In today’s working world having a basic education is a must. In recent years it has become difficult to land even the least skilled employment without some degree of education. For most workplaces at least a GED is required.

In particularly for those who have been out of school for quite some time the art of test taking and studying can be a daunting task to master. For most, simply sitting down and reviewing material is not sufficient preparation for taking a major test such as the GED. For students who haven’t had to burn the midnight oil in a while try the following top 5 GED study tips:

1. Identify the Material- The GED consists of 5 sections: mathematics, science, social studies, reading and writing. It is essential that you review and prepare for all 5 sections before attempting the test.

2. Identify Your Weaknesses- While it is important to go over each section diligently you should also pay special attention to your weakest subject(s). If you find that you’re lagging in mathematics allot some extra study time for that subject. Get your hands on as many different types of preparatory materials as are available and become familiar with them.

3. Obtain Study Materials- There are a number of different study materials available for the GED exam. From print media to video tutorials students today have access to whichever methods they find make them the most successful. If you find you respond better to reading print materials and taking practice quizzes, do that. If you can more easily and fully absorb material that you watch on a video, obtain as many videos as possible. When studying for any test having the right materials is essential. There are several websites that also offer free practice tests.

4. Take a Preparatory Course- Most every city in the United States has an institution that offers a GED prep course. If you don’t have an institution in your town there are a number of different online courses available, some of which are free. For many students the hands-on in-class approach is superior to going it alone. Group studying in such an atmosphere might also prove helpful.

5. Prepare Your Body- Be sure to get plenty of sleep the night before the test. An all night cram session might seem tempting, but you’ll be doing yourself a much larger favor by getting a good night’s sleep. If you feel the need to cram before the test try going to bed early and getting up early for some last minute studying. The morning of the test it’s also essential that you eat a good breakfast. Our bodies and minds function at their highest when they are rested and well fueled.

6. If needed, get extra help- there are companies like us here at Stepping Stone Tutors who offer online and offline tutoring for exams such as GED, K-12, SAT, ASVAB etc. We’ve masses of experience in helping people young and old to pass exams they never thought they could actually pass, and work with you one-to-one to make sure you make progress as effectively as possible.

So, with the correct preparation you could be just one step away from your GED and financial success. A good education is the cornerstone of a successful career and a happy worker.

The GED test is taken by those looking to certify they have high school equivalent academic skills. The GED is taken by those who were unable to pass a mandatory high school class, those who have been home schooled, those who left high school early, and for several other reasons. A GED tutor can help you pass the test that is made up of five subject areas; writing, social studies, science, language arts, reading, and mathematics. Stepping Stone Tutors come to you for help GED test prep either at your home, office, a public library, or somewhere that is convenient for you. Stepping Stone Tutors can also provide you with additional tutoring help with the math and science portion of the GED test, with online math and science tutoring. If you are interested in learning more about how a GED tutor can help you pass your test, please visit www.steppingstonetutors.com.

There is a story from many years ago of a primary school teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.

But that was impossible because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last.

However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise, Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he is a joy to be around.”

His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.”

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with pretty ribbons, except for Teddy’s. His present which was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.

Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to.”

After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead she began to teach children.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets.”

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer – the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he’d met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course Mrs. Thompson did.

And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.”

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”

NOTE: This story has an unknown author. It has probably been shared many times in blogs and websites, but it really is a very inspirational story that novice and veteran in-home tutors, private tutors, student teachers, professional educators, and even informal mentors will surely appreciate.

Sources: The Best Teacher Ever and A Teacher’s Story.

Tutoring and academic coaching both aim towards improving a student’s knowledge and skills. As proof of this improvement, the student’s grades pull up. This boosts the student’s self-confidence and motivation to learn more.

However, tutoring differs from academic coaching in application. Tutoring is often applied when the student has difficulty in one subject area, such as Math, Science or English. The tutor’s expertise with a particular subject is very beneficial in this case.

Academic coaching works better when the student has difficulties in multiple subjects. It incorporates tutoring, which focuses on specific goals, such as finishing homework on time, achieving a certain level of reading comprehension or increasing grades from C to A.

Academic coaching also works towards those goals, but the in-home tutor who practices academic coaching goes beyond simple tutoring. The best tutors work with parents and teachers in creating a strategic plan for improving a student’s academic skills as well as life skills, such as time management and goal setting. In effect, a good tutor to hire is someone who knows academic coaching. This person is responsible for teaching your child how to read for retention, how to break down projects into components, how to do quality control, and how to take notes effectively.

Often times, parents will ask me “how many hours of tutoring will we need?” My answer is always the same, that there are many factors involved in effective tutoring. The first being that it should be your child who wants a tutor and not the other way around.

An experienced tutor can either be a tremendous help or not much help at all depending on how interested the student is in working with them.

If it is only the parent who is interested in their child getting better grades and they are missing a large part of the equation. As a parent, you need to sit down with your child and have a serious discussion about the possibility that they might need some extra help with someone other than you but ultimately they need to come to that conclusion on their own.

After meeting with your tutor for the first time, you should have a discussion as a family afterwards about how the session went and agree together on whether or not you want to continue with the tutoring.

Every tutor has a different teaching style and personality. Assuming your family and the tutor clique in this department and you believe the tutor has sufficient experience and knowledge of the material, based on your finances, you child’s needs, and any recommendations from your tutor or your child’s teacher, you should come up with a plan for how often you will want the tutor to come and how long the sessions should be.

The most effective tutoring combination is usually when a tutor comes regularly, 1-2 times per week or more, followed by additional assignments from the tutor and/or teacher(s) to help fully master the material and to see really improvement. I also recommend ongoing dialogue between the family, tutor, and teacher(s) so that everyone stays involved and engaged in the goal of improvement.

With jobs hard to come by in the United States during the current recession, many professionals are turning to tutoring as a way to earn extra money and to make a difference in their communities.  With budget cuts going on in school districts around the country, many qualified teachers have recently been laid off and are looking for work.

At the same time, because schools are cutting teachers from their payroll, class sizes are going up and student performance is suffering as a result.  In the wake of this, tutoring services are booming.

Although published in 2006, The Tutoring Revolution: Applying Research for Best Practices, Policy Implications, and Student Achievement by Rowman & Littlefield Education comprehensively discusses the importance of the benefits of tutoring for students based on research-driven results.  Their recommendations provide an excellent resource for tutors nationwide and one of their conclusions is that tutoring, in-home tutoring programs in particular by well-trained professionals, can have a significant impact on learning outcomes.

Summer is a great time for students to work on study skills, get caught up on subject material, and study for standardized tests.  Some students enroll in summer school classes and have ongoing homework assignments while others have spoken with their teachers at the end of the previous semester to get recommendations on what they can work on over the summer.

We have a lot of parents that contact us over the summer that want to work on specific skills like math or writing and we do our best to connect them with a tutor that can help them in their home.  Depending on when a customer contacts us, we can talk to the students’ teacher(s) and get recommendations on additional assignments and activities they can work on over the summer.  If we are not able to reach the students’ teacher, then our tutors can usually come up with other materials to use.

Aside from improving on subject material from the previous school year, a lot of parents want to keep their child’s brains from turning to mush over the summer. Signing up for a class or contacting a tutoring service can be a good way to keep things fresh so that they come better prepared for the upcoming school year. It also helps to build a relationship with a tutor early on so that the tutor can catch problems early once the school year starts again.