Before entering the lecture halls and football games, students must first take the SAT and ACT, tests which determine their college and scholarship eligibility. The test can prove to be a hefty challenge for students, but a South Tampa tutor aims to help them hone their skills and succeed.
SAT Prep Courses help Students Succeed
For the past 16 years, Mary Wharton Schroeder (yes as in Wharton High) has been instructing Tampa students on the Reading and Grammar portions of the exams. A Tampa native with degrees in both Education and English, she has dedicated herself to teaching others. Located at her home office in Palma Ceia, students study the exam once a week during 2 hour, one-on-one sessions. She tutors approximately 82 students over the course of the school year with most students attending sessions after school and during the weekends.
While the math portion is often regarded as being the major roadblock of the test, Schroeder notes seeing many students equally struggle with the critical reading and grammar portions. According to Schroeder, students often struggle with, “critical reading and finding the main idea.” She mentions how learning to find the “big picture” of a story helps students with other portions of the test as well as in their classes, with students often returning to tell her the positive impact the sessions have had on their grades.
Schroeder also focuses heavily on the grammar portions. Although a smaller portion of the test, mistakes can easily impact the overall score. “Very little grammar is taught [in schools],” notes Schroeder, “it’s not that they aren’t capable of doing well on the test, it’s just that they’ve never been taught it.”
Schroeder remains vigilant to any changes made to the tests and incorporates them into her lesson plans. During her years of tutoring, she has gathered numerous amounts of testing materials in order to provide the most effective teaching method to her students. “I must own 2,000 SAT books by now,” jokes Schroeder.
After updating lesson plans and searching through study books, seeing her students succeed makes it all worth it. “I absolutely love what I do,” says Schroeder, “we have a great rapport and I consider it a real blessing to be able to help them.”
For more information and to sign up for lessons, visit Schroeder’s website. Connect to 813area for a list of SAT Prep classes across Tampa designed to help your student succeed in obtaining their dreams in higher education. Bookmark this article and stay in touch!
