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E-tutoring now more viable

Before the Internet revolution, parents drove their children to tutoring centers. Now, students are a computer click away from help.

“The big advantage is convenience,” said Merle Ledbetter of Scottsdale, whose son gets algebra II assistance from local company East Valley Tutoring. Educational tutoring giants Kaplan and Princeton Review have made inroads into online education. And now, after five years of research and development, Sylvan Learning Centers has launched its live online tutoring service.

“It’s as if they’re in the same room,” said Mary Foster, president of the Baltimore-based company. The company provides the extra equipment. Students and tutors discuss assignments with each other over headphones. And they use a virtual whiteboard that allows for charts, graphs and writing to graphs and writing to appear on each other’s computer screen.

Sylvan charges an average hourly rate is $45 per hour for both online and in-center tutoring, but it can vary depending on location. Parents can expect more tutoring choices. More than 2.6 million students were expected to study online through tutoring and courses last year, up from 1.9 million in 2003, according to the Sloan Consortium, an online research group.

By Ray Parker | Arizona Republic

Test-Taking Tips

Test anxiety is when a student excessively worries about doing well on a test. This can become a major hindrance on test performance and cause extreme nervousness and memory lapses among other symptoms.

The following are tips on reducing test taking anxiety.

Space out your studying over a few days or weeks, and continually review class material, don’t wait until the night before and try to learn everything the night before.

Exercising for a few days before the test will help reduce stress.

Get a good night’s sleep before the test.

Show up to class early so you won’t have to worry about being late.

Stay relaxed, if you begin to get nervous take a few deep breaths slowly to relax yourself and then get back to work.

Read the directions slowly and carefully.

If you don’t understand the directions on the test, ask the teacher to explain it to you.

Skim through the test so that you have a good idea how to pace yourself.

Write down important formulas, facts, definitions and/or keywords in the margin first so you won’t worry about forgetting them.

Do the simple questions first to help build up your confidence for the harder questions.

Don’t worry about how fast other people finish their test; just concentrate on your own test.

If you don’t know a question skip it for the time being (come back to it later if you have time), and remember that you don’t have to always get every question right to do well on the test.