I recently stumbled across a new system of note taking on wikipedia which looks interesting.  It’s called the Cornell Note Taking System because it was originally developed and used by a professor there.

The basic idea behind it is to summarize as you go:

• On the right side of the page you take regular notes
• On the left side of the page you summarize main concepts on the right into a word or two
• At the bottom of the page you try to summarize ALL the topics on the page into a sentence

I can imagine this would make it easy to go back and study, reviewing the keywords on the left and sentence on each page.

But I think this might be effective for another reason: it boils down to the psychology technique of “chunking” (which is also discussed in our eBook, 10 Ways To Raise Your Grades By Studying Smarter, Not Harder).  The human brain isn’t good at memorizing more than about 7 similar items with any distinction.  But if you can group items, then you can remember 7 groups of 7.  Further grouping is basically endless.  This is the technique used by people in memorization marathons where they will remember a sequence of thousands of random 1’s and 0’s, or similar feats.

So what do you think, will it work?  Do any of you use this technique already?

Today’s guest post is written by Alexandra N.  You can view her tutor profile and inquire about hiring her for tutoring sessions in Spokane, WA by clicking here.

While studying and practicing can help improve test taking scores, there is something more important, especially for success on the SAT.  Because a large part of the test focuses on reading and writing skills, extensive vocabulary is a must.  This can be gained through practice.  There are lists of good vocab in SAT study books.  There are “word of the day” calendars and emails, and you can buy flash cards and study guides.  The best way to improve vocabulary, however, is to read.  By reading, I do not mean pulp, or Tom Clancy and Danielle Steel.  I mean classic books.  Authors like Dickens and Hugo can be difficult to tackle in any situation, especially six weeks before the SAT.  Even more fast-paced books such as The Three Musketeers and the Lord of the Rings Series (yeah, the books, seriously read them) can be difficult to get through.  The main point should be to focus on the vocabulary usage in the writing.

The chosen book should be by an author who really knows his or her English (for example, Tolkien was an English professor).  Fantasy and science fiction books, however, such as Tolkien’s or Herbert’s (Dune) are not the most appropriate because they may confuse some students with their made up words (character names, places).  Because of these, students with little experience in literature might confuse these made up words with real words or be unable to find good context clues.  For these reasons, works of historical fiction, biography, or simple novels would be better.  They provide normal writing structures, vocabulary, and experience in how English writing should sound (for proofreading skills).

To a recent tutee, I suggested reading “Twilight” after hearing my mother read it to my reluctant little brother.  She had to stop every few minutes to explain a word’s meaning or a metaphor to him.  Although the book does not have the most complex vocabulary, it does have the necessary depth to instill new words into a reader who is paying attention.  I suggested this book to the tutee because she, like many high school juniors, does not have much time to dedicate to reading.  For this reason, “Twilight” is appropriate because it is enjoyable, as well as being not too long or involved.

Although getting a student to read before the test to increase vocabulary skills is a good idea, the problem begins with the student’s education before his or her arrival in the junior year.  The lack of reading experience of good literature is the cause of this problem for students.  While catching up in the months and weeks before the SAT is a necessary object for students, they would be better prepared by reading in the years before the SAT.  Additionally, their vocabulary would be much improved if their parents read to them at a young age.

In summary, flashcards and rote memorization are often neglected by students studying vocabulary.  Reading is a great alternative that can be enjoayble and effective at the same time.

About two months ago we rolled out a new billing system on UniversityTutor.com which allowed online payments for tutoring.

This was also a big change to our business model.  While in the past we charged tutors a monthly fee of $10/month to keep a profile on our site (after trying it for free and getting 3 tutoring job requests), we switched to charging a 15% fee on any online payments and there were no monthly fees for tutors.

So far we’ve gotten mixed reviews on this and we’re considering getting rid of the online payments as a business model.  Overall, it hasn’t been as successful as we hoped.  In this post I’d like to layout some thoughts on it from UniversityTutor’s perspective, and (most importantly) get your feedback on how we can best serve the UniversityTutor community going forward!

Some thoughts on the “new” business model charging a 15% fee on online payments:

Advantages

• No monthly fees for tutors means faster growth (tutors aren’t kicked off the site after their free trial is up – about 1 in 10 tutors chose to pay the monthly fee after their free trial was up)
• It’s more fair that “we only make money if you make money” and there is no up front cost or leap of faith required on the tutors part
• We can now track total number of hours tutored as an indicator of a tutor’s experience
• It can be convenient for a tutor to have funds deposited to their bank account or to send an invoice later if the parent could not come to the session

Disadvantages

• Many tutors do not get paid online to avoid the fee, despite the advantages of getting reviews and experience
• Many students/parents also (understandably) prefer to avoid the fee
• It can take longer in some cases for the tutor to get paid (direct deposit takes 3-5 business days)
• Some students/parents are not comfortable entering credit card information online with an unknown service
• It’s not simple – billing and paying customers (with our fee included) is more confusing for tutors and students and increases overhead in answering support emails, chargebacks, etc.

The online payment system (at least in it’s current state) is not feasible for us going forward in terms of profitability.  Adoption of it has been very slow and many tutors/students prefer to avoid it altogether.  To be clear, we don’t blame them for this.  It can be a major hassle to get paid online if a student/parent is unclear with the process, or if cash or check is right there after the session.  (I’m not sure I would myself want to use an online payment system in some situations.)

Yet, we do need to figure out a way to keep the lights on as a business, and hopefully continue to grow and expand to 20,000 or 50,000 tutors in new cities and countries (and attract new parents and students via marketing).

So I’ve decided to put the question out to YOU, the UniversityTutor community (tutors, parents, and students) :

Would you like to see the online payment system go or stay?  Where is it hurting or helping?

Would you (tutors) be willing to pay a fee to keep your profile on UniversityTutor?  If so, what form should it take and what would be a reasonable amount?

What can we do to make using UniversityTutor more profitable and enjoyable for you?

Please click below to post a comment and thank you for your feedback!  We really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Brian Armstrong

P.S. I should also mention that if we do decide to eliminate the 15% fee on online payments, it will most likely NOT be possible to keep online payments as an option (just without the fee).  The reason is that we incur about a 5% cost in each transaction (both for billing a credit card and sending a direct deposit, plus monthly fees).  Even if we charged a 5% fee to cover costs, the additional support emails and chargebacks make it a risky business proposition.  As an alternative, if tutors still wanted to accept online payments they could use a service such as Paypal to send invoices (although Paypal caries it’s own fees).  Thanks again for your feedback!

Here is an email we got from a tutor the other day. I thought it was worth re-printing in case others have a similar question:

I am a tutor at universitytutor.com. I really love your website and the recent innovations you have made including client rating and profile updates.

I just saw an email in regards to you setting up a new system with clients paying a markup on tutoring. I don’t know how efficiently this will work.

I work as a tutor and I am also currently going to school. It seems like a lot of money to pay by students just for getting tutored, they might also go to other websites or go to school learning centers to get the necessary aid.

Does this sound logical? I am just sending my thoughts and concerns because I really love your website.

Sincerely,
[name removed]

Hi [name removed],

Thanks for the email, I really appreciate your feedback! I think you’re right that the markup could cause a problem for some students. You may want to keep any existing clients you already have at your old rate so they don’t get an unexpected price bump. This tends to upset people more in my experience – unexpected changes – whereas if if a student knows the price up front then its unlikely to be an issue.

As for future clients, I don’t think it will be as a big of an issue as you might think. I know that when I first started tutoring, I “went out on a limb” and decided to charge $35 per hour which sounded like a lot to me. People paid and things went fine. I started meeting other tutors who claimed to be charging as much as $60 or $80 per hour, and I didn’t really believe it, but as I got busier I decided to raise my prices from $35 to $45. I figured I’d lose a good chunk of people but it was ok because I was getting busy. Remarkably, of the 30 or so clients I had setup with a bunch of tutors (it wasn’t just me at this point) I think only one expressed concern and decided to stop. There was zero drop in new business.

A few years later I had a “real job” and decided I wouldn’t have time for tutoring, but just as an experiment I’d put my rate at $65/hr just in case someone was really desperate. Incredibly, I saw no drop in business and new clients kept coming in at this rate. By the way, my “real job” was paying $25/hr so that tells you something.

Of course, by this time I had quite a lot of experience tutoring, but part of it was just that I didn’t realize how valuable it was to some people. In some professions (accounting, medicine, etc) it’s not uncommon to charge $500 per hour and up. Is it worth it? Well, if you REALLY need the IRS to get off your back or REALLY need your new kidney to work correctly, then yes it might be worth it. Similarly, if you REALLY need to pass biology this year, it might be worth it if you are the best biology tutor in town.

While there is occasionally free tutoring to be found (of dubious quality), keep in mind that your main competition comes from big tutoring companies like Kaplan and Silvan who have million dollar marketing budgets. These companies often sell their tutoring in “blocks” or “classes” which hide the true dollar per hour figures, but if you price it out it’s not uncommon for these classes to cost upwards of $85 per hour (and the markup on that is about 50% so the tutor is getting half). By these standards, the tutors on UniversityTutor.com are a steal.

I’ve actually been surprised by the prices that most tutors are putting on the website around $20 or $30 per hour. Every market is different, but in general I think most of the tutors on the site are pricing themselves too low. I don’t blame them because when I was a college student and the best jobs on campus paid $10 per hour, I didn’t believe it was possible either. But tutoring is not a commodity like a gallon of gasoline where the only way to compete is on price. Some tutors are much better than others and can command a much higher price. For better or worse, price is often used as an indicator of quality when people shop so it’s even possible that putting a higher price could actually result in MORE inquires from students who are looking to hire the best.

Anyway, I hope this helps and thanks for the feedback! We always like to hear from our users.

Thank you,
Brian Armstrong
www.UniversityTutor.com

Over the weekend we added a new feature to UniversityTutor.com that we hope you’ll like! It was the second most popular request in our user feedback forum: online payments for tutors!

Now you can get invoices by email and pay your tutor securely online by credit card. Tutors will receive funds either by direct deposit right to their bank account or via Paypal.

Our site uses 128bit encryption for all sensitive data and your credit card information is never stored on our servers. It is stored offline at a PCI Compliant data center. Look for the “https” prefix in the URL or the yellow lock icon in your web browser when entering payment info – this lets you know data is being encrypted before it is sent.

Our business model has changed as well. Now, instead of charging tutors $10/month to keep a profile up, we’ve switch to a 5-15% fee on tutoring completed through our site. Now we only get paid if you get paid – there are no up front costs or monthly fees.

Fully integrated payments brings us closer to a true marketplace website such as eBay.com, eLance.com, or Guru.com. With it come better “credibility indicators” that allow people to make buying decisions online. Here are two:

• Now students can *only* leave a tutor a review after completing a transaction through our site. This ensures tutors aren’t receiving “fake” reviews and they have actually worked with a student before getting a review.
• We are now tracking the number of hours a tutor has completed through our site. This will eventually become an indicator of how experienced they are. Client will be able to sort tutors by “most experienced”.

If existing clients are already used to using cash or check there is no reason to force them to switch over if they don’t want to. It’s optional for now. But it’s a good idea to start transitioning to online payments in the future because tutors will only be able to get reviews and increase their tutoring hours (which is displayed on their profile) by completing transactions online. This will allow them to remain competitive and charge higher rates in the future.

Finally, here is a demo video of the new features:

Or here is the same video on YouTube if you prefer to watch it there:

Feel free to leave us any feedback in the comments below. Thank you!

If you’re in job hunting mode, this website could be a great resource for you: Krop.com.

It’s designed mostly for creative professionals, but has some great features that are applicable to a variety of fields. For instance, if creates a beautiful PDF version of your resume that you can download, and gives you a personalized URL for your online resume.

Subtle features like this can really help you to stand out amongst a variety of candidates. After all, how many other candidates are likely to have an online version of their resume?

Check out this demo of how it works:

Other ways to quickly setup an online resume? Check out Weebly.com or try their demo here. Their interface is very impressive to get a professional website up and running quickly, and it doesn’t take any technical skills.

Next time you have to give a presentation for school, try recording your talk and getting that video on YouTube. Any impressive papers you’ve put together or personal projects? Get those on your resume website as well. You’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of 99% of other applicants.

What other tools have been helpful in your job hunting? Please leave a comment below.

Reprinted from edufire.com.

I’ve spent thousands of hours teaching in my life. A good chunk of that time has been focused on helping to prepare people for various exams including the SAT, the ACT and the GMAT (while working for Kaplan) and for various technology exams while working at a Microsoft training center. In addition over the years I’ve taken each of those exams as well as the PSAT, the LSAT, the CMA and Level One of the CFA. I’d like to share the top 10 “hacks” that I’ve learned over the years and taught to others in the hope that they might be helpful to you.

Hack #1 – Surround yourself with people who expect to score well. In my experience nothing will give you a better chance to score well then surrounding yourself with other people who expect to score well. Life works this way in general (the more successful people you surround yourself with, the more likely you are to succeed) but for some reason people forget about this when it comes to test-taking. If you’re looking to score 170+ on the LSAT you want to be hanging out and studying with others who are looking to do likewise. You’ll learn tips from them and be challenged as you study together in a way that you simply won’t be with people who have more humble expectations. And now with the Web it’s easier than ever to connect with people who have similar lofty aims.

Hack #2 – Block your study time. Almost all exams are timed. Yet for some reason most people they don’t time their studies. Blocking your study time serves two purposes. First, it puts you in more realistic exam conditions to what you’ll experience on Test Day. Second, it’s simply more productive. In Tony Schwartz’s excellent book The Power of Full Engagement he recommends breaks every 90-120 minutes:

The body, if you listen to it, asks you for a break every 90-120 minutes. We override that rhythm at our peril. If people are operating effectively and are following the natural demand of the body, it pays for them to take a form of recovery every 90-120 minutes.

Use a timer and block your study time and not only will it be more enjoyable, it’ll be way more effective.

Hack #3 – Research your study materials carefully. I’m shocked at how many people use crappy study material to prepare for their exam. You’re likely going to invest dozens or even hundreds of hours studying. Why would you not spend at least a few hours planning and researching your approach and materials? Sadly, many people find themselves wandering the isles at a Barnes & Noble and end up grabbing the book that “looks good”. Don’t do that. Go to Amazon and read the reviews. Talk to your friends who’ve taken the exam (preferably the ones who have scored very well!). Frequent discussion boards for your exam and ask questions there. And if you end up taking a test prep class grill your instructor about the best study materials (if he or she can’t give you intelligent advice you may want to switch to another class!). The time you spend upfront will be well worth it!

Read the rest of this entry »

Textbooks can be surprisingly expensive for many students.  The problem is made worse by university professors who publish their own textbooks and require their students to buy them to drive sales.  Worse still, they may come out with new versions of the book every few years that contains little new content but entirely different page numbers, deliberately making it difficult to use an older version of the book.

Here are a few ways to make buying textbooks a little less painful, and maybe even a little bit profitable.

1. Sell Them On Half.com

Instead of tossing your old textbooks at the end of the semester, trying selling them on half.com and recovering about 80% of what you paid.  The process is fairly easy.  All you do is type in the books ISBN and it pulls up an image of the book, description, and suggested selling price for you.

Trying selling them around peak time (the start of the next semester) for highest demand.  Get free packing materials from USPS.com and use priority mail (with flat rate envelopes if they’ll fit) for the best shipping rate.  You can print shipping labels right from Paypal.com.

Oh, and while you’re at it, buy your text books on half.com too!  The campus bookstore is usually the highest price you can pay.

2. Sell Your Friends Textbooks Too!

Most students complain about the price of textbooks, but don’t follow step #1.  So at the end of the semester or when people are moving in/out of dorms, you can often find huge piles of textbooks that people are too lazy to move or take with them.  Think about those stacks of textbooks as stacks of $50 bills!

Help your buddies clean out their dorm rooms and you could end up with a very profitable set of text books that you can now sell.

3. Tell Your Professors About The Future Of Textbooks

Sites like TextbookRevolution.org have made it their mission to solve this problem of overpriced textbooks.

From their website:

Textbook Revolution is the web’s source for free educational materials. This is a student-run, volunteer-operated website started in response to the textbook industry’s constant drive to maximize profits instead of educational value.

TBR’s mission is to drive the adoption of free textbooks by teachers and professors. We want to get these books into classrooms. Our approach is to bring all of the free textbooks we can find together in one place, review them, and let the best rise to the top and find their way into the hands of students in classrooms around the world.

In the internet age there is no reason why textbooks can’t be largely digital and free.  This makes them easier to update and they can still be easily read, either by releasing versions for the Amazon Kindle or creating inexpensive print-on-demand copies.

The essay below is from an actual student who applied and was accepted to NYU.

Even if you decide to do something a bit more tame, I think there are a few very important points we can glean from this essay:

• You need to envision the person reading these essays.  They have a huge stack of them sitting on their desk, it’s Sunday afternoon, and it’s taking forever to get through them.  They are BORED.
• After reading 20 essays, they will all start to blur together in their mind.  Everyone was inspired by a historical figure or overcame some adversity.  By the end there will be only one or two which really stand out in their mind, and those will be the ones who did something different than everyone else.
• The most powerful form of communication is story telling.  If you aren’t sure what to write, just tell a story.  The more personal, embarrassing, politically incorrect, or ridiculous the better.
• Everyone tries to paint themselves in a positive light.  Don’t be afraid to talk about your failures as well as your successes.
• If you are a little hesitant or afraid to tell a particular story, that is the one you should probably tell.

Reprinted from http://users.rcn.com/alderete/humor/norm/college.html

IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the past we’ve only allowed current university students to become tutors on UniversityTutor.com and it has created some issues (to put it mildly).

For example:

• We verify enrollment by asking students to enter their .edu email address.  But some universities only issue .edu emails to faculty, not students.
• Some schools issue student emails under a different domain (e.g. grizmail.umt.edu instead of umontana.edu)
• Some students don’t check their university email account as often as their regular mail (such as gmail, yahoo, etc)

Worse still, we’ve had a whole bunch of VERY qualified tutors that we’ve had to turn away simply because they no longer had their student email.  Some of them are recent graduates, Phd’s, certified teachers, etc.

So to fix this we made a decision: why not open up UniversityTutor to anyone who wants to tutor!

With the review system in place we can maintain a high level of quality, and this will really be the best option for everyone (students included who will now have a greater selection).

So as of today you’ll notice that we no longer ask you for your university or a .edu email address when you sign up:

Better Communication With More Prominent Tutor Names

Making the above change prompted another one.  To improve communication between tutors and students, we decided to make tutor names more visible on their profiles (just first name and last initial).  We got feedback (on our user feedback forum) that this was sometimes a nuisance to match the right tutor (who’s picture was visible) with the right name.

Tutors can of course change their display name if they’d prefer it not to be visible, but we hope most tutors will appreciate the additional visibility on their profile.

We hope you find these changes useful and we’ll continue to bring you more as we move forward!
UniversityTutor.com Staff