Austin Student Tutoring

College Admissions Essays: The Creative Question

The college admissions essay can be the greatest advantage – and the biggest annoyance – to prospective students. On the one hand, it provides an excellent forum for a student to distinguish himself or herself from the competition, to articulate why he or she deserves a spot at the university, and to be more than just a statistic or an SAT score.  On the other hand, essay prompts can run the gamut from “silly” to “outright difficult,” and the idea of summing oneself up in a single typed page can be incredibly daunting. Fortunately, we’re here to help.

While there are literally thousands of different essay prompts out there, they can generally be divided into the following three categories: the “me” question, the “why us” question, and the creative question.  You should be ready to provide a good answer for any of the three.

At Concepts Mastery, our Austin tutors are dedicated to helping our students succeed in and out of the classroom, and we know what it takes to get into a good school.  If your student’s grades aren’t what they could be, we’d like to talk to you today.  Contact us by calling 512-767-5323.

Understanding the Creative Question

Out of the three types of questions, the creative one may be the hardest to get a handle on, because it’s the most open-ended.  But while no two creative questions are exactly the same, they do conform to the same general type.  They try to be a little original, a little off-the-wall, a little bit thought-provoking, and they require something other than a pat response.  They seek to learn about you as a person through your response to a (seemingly) unrelated question.  Examples of creative questions include:

• Our lives are shaped by the people we admire.  Who has been an inspiration to you, and how has it affected you?
• Discuss a controversial issue of national importance and your take on it.  Explain the reasons you feel the way you do.
• Community service makes our nation stronger.  What have you done to effect change in your society?
• You’ve written a 300-page autobiography.  What’s on page 203?

The trick to answering a creative question is to be creative right back at it.  Try to be unconventional without being too out there; quirky without being off-putting.  Be honest, be informed, and be forceful.

At Concepts Mastery, we’re dedicated to helping our students get into top colleges.  Contact one of our tutors in Austin today by calling 512-767-5323.

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Making Use of Vacations

We all love vacations.  They give us a break from school, free time to enjoy, no stress to worry about, sometimes a chance to make some extra money.  Most students use summer and winter vacations as a chance to forget about the rigors of school and to relax for a little while.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; as they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  But while it’s good to take some time off every now and then, vacations offer an excellent opportunity to get ahead and prepare for the coming semester.  The student who plans ahead of time will have an easier time when school resumes.

At Concepts Mastery, we are committed to helping our students plan for success.  Our Austin tutors are dedicated to helping our students get the good grades they deserve.  If your child is struggling in school, we’d like to help.  Contact us today by calling 512-767-5323.

Studying Over Vacations

We’ll start by saying this: you don’t need to spend your entire summer or winter vacation with your nose in a book.  Get out and have some fun.  Catch up on television.  Take it easy.  But don’t take it too easy.  The copious free time offered by vacations give you a great opportunity to do some studying ahead of time, preparing you for success in the coming semester.  With that in mind, we’d like to offer the following pointers to studying over your break:

• Because curriculum is largely set by the state, you should know what you’ll be studying well in advance.  This gives you the opportunity to prepare ahead of time.  Difficult subjects are a lot easier when you’re learning them for the second time.

• Teachers’ stores and online booksellers make great resources.  Teachers’ supply stores and ecommerce sites like eBay and Amazon are a great resource to get books, study guides, and other materials,

• Set aside as little as an hour every day to study.  It doesn’t have to be long, and it doesn’t have to ruin your summer.  But taking a little bit of time out from every day is a great way to stay on top of your studies without burning yourself out.

Contact Us

At Concepts Mastery, we are committed to helping students succeed in and out of the classroom.  If your child needs help getting the grades you know he or she is capable of, contact an Austin Tutor today by calling 512-767-5323.

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Learning a Language: Why Memorizing Doesn’t Help

One of the cardinal mistakes language novices make when trying to learn a new tongue is that of memorization.  Traditionally, learning a new language meant studying verbs, memorizing their roots, and trying to jam hundreds of nouns, gerunds, false cognates, and tenses into a student’s head.  While there is definitely some value to committing words to memory, the fact of the matter is that this is often detrimental to a greater understanding of the language.

At Concepts Mastery, we are dedicated to helping students succeed in the classroom.  To learn more about how we may be able to help your child get the grades he or she needs, contact us today by calling 512-767-5323.

The Dangers of Memorizing
The primary problem with memorizing words is that it’s simply not the way the brain works.  After all, how much of your conversations are spent trying to remember words you rarely use?  Learning a language requires more than simply committing a number of words to memory.  It requires understanding how a sentence is constructed, how to convey meaning to others, and how to interpret someone else’s meaning.  Simply put, conversation is a skill that cannot be taught.  While syntax and words can be memorized, true fluency requires vocabulary and idioms that must be learned through experience.

Many language teachers believe that immersion – or at the very least conversational practice – is fundamental to learning a new language, because it relies on the parts of the brain devoted to language, not the parts of the brain dedicated to rote memorization.

For some languages, this is easier than others.  Learning Spanish in an area with a large population of Spanish speakers is much easier than learning it in an area with few Spanish speakers.  Sometimes successfully learning a new language can be a matter simply of finding someone you can talk to in it.

Concepts Mastery
At Concepts Mastery, we believe in understanding our students and teaching to their needs.  Our committed Austin tutors are willing to work one-on-one with students to ensure they get the help they need to succeed.  To learn more about how our tutoring methods can help your student get the grades he or she needs, contact us today by calling 512-767-5323.

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