersonal development Teacher 4.92 (9) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors NatashaPersonal development Teacher 5.00 (7) £55/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AntonellaPersonal development Teacher 5.00 (1) £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors IsamPersonal development Teacher 5.00 (3) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AndriyPersonal development Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MichelePersonal development Teacher 4.73 (7) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors FlloydPersonal development Teacher 5.00 (11) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors OliverPersonal development Teacher 4.33 (4) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsWorld of Work: Gain Personal and Professional SkillsWhether you’re working at a high school or at a professional career centre, being able to help students and adults look for job offers or aid in their re sume and cover letter writing or interview skills can be viewed as one of the most important social services out there. Offering psychological or career services, however, necessitates many difficult interpersonal skills.Whether you’re helping someone with their career exploration or family life, having strong interpersonal skills will be extremely important when offering individual or career advice. These are the types of skills you use to communicate with others.For example, from helping someone accomplish their career goals to completing their cover letters, you will have to be an attentive listener and be able to keep an open mind. Similar to the ways teachers often have to adapt their courses to the needs of their students, those working in educational psychology or as career counsellors will have to adjust their methods to the needs of their clients.Interpersonal skills often figure under “soft skills,” as opposed to “hard skills” like programming and language abilit y. Whether you’re working with job seekers or students, having a demonstrated ability to utilize these skills will help you stand out from the competition.When it comes to working as an education psychologist, meaning you will offer emotional support to students while collaborating with teachers and/or parents, the most important professional skills you’ll need is vocational training in the field. Whether that be through a domestic or international practice, you should have both academic and professional experience in psychology.School counsellors, on the other hand, will have to make sure their academic and career choices have included work in psychology but aren’t strictly necessary for many school guidance career pathways. As a counsellor, it is possible that you will work with multiple schools and therefore, students will need to make an appointment with you. Having the professional skills of both schedule building and organizing academic and career resources will come in handy.Those looking for career offers in giving professional career guidance can get chose an in person or online career path. The kinds of skills involved in this kind of job will be the ability to tailor a career plan to many individuals, participate in career fairs, guide students after graduation into a new career quickly. Having these kinds of professional skills will give you many more employment opportunities.Lastly, all of these occupations will require different education levels. While working as a school or professional guidance counsellor will typically only require a bachelor’s degree in order to get jobs and internships in adult and student success, educational psychology will often require a master’s level of education and above. If you're interested in offering personalized career advice, consider a job in career consultingGet to Know the UK's Education SystemGetting any career opportunities involving personal or career assessments, whether that be through an online job or an in-person counselling centre, will require you to understand both student employment and the education system of the UK.There are many different ways you can assist students - one thing to keep in mind is that you will most likely always have to do so, no matter what ends up being your career choice. After all, what career hunt or university application doesn’t involve a minimum understanding of the education system of the country?Being a psychological or career guide means you will either be dealing with students within the school system or students on a job or internship search. Along with the education system, it will be a good idea to have general knowledge in the following categories no matter what kind of career paths you choose :Biggest private and public sectors in the countryUnemployment statistics and benefitsThe ins and outs of A-levels and university requirementsEducation requirements for public and private job postingsGeneral school guidance counsellors, as well as some education psychologists, might find it a good idea to either gather or write important student resources themselves. These can include pamphlets or brochures relating to how to ace a mock interview, different career fields, where to find a job board, local university admission requirements and more. Being able to provide student services related to counselling will mean being able to give advice on everything from job interview pointers to where to get support for school related anxiety.If you’re interested in taking part in working for a development centre or career consultant agency, you will want to know more of the education requirements that major companies or organizations typically require from postsecondary students. You wil l also have to practice delivering the career information you will continue to gather in preparation for your own walk in hours, for updating online resources, or if you choose to participate in a job fair.Becoming a School PsychologistIf your career interest lies in wanting to make a positive impact in the lives of children and families, consider becoming and educational psychologist. Because schools the world over are revaluating the traditional definition of the services schools should supply, many have expanded that definition to include counselling programs for children, young adults and families.Some of your daily tasks can include following behavioural changes in at-risk students, recommending counselling programs for troubled families, and providing emotional support to young adults with mental illnesses. If you’re interested in choosing a career that specializing in giving psychological care to children and young adults, you will need to master some basic personal and pro fessional skills such as:Understanding insurance coverage for psychological processesGreat communication and listening skillsA complete mastery of child and young adult psychologyOrganizationBecoming a professional psychologist for schools can involve either being an on-site or off-site therapist or counsellor, depending on what region and school district you’re in. For all counselling jobs, the most important step you’ll have to take in your career journey is to acquire experience in the field. Finding an undergraduate or graduate program that provides this kind of real-world training, as well as postsecondary training programs, can help you build the confidence to practice in your field.If you’re wondering what educational paths you can take to become a counsellor, becoming a school therapist will involve attaining an undergraduate degree in psychology or a specialization within the field.Counselling can mean helping people find ways to heal themselvesBecoming a Career Guida nce ProfessionalIf you’re an industry professional looking to change careers or someone who enjoys giving advice on resumes and interview skills, finding a job in career counselling might be worth checking out. Some of your daily tasks will involve anything related to career advising, from finding job shadowing programs for your clients to running workshops on how to advance in a field you’re an expert in.There are many different avenues people follow when they take up a job in career coaching. Most often, these jobs are taken up later in life, something that benefits you as a job seeker because of the experience you have built in your years on the job market. However, you can also take this up as a straight-out-of-college career, or even after high school.There are many different qualities you’ll need in this field, many of which include being an organized and independent worker. If you work on a university campus in a career centre, you’ll need to organize informational br ochures and online databases. If you work as a career consultant in the private sector, you’ll most likely have to deal with clients in a one-on-one, individualized setting.Whether you want to work as a private career advisor or as a school psychologist, getting accredited with an established body can boost your chances in getting hired!

Tutor Interview Questions Part 1 - Private Tutoring

Tutor Interview Questions Part 1 BobbiM Mar 13, 2013 If you want a job as a tutor, you need to be ready and prepared to answer the questions that potential clients will want to know. Tutor Interview Questions: An Introduction This means you need to do your homework on the following items: Who is your customer? What is their motivation for seeking a tutor? For them, what does success look like? 1. Who is Your Customer? If a client is seeking a tutor, that client is most likely a parent who is looking for a tutor for their child. So, the real customer here is the parent. 2. What is their Motivation for Seeking a Tutor? What does that mean for you, the tutor? A few things: The motivation for the parent in seeking out a tutor is that their child is not performing well in school, or that they could perform much better. Another motivation for a parent is that a standardized test is coming up such as the SAT Test or the ACT Test, and the parent would like their child to be completely prepared to take the test. 3. What Does Success Look Like? These in general are the motivations that most parents will have. So, this means, then, that you need to convey the following: I am a tutor that will help your child perform better than he is performing right now. I am the tutor that will help your child get an amazing score on the SAT or ACT test. If you convey the two items above and demonstrate in the past how youve done that for other clients, then youll be very competitive and will likely be receiving a job offer.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

About the Virtual Writing Tutor Grammar Checker

About the Virtual Writing Tutor Grammar Checker Nicholas Walker, creator of the Virtual Writing Tutor For a list of Virtual Writing Tutor features with video tutorials on how to use them, see here. This article is about the motivation to build and use the Virtual Writing Tutor for pedagogical purposes. Until recently, I had been correcting student errors by hand, returning assignments a week or two later. Like other teachers, it always struck me that 7-14 days was a long time for learners to wait for corrections, but with the large number of students I had in my classes, it was the fastest I could get the job done. Even then, I was concerned that my slow method of error correction was constraining the amount of writing practice my learners were getting in my courses. To explain, if it takes two weeks to correct students writing and students expect corrective feedback on every writing task they do (or they wont do it), then the most a teacher can assign is one writing assignment every two weeks. Nevertheless, students language development benefits from writing more often. Of course, I tried using MS Word and other automatic error correctors, but they were not particularly useful at catching  second language errors in my students writing. I then turned to Moodle and developed an extensive  auto-linking glossary  of errors, but the glossary filter put a heavy load on Bokomarus  Moodle server  and slowed everything down. So, in the spring of 2012 while my college students were out on  strike, I launched the Virtual Writing Tutor and set the following goals for myself: To increase the quantity of corrective feedback available to our students To improve its quality To improve its timeliness To increase its frequency To enhance ESL writing pedagogy Increasing the Quantity of Feedback: Catching More Errors Most automatic grammar checkers miss the kinds of errors that second language learners make. They seem more focused on  the kinds of errors that writers in their first language make  instead. I want to remedy that by catching transfer errors, tense errors and  collocation errors. While human teachers can potentially catch all of these errors when they correct assignments by hand,  no teacher has either the time  or space in the margins to correct every error in a college-length writing assignment or explain at length the nature of each error. The VirtualWritngTutor can provide more detailed feedback on as many errors I program it to detect. Improving the Quality of Feedback: Details, Links, and Resources Skeptics of automatic grammar checkers sometimes interpret the occasional false alarm, bad feedback, or  missed error  as a sign that the quality of automatic feedback can never be as good as the feedback a human teacher can give. I am working on these individual problems, and I believe that I can overcome them with time. Indeed, members can help me by reporting issues with the system using the  Report button  on this website. In the meantime, there are other aspects to feedback quality that sceptics should not overlook. Hand-correction usually involves a combination of underlining, terse metalinguistic correction codes and the occasional explicit correction. The Virtual Writing Tutor does all that, too. It locates an error, provides a metalinguistic explanation of the error (not just a correction code) and suggests one or more ways to correct the error. However, the Virtual Writing Tutor goes one step further and displays a clickable link to relevant online remedial practice activities and resources. In this way, the Virtual Writing Tutor can generate a kind of instant curriculum, tailor-made for each learner and based on the learners immediate learning needs. That in itself goes well beyond current hand-coding practices. So, all things considered, the Virtual Writing Tutor has the potential to give better feedback. Example text Try it for yourself. Click the text below to see what the Virtual Writing Tutor can do. I make a lot of mistake that negatively effect my writing. Thats not good. I want always to make the good choice of verbs. I want also to improve my pronunciation. My English-speaking friends talk about to help, but they never do. I work in a big store on the south shore of Montreal where there are a lot of immigrants people. Im speaking every day to a men that works there. I think practicing with immigrants is equally as effective. So far, I have work there since 2 weeks and my English is getting more better. Also, I have learned already a lot about retail, but I will like to have a better job. I am waiting still for my first paycheck. They dont have paid me yet. When I will get paid, I will pay my parking tickets. Nevertheless if my English would be more better, I would definitely get a better paying job. I often wonder how many opportunities I would had had if I paid more attention to my nice English teacher in high school. Improving the Timeliness of Feedback With large class-sizes during the busy midterm period, the timeliness of the corrective feedback on writing we give our students tends to suffer. Teachers struggle to get corrections back to their students by the next class, but sometimes students have to wait two weeks. When assignments are returned, students exclaim, It was so long ago that I have forgotten what I was trying to say here. With the Virtual Writing Tutor, feedback is instant. What could be more timely than that? Improving the Frequency of Feedback The Virtual Writing Tutor is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Instead of receiving corrective feedback on only one draft of an essay or narrative composition, learners can now get feedback on every draft throughout the writing process. The system will never get annoyed or tired. Learners can write a paragraph, check it, write another check it, and so on. The Virtual Writing Tutor makes it possible for learners to get feedback as often as they want it. Another point worth considering is that teachers can now give more writing assignments than ever before. Whereas teachers might have been reluctant to add to their own workload by assigning additional writing tasks to their students, with the availability of the Virtual Writing Tutor they can ask for error-free texts every class and the burden of error correction will never increase. In this way, students will get feedback on errors as often as the teacher wants or thinks is necessary. Improving Writing Pedagogy In many colleges around the world, writing is taught as a collaborative exchange between student and teacher. The teacher assigns a writing task, the student produces one draft, the teacher provides corrective feedback on it, then the student redrafts the text and submits it for evaluation. Sometimes a student can feel somewhat mystified and betrayed if, after trying to respond to all the teachers correction codes, the student then receives a low score on the essay since the teacher was in effect a collaborator on the final draft. A better way to teach writing might be for teachers to ask students to consult the Virtual Writing Tutor throughout the drafting process as just one of a variety of revision strategies. Other revision strategies might include the use of self-assessment checklists, peer-review tasks, and participation in teacher-student writing conferences. In this way, the teacher can evaluate the use of a range of revision strategies and not the students success at responding to corrective feedback received on one draft of one essay from one source. During peer-assessment activities classmates might find it useful to submit a students writing to the Virtual Writing Tutor to see if the revision strategy was used and which suggestions were ignored. In this way, a teacher can put the following question on a peer-assessment grid:  Has the writer eliminated all major errors from his or her writing?  Such a question teaches all learners in the class to be judicious consumers of corrective feedback for life. Power Tools for Teachers Just as learners will have to become judicious consumers of automated corrective feedback, teachers will have to reassess their old approach to hand-coding errors. There is nothing about the Virtual Writing Tutor that prevents teachers from continuing their practice of giving hand-coded feedback. However, like a master builder with a new power saw, ESL teachers will have to reflect carefully on when to pull this new power tool out of the toolbox and when to do things the old-fashioned way. Heres why: 1.     The VWT is fast, really fast. 2.     It provides error correction upon demand 24/7. 3.     It can provide feedback on multiple drafts of text, not just the first and last draft. 4.     It can explain at length the nature of the error, something human teachers dont have time or space in the margins for. 5.     It displays links to specific resources and remedial activities to help learners eliminate errors from future writing. 6.     It is available to students and non-students alike, supporting lifelong learning. 7.     It is completely free for teachers and their students to use. However 8.     It provides unfocused feedback, correcting every error it finds without regard to the learners readiness. 9.     It generates false alarms, suggesting unnecessary corrections or providing explanations that dont always make sense. 10.  It still misses lots of errors. Get InvolvedStay in Touch Of course, the Virtual Writing Tutor is  a work in progress. If you are an ESL teacher and would like to help me make the VWT better, please Suggest a New Error or Report a False Alarm using the email utility provided or by leaving a message on my  Facebook wall or by posting a comment on my  blog. I would love to hear from you, and your feedback will help me provide the ESL world with better corrective feedback. Please follow and like us:

Products

Products ESL Textbooks ESL Textbooks Check out our award-winningActively Engagedseries of textbooks for CEGEP ESL fromBokomaruPublications.com. On June 8th, 2017, Nicholas Walker, the creator of the Virtual Writing Tutor, was awarded theTESL Canada Innovation Award in Niagara, Canada for his Actively Engaged series of books. On June 6th, 2019, he received the AQPC Mention dHonneur for teaching excellence at Ahuntsic College. Actively Engaged Together Actively Engaged Together is designed for the students with low-proficiency, anxiety, and a limited repertoire of practice strategies. A such, it focuses on basic interpersonal communication skills through storytelling and an automatically scored 8-topic pen pal writing project using the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker. Students at this level enjoy exchanging messages each week with peers at the same college or at other schools. Instead of giving these at-risk students more of what did not work for them in their high school English classes, grammar and vocabulary practice is story-based. Grammar and vocabulary are embedded in short narratives with illustrations, with a variety of oral practice strategy drills in each lesson to make new structures stick. Rather than try to memorize decontextualized rules and verb paradigms, students acquire the language directly as formulaic chunks in obligatory contexts. Actively Engaged Together (100A focusing on pen pal exchanges) Download sample units of Actively Engaged Together Actively Engaged on the Job Actively Engaged on the Job is designed primarily for B-block beginners who need lots of fluency practice, On the Job has proven to be a versatile course book for multi-level groups. Its packed with interactive activities that keep absenteeism prone students coming week after week. The book is structured around a series of grammar lessons laid out in the usual order, starting with prepositions and the present tenses, moving through past tenses to conditionals, and ending with modals and future tenses. The big difference is the way this book contextualizes the grammar practice through weekly writing assignments. Students work in groups to imagine a fictional company. Each student is responsible for writing about the goings on at the company from the perspective of one of the employees there. Each week, they write a section of the story incorporating the grammar and the vocabulary from the lesson. They submit their writing on Labodanglais.com and anonymously peer review two classmates stories. In this way, grammar practice is communicative and contextualized. Additional vocabulary and grammar practice activities are available on Labodanglais.com in the form of fill-in the blank and error-find-and-correct exercises. Again, the emphasis is on meaningful context that lead to productive use. Find out how you can use Actively Engaged on the Job with your students by contacting bokomaruPublications@gmail.com. For an example of how to use this textbook for multi-level business English courses, have a look here at an integrated flyer and sales pitch evaluation. Actively Engaged on the Job (100B Focusing on collaborative workplace narratives linked to a field of study) Actively Engaged at College Actively Engaged at College is for students looking to build the fluency essential to engage with others in English. Learners develop the linguistic tools needed to build engaging conversations and friendships through first person narratives. Rather than give these students the all-too-common (midterm and then final) hamburger opinion essay writing tasks, this college-level ESL textbook puts fluency building first. Lets face it. You wont make many friends in your second language if all you know how to do is give your opinions on controversies. Try this experiment: express a strong opinion and notice how people lean back to plan their rebuttal. Tell a dramatic story and people lean in to hear more. Over the course of 11 weeks, students learn to master first-narratives, building a collaborative story with their groups using the just-in-time grammar and vocabulary lessons. Students peer-review each others stories and provide each other feedback on content, while the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker provides feedback on target structure use and grammar accuracy. This innovative book contextualizes the grammar practice through weekly writing assignments. Students work in groups to imagine a fictional house. Each student is responsible for writing about the goings on at the house from the perspective of one of the roommates there. Using a series of play-by-post collaborative writing tasks, students write one section of the story each week incorporating the grammar and the vocabulary from the lesson. The story begins with a description of the house, a description of their characters routine, a party for the new roommate that goes wrong, a dream that reveals a desire or fear, an influx of pets and people making the house overcrowded, a bad day, and a final conflict in which one of the roommates moves out. They submit their writing onLabodanglais.comeach week and anonymously peer review two classmates’ submissions. The final oral and writing tasks involve retelling the story. In this way, fluency, grammar and vocabulary can be evaluated together in an engaging and meaningful context that is immune to all forms of plagiarism. It just works so well. This course book captures and focuses students attention in the most engaging way possible. Students love it. Teachers trust the pedagogy. Download sample units of Actively Engaged at College. Actively Engaged at College (101A Focusing on a collaborative narrative about roommates living together) Actively Engaged Online A blog post and YouTube video can reach thousands of people. For this reason, many scholars and professionals communicate online these days, but students toil away at their desks writing essays in longhand. Are we preparing students for time travel back to the 1990s or are we preparing them for the future? Many ESL teachers want to teach their students digital literacy, but the tools have not been available until now. Actively Engaged Online teaches students (and teachers) how to create a blog step by step. Students learn how to introduce their program, create an online glossary, write a listicle (list-article), describe a day-in-the-life of a career, a hypertext narrative, and a screencast describing a website that solves a problem linked to their field of study. Everything is ready to start teaching blogging tomorrow: PowerPoints, quizzes, readings, listenings, and writing assignments with easy to score peer-review evaluations on Labodanglais.com. Get a sample copy of Actively Engaged Online by contacting me by email here: BokomaruPublications@gmail.com. Actively Engaged Online (101B or 102B focusing on blog writing, screen casts, and field-related hypertext narratives) Actively Engaged in Academic Writing Teach academic writing? Do you want step-by-step explainer videos and dynamic classroom activities to help you reach underperforming students? Do you want to try integrating automatically scored academic essay writing tasks into your course? If you teach ESL in Quebec, Canada, you can get a sample copy of Actively Engaged in Academic Writing by contacting me by email here: BokomaruPublications@gmail.com. Actively Engaged in Academic Writing (103A Focusing on writing a literary critique) Printables Check out our popular printable activities for sale on TeachersPayTeachers.comfor students and teachers alike. Printable Present Perfect Go Fish Card Gameand LessonPrintable Illustrated Everyday Vocabulary LearningGame with 108 Everyday Vocabulary ItemsPresent Simple Job Vocabulary Game forlearning the Present Simple through relative clausesPrintable Present Perfect Progressive Go FishCard Game and Lesson Please follow and like us:

The SAT Switch What Will 2016 Mean For Me - TutorNerds

The SAT Switch What Will 2016 Mean For Me - TutorNerds Irvine SAT Tutor Tips | The SAT Switch: What Will 2016 Mean For Me? Irvine SAT Tutor Tips | The SAT Switch: What Will 2016 Mean For Me? Students are wondering what will happen when  the Redesigned SAT is introduced in spring of 2016. How will their scores from the Redesigned SAT compare to scores from the current SAT? What happens if they need to take both? How will it affect their ability to get into college? These questions and many, many more are rattling around in the heads of students and parents causing undue anxiety during this time of academic change. Although standardized testing is a reality for the vast majority of college-bound high school students, it shouldnt be as difficult as all that. There are ways that parents and students can prepare for the switch and reduce their stress. 1. Consider the ACT Students who want to take exams this winter and next spring should consider the ACT as a good alternative. Many students take both the SAT and ACT these days, so why not focus on the ACT for now? If a student received a 27 on their ACT this fall but would like to improve their score to a 30, they have plenty of time to do that without significant change in study strategy. The SAT,  on the other hand, will be entirely different. 2. A holistic admissions process Students are encouraged to remember that many colleges, even large public universities, have a holistic admissions process. This means they will look at the whole student. They want to know about a student’s volunteer activities, whether or not they held a part time job, what their specific background is, what they can add to the university and what they plan to study, as well as good old standardized test scores. It’s extra important for students to write a superb personal statement and make sure their admission form is filled with extra-curricular activities and AP classes. Students applying for admission in 2017 or 2018 will still have plenty of time to add to their current resume (READ: Tips From a Private Irvine SAT Tutor: The Free SAT Study Guide). 3. Subject tests Students who are concerned about their performance, or how it will be judged, on the Redesigned SAT should consider taking any number of subject tests. If all goes well on the Redesigned SAT,  students will have excellent reinforcements to show colleges that theyre serious about learning, and they have acquired adequate skills during high school. If things don’t go well, students have subject tests as a backup. 4.  Avoid taking both exams If in any way possible, its important for students to avoid taking both the current 2015 SAT and the 2016 Redesigned SAT. These two tests are largely different and studying for both would be not only confusing, but time-consuming to a point that it will likely affect their other academic studies as well as their work life balance. Students who want to take the current SAT should make sure they do so before the deadline. Students who know they will have to take the Redesigned SAT at least once, are encouraged to focus their studies on that particular exam and acquire the skills necessary to do well on that test (READ: 8 SAT Essay Tips). 5. Preparing for the Redesigned SAT At this point, many students will be taking the SAT for the first time as it has been redesigned to be introduced in spring of next year. This can be overwhelming because students wont know how to compare themselves to their fellow students, also their competition, and may struggle with the stress of the unknown. A good way to deal with these issues is to sit down and start studying early. The College Board website has some excellent, complementary, study tools for students to get started on right away. Students should also rest assured that the educational community is following updates and changes as they are introduced to the public. To be on the safe side, students taking the Redesigned SAT should consider starting their studies earlier than normal. As a result, they will have time to adjust to any new study habits or learning tools that are presented within the next few months. Learn more about the redesigned SAT here! Score high on the ACT SAT with the help of a private Orange County test prep tutor! Call us today for details. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.

8 Fitness Routines You Must Try This Spring

8 Fitness Routines You Must Try This Spring pixabay.com What are you waiting for? Here are eight fitness routines you must try this spring. 1. Outdoor  Boot Camp With spring cleaning comes spring fitness. If you’re really looking to get that winter body into summer shape, you might be looking for something like an outdoor boot camp. A class like this is sure to work your whole body and kick yourself into high gear! Many of these classes are held outdoors (weather permitting) to utilize large amounts of space for running and other exercises. Plus, if you’re going to be sweating in the newfound spring heat, you may as well be burning some calories! 2. Sunrise Yoga If winter took a serious toll on you, you might be wanting a fresher, calmer outlook for spring. Adding some yoga and meditation to your life might be just what you need to get your body and mind back in shape. It’s relaxing, and if you take a sunrise yoga class to start your day, it’ll set a great tone for the hours of work ahead. If you’re lucky, some sunrise yoga classes are even held outside at actual sunrise so you not only get to enjoy the benefits of yoga, but the beauty of a sunrise as well. 3. TRX If you’re looking for something to work out your whole body in a totally new way, you may be looking for a TRX class. These classes often combine lots of different techniques from body weight exercises to weighted interval exercises. They also use various suspension training techniques to target things like balance and flexibility. The benefits can range from arm and leg strength to core and overall muscle tone. 4. Parkour Are you a daring individual? For someone on the fearless side, spring might urge you to take up some parkour. As a series of jumps, runs, flips, and twists, parkour is not for the weak hearted. Getting really good at this fitness exercise will ultimately take some practice, but the benefits include getting outside and being able to utilize your surroundings in a productive way, as well as perfecting some serious moves to impress your friends. Parkour can be done alone, but many towns and fitness centers have clubs that meet often to train together. 5. Kickboxing Ready to kick those winter blues? If you’re looking for a class that really brings the intensity, a kickboxing class could be the class for you. For many people, kickboxing is a great stress reliever and helps knock out all the frustrations of someone’s day. With a great instructor, you’ll be motivated to give it your all during a kickboxing workout. In fact, you’ll probably end up surprised at how much tougher you are than you originally thought. 6. Zumba If something aggressive and intense isn’t really your style, you may enjoy a fun dance-based class like Zumba (and who doesn’t want a dancer’s body?). Zumba isn’t necessarily a new fitness craze, but a tried and true class that always leaves its participants smiling while they sweat. Who knows! Maybe if you’ve got some tropical vacation plans over the summer, you’ll be able to show off some of your Latin-based Zumba moves down on the beach. 7. PiYo If yoga is putting you to sleep, but you want all the benefits of yoga, you should check out a class called PiYo which stands for Pilates Yoga. These classes utilize classic yoga movements like sun salutations and downward dog, but combine them with fast-tempo Pilates movements to really push up the cardio. A PiYo class is just about as relaxing as a roller coaster. The upbeat pace of the class is sure to keep you engaged and sweating bullets. You’ll have that summer body in no time! 8. Ultimate Frisbee You may be searching for something a little more oriented toward play rather than games. If you like working as a team, I suggest searching out a unique sports group to play with outdoors. Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that most people can pick up and that anyone can get into. It will really get your blood moving and maybe even get your competitive juices flowing. Remember, not everything has to happen at a gym to be considered fitness. Whether you love dancing or riding bikes, enjoying spring and getting in shape is as easy as you want it to be. Don’t be afraid to get creative when it comes to keeping yourself healthy. Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.