With entrance exams fast approaching, many parents are wondering if their students can really benefit from a math tutor in the crunch. Even with as little as a week’s worth of tutoring, a significant change can be made. A tutor can try following these five steps to improving your student’s score on the test and improving math grades in the future.

Step #1: Assessment
The first step for a private tutor to take is always an effective assessment. Thankfully, most prep test review books include multiple practice tests to help a tutor get a clear picture of where the student will need help. The assessment does not need to be timed, though some teachers will recommend this. Most tutors find an un-timed assessment gives as clear a picture of strengths and weaknesses as a timed assessment.

Step #2: Arithmetic Review

Many students have the knowledge to do well in math but lack the skills. They have learned them in school, but they have forgotten them as new concepts are taught. Tutors can overcome this with a basic arithmetic review. The most common areas to forget are:

• Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions
• Multiplication and division of decimals
• Percentages, parts and statistics

Once a student has even a cursory review of these topics, the student will be able to approach the problems confidently.

Step #3: Geometry Review

Most standardized tests do not require a student to know complicated geometry. They may require a basic understanding of some geometric principles. Those principles include:

• Properties of triangles and angles
• Finding area, perimeter, surface area and volume of common shapes

A student will need to review these principles first by remembering them and second by applying them. The geometric principles are often tested most in the reasoning section of any standardized test, meaning the question may not be asked out right.

Step #4: Algebra Review

Students tend to remember basic algebraic principles, but they may miss some of the information required to build concepts in quantitative reasoning questions. Students may forget the principles of parallel lines, perpendicular lines or even absolute value. Reviewing graphs, number lines and principles of slope is key in building understanding of the algebra required on the ISEE, ACT, SAT, SSAT and even Catholic High School Entrance Exam.

Step #5: Reasoning Practice

Most students lack enough practice in quantitative reasoning to excel in this portion of the exam. Because they lack practice, they lack confidence, and this is an easy problem to remedy. Introducing students to as many reasoning problems as possible is key. They will begin to learn how questions may be asked on the test. Thankfully, again, the help of a good test prep book will take students through the required concepts for reasoning sections. Then, a tutor can simply watch the student go through the problems to gain an idea of when and how the student gets stuck. Most students will have the biggest challenge when they need to combine geometry and algebra to solve a problem.

Tags: act testing, entrance exam, ISEE, SAT tutor, SSAT