Using Summer to Create Happy Students Who Reach Their Goals
A gentle breeze sways the windchimes behind me and cools my exposed arms, warmed by the midday sun. Ahhh, the sounds and senses of summer! Like many of us, I look forward to this season all. year. long. But wait! Before your kid tosses their pencils and books into the dustbin of the 2022-23 school year, take the look of a teacher, an ACT and SAT tutor, and college essay coach to look at three ways to use summer wisely – and still have time to kick back!
Image by @ethanrobertson on Unsplash
#1. Tutor to Combat Pandemic Learning Loss and Summer Slide (Grades 1-10)
Many of you have heard of summer slide, when some students lose several months of their previous year’s gain due to cognitive inactivity during summer. This year – the first “normal” school year after the pandemic – that backslide originates from an even lower starting point. The New York Times opined earlier this month that “most parents remain ill informed about how far behind their children are.”
As an SAT and ACT tutor, I saw this trend manifest itself in my spring cohort’s shaky grasp of geometry. One junior from Brooklyn told me she met just once per week in an online setting with her geometry teacher during the 2020-21 school year. No wonder she couldn’t recall the Pythagorean theorem and had no idea what SOHCAHTOA meant!
With consistent tutoring throughout the winter and spring, however, this Crimson Coaching student reached her target score of 1400 on the May 6 SAT (up from an 1140 on her PSAT)!
The same NYT article encourages schools to slow down, “[e]specially in math,” to “build students’ understanding sequentially.” But teachers are pressured by state assessments whose benchmarks haven’t been changed in light of the pandemic learning loss. Sadly, many feel that they don’t have the time to do that. Meanwhile, “students [who] fall behind…. don’t just catch up naturally….” They either fall farther behind – or they get remedial instruction like tutoring that puts them back in the saddle.
#2. Tutor for SAT or ACT (Rising Juniors)
If your child has taken Algebra II and Geometry, they’re ready to prep NOW for the standardized exams formerly associated with junior year. There are two reasons I’m recommending this to my clients this year. First, these students have all the math they need to succeed on either test. Even if they attend camp or have a summer job, they can prep relatively distraction-free this summer. With the ACT or SAT done, juniors can focus on getting great grades in AP courses — something that matters a lot more to colleges than test scores. (In the event the summer/early fall tests don’t go as planned, students still have the option to take the test in November and again in December.)
Second, the next 7 months represent the last time that the paper SAT will be given. In 2024, the SAT doesn’t just “go digital,” however; many of the question types are new. There are many more practice materials available for the paper SAT than for the digital SAY. Students abroad (where the SAT went digital earlier this year) are reporting that the digital SATs they took in March and May were much more difficult than the current College Board practice materials.
Image from College Board blog, May 2, 2022
So, while the Class of 2026 (and ’25 students who didn’t yet take Algebra II) MUST wait until next year to take the new exam, I highly recommend that those able to take the paper SAT do so during this calendar year. Since studies show that the only significant score gains come from working one-on-one with a tutor, Summer 2023 is the perfect time for your child and I to prep for this important milestone. Feel free to email here for more information on my SAT and ACT tutoring packages.
#3. College Essay Coaching for Rising Seniors
Even if your child takes the SAT or ACT this summer, junior year will be jam-packed with AP courses, exams, and extracurriculars. That’s why I recommend that students decompress for a couple of weeks after eleventh grade. By July 1, though, it’s a great idea to start working on the Common App personal statement – aka, the oft-dreaded “college essay.” (Check out this super-helpful Common App website with helpful downloads for U.S. and international applicants.)
Working once or twice per week for an hour or two at a time throughout the summer should be more than enough to finish the personal statement. As I’ve written before, start by brainstorming all the prompts, continue by writing drafts for two different prompts, and leave plenty of time for multiple revisions.
For more detailed information, check out my free webinar on writing a great application essay and my 10-week mini-course on YouTube! It’s like having a college essay coach in your house for free!
With dedicated, consistent effort, rising seniors can complete a polished draft by September 1 – just in time to move on to supplemental essays before the early application deadlines of early November!
Whether your kid’s six or sixteen, carving out a little bit of summer to work on skills, test prep, or essays can pay off big next school year. Imagine them leading their grade, reaching their dream score, or earning admissions to their dream college – all while remaining happy and calm in 2023-24!