Mom Knows College

A Parent's Survival Guide to College Planning

4 Ways Your Teen Can Improve GPA Scores

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DANG those online report cards.

Nowadays we have access 24/7 to our teens’ grades and GPA scores. And I’ve gotta tell ya, it’s a little stressful.

I kinda liked not knowing about my kids’ grade offenses until those quarterly progress reports came out. Call me irresponsible (go ahead, do it).

I’d rather just stick my head in the sand sometimes.

But of course, as a college planning coach and former teacher, I know a few things about encouraging good grades from my girls.

And they were acutely aware from the very first day of high school that every grade they received would count toward the infamous Grade Point Average.

(No pressure, daughters.)

Over the years I’ve learned some effective ways to help students improve those GPA scores.

I hope these tips will help to guide your teen in an upward direction, too!

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How to Help Your Teen Study for Midterm and Final Exams

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Mid-term and final exams are right around the corner for many teens, and I’m sure your kid’s one of ’em.

It’s about to get stressful around your house, amiright?

Good study habits go a really long way toward successful exam scores.

Check out these tips to help your teen study for these important exams, without either of you slipping into anxiety and overwhelm.

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3 Ways to Stand Out on the High School Transcript for College Admissions

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3 Ways to Enhance Transcript for College AdmissionsSo, everyone knows that good grades in high school is important for college admissions. But there’s way more to that transcript that admissions officers look for than just a student’s grades.

First, let’s review what’s on the high school transcript. It’s a copy of your teenager’s permanent academic record, and includes:

  • courses taken from all schools the student has attended
  • dates each course was taken during each semester (or trimester)
  • codes that indicate the difficulty level of the course (college prep)
  • college courses, if taken
  • grades for each course
  • grade point average (GPA)
  • ACT, SAT, AP test scores (+ sometimes state exam scores)

The transcript is the very first thing that admissions officers look at – and is the most closely scrutinized.

Sure, test scores, school activities and essays are important to colleges when considering students for admissions. But the most revealing document that’s out there is the transcript. It shows how a student has challenged himself (or not) and how he’s excelled in coursework (or slacked off).

Colleges want to admit students who go above and beyond and challenge themselves. That starts with the types courses they’re taking, the difficuly of each course and the grades they receive in those courses.

Your teen should be taking this very seriously in high school, starting as a freshman.

Let’s take a look at what your teen should know about making the best impression possible here by understanding what matters most on the transcript.Continue Reading

Getting Tutored: How to Convince Your Teen of the Benefits

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Getting Tutored - Convincing your Teen of the BenefitsAhhh, new beginnings. It’s the start of a new high school year and things are fresh and perfect. Your teenager’s starting over with great grades this semester (ok, sure – no real grades yet, but no bad ones, either). There’s a sort of light feel around all of this.

And then we get deeper into the fall, and things get a little…contaminated. Homework piles up, quizzes and tests are held weekly. And I find that this is when the wheels start getting a little loose.

As a mom of two teenage girls, I want to help them out. And of course I care deeply that they’re successful in school. At the very first sign that they might be faltering, I tend to go into mom-mode and freak out with them, just a little. Which isn’t the best way to react with your kid when you want her to be on the right track. The mom-daughter dynamic gets all mussed and it’s stressful for everyone.

If this sounds like you at all, my personal advice to you is this:

Get a tutor for your kid. Outsource it. For the sake of Pete.

Although teens are becoming more comfortable with the idea of having tutors than they have in the past, you still might have to do a little convincing. I did. Teenagers don’t like to be labeled and often don’t want others to think they need help. And the last thing that they want is another adult telling them what to do.

But tutoring isn’t like that, and it’s your job to enlighten your kid to it.

I’ve taken some effective steps in convincing my girls that getting a tutor to help with schoolwork is the way to go. It’s helped tremendously with grades and in finally achieving an incredibly peaceful family life at home.

And I think these techniques will be useful for you, too.Continue Reading