Ms Mary Edits, too!

Mary has just recently gone over two of my YA books, and I will have her do my next RS as soon as the revisions are done.

What I can tell you is that she's very thorough - to the point that she read the first one over a second time as she was concerned she might have missed something. She's not terribly fast, but I'd exchange speed for quality any day. What we did was have her send back a few chapters at a time as she went over them. In this way, I could make corrections and ask her about her suggestions at the same time if I didn't understand. I personally think the commas are out there to drive me nuts, and Mary keeps them all in place.

Our New Website is Live!

Our new website is www.MsMaryTutors.com.

Summer is upon us with Memorial Day weekend. Most students around Metro Atlanta are out of school for the summer. It's time to let our kids take the summer off, isn't it? Or is it?

If your son or daughter plans to attend college, he or she needs to take the SAT and/or the ACT as a junior. Students who want the best scholarships should apply for them based on scores earned before fall of their senior years. That might mean taking the tests more than once. Some programs offer classes which help prepare students to do well on these tests. They often teach strategies and practice taking tests. However, some students need or want individualized instruction based on their specific weaknesses or concepts they missed along the way.

One of my students is aiming at being my most improved student. His goal is to achieve a nearly perfect score in the SAT. Even in honor classes he has missed specific concepts he needs for the writing and reading parts of the test. I have been filling in those areas for him for the past 3 months. He reported a nearly perfect score for the Advanced Placement tests he took weeks ago.
He wants to beat the student who raised her score on the verbal sections by 100 points.

If you aren't ready to hire a tutor, purchase SAT and ACT practice books and have your student work through them over the summer. That means putting the video games down and reading test questions and then studying the explanations with the answers. Studying the explanations is more important than reading the answer sheets. Once school starts students are usually busy with school and extra-curricular activities, sports, music and even studying.

Many students will learn there is a need to study vocabulary words and practice reading the selections. Grammar and mechanics reviews are necessary for good scores. And then there is the essay portion of the tests.

Maybe your high school student needs to study some during the summer.

Apologies and Thanks!

I have neglected this blog and I do apologize. My teaching life has been crazy busy, and I LOVE it!

I am currently tutoring a first grader, 2 third graders, a 6th grader, an 8th grader, a high school senior who will take the ACT for the 3rd time, and a junior who will take the SAT for the 2nd time. Does this sound like a wide variety of levels?

Well, I also tutor 5 adults. One adult is working to take the GED, 3 are business people who wish to improve their communication skills for their jobs. Two have college degrees. One student is working on his Ph.D. We proof and line edit his projects.

Of course they pay me, a very good thing.

The thanks are coming. A parent sent me this email and I must share it with you. Names will be withheld, but I will say this dad was a skeptic at first.

Ms. Marvella

I would like to say that I believe you have done an amazing job working with Eddie.

He still does not like school of course, but his improved English grades show he knows much more than he did and it’s amazing.

Perhaps you have given him “more” confidence!

I wish you taught Math, ha!

Thanks again for your “Great” work!

This kind of response makes me happy! Or I like to say "You can't beat that with a stick!"