This is the time of year when many children are concerned about finishing up the school year and are excited about the long awaited summer vacation. But before floating about the pool with ease, there is one last hurdle to jump. Shortly, schools will be distributing the final interim report cards for the school year. The skills developed during the year will be your child’s foundation for the more difficult work ahead. What should you do if you are unhappy with your child’s interim report card?

SAT/ACT Test Tips
Long- and short-term test-taking tips for the SAT and ACT exams.

While January marks the beginning of the New Year, it is also the halfway point in the school year. With an eye on upcoming report cards and concern over tough new standards for grade advancement, many parents are now looking outside of regular classrooms for extra tutoring their children may need.

The end of the first marking period is the perfect time for parent and child alike to take stock of academic performance for the new school year. The past nine weeks have been a time of tremendous change and adjustment for your child. Summer vacation is over. The days are getting shorter. It is a time of new faces, new classes, and new challenges.

PARENTS ASK: “When should my student begin to prepare for the SAT or ACT?” Most students take the SAT or ACT for the first time as second-semester juniors. If your student is a senior in the fall and has not taken either test or is not satisfied with his or her scores, the time to prepare is NOW!

As my son prepares to leave for college in August,I think about the study strategies he needs to get off on the right foot. Even good high school students with a solid foundation of study skills may find that college-level academics are a whole new experience. He will be responsible for his learning, which means that self-discipline, analytical skills, time management, and prioritization will be vital like never before.

It is important to remember that the skills developed during the first half of the year will be every child’s foundation for the more difficult work ahead. What should parents do when mid-year report cards don’t measure up? Every drop in grades indicates that valuable skills are being missed. An effort should be made to learn and reinforce those missing skills. But while this is being done, it’s also important to identify and remedy the basic problem, so it does not continue to hurt your child’s education.

Today, it is almost necessary for college-bound students to arm themselves with ample preparation time and specialized instruction before attempting to take the SAT or ACT. With the flurry of new and unusual preparation methods stepping in and out of the market, it becomes challenging to understand the value of each method and decide on the best one to invest in.

The skills developed during the year will be your child’s foundation for the more difficult work ahead. What should you do if you are unhappy with your child’s report card? According to Dr. Raymond J. Huntington, Co-founder and Chairman of Huntington Learning Center, “Parents know their own children. If you believe your child could be doing better than his or her grades show, you owe it to yourself and your child to remedy the situation.”