Latest College Prep News & Tips

For most students, the first few weeks back at school in the fall are always rough. It can take a bit for your brain to switch back to “school mode”. Things that you knew so well at the end of the year are harder because you’re rusty. With COVID-19 forcing students and teachers to adapt to distance learning, we can expect the summer slump to be worse than usual this year. Many students have struggled with the transition and taking a few months off in the summer won’t help the problem.

This is particularly concerning for high school students who are planning to apply to college in the future. Why? Because schools across the country consistently hold up grades as the single most important element of a student’s application. That’s why it’s incredibly important for students to take the hardest curriculum that they can excel at while they’re in high school. By the time students are thinking about college applications, it’s usually too late to fix freshman and sophomore year grades.

So, for any rising freshman or sophomores reading this – learn from them! Take your classes seriously and work hard. Keeping your GPA high will help open up opportunities for you. College may seem far away, but high school will be over before you know it.

For rising juniors and seniors, grades matter for you too. While you can’t go back in time and fix your past mistakes, you can move forward with purpose. This is the time to buckle down and take charge of your own learning and success.

Being behind on learning, and how that affects your grades going forward, is just one more obstacle in the way of your path to college. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Professional baseball players don’t just jump back into serious games after the off-season – that’s what spring training is all about! Think of the summer as the pre-season. This is your chance to get ahead of the curve, so that you’re ready to hit the ground running when the school year starts.

But there’s no way of avoiding it – many students struggle with the kind of unsupervised learning that’s become the status quo under COVID. It can be incredibly difficult to stay on top of schoolwork and keep track of your progress. Don’t be ashamed to seek out help! Get tutoring help sooner rather than later. A good tutor can help you make plans for how to tackle your workload, explain concepts in a different way to help you better understand, and keep you accountable.

Interested in how we can help you get ahead of the curve? Call or e-mail us – we’re here to help.