Online learning is tough. From digital access equity to reduced accountability, the challenges surrounding distance learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic are troubling educators and students alike. 

You might have heard that practice makes perfect, but repetition with variation is a more effective strategy to reinforce new ideas.

We need to rethink failure, because mistakes always present opportunities for growth.

Successful online learning involves personal interaction, ease of access, and a suite of integrated, digital tools.

Taking into account the current COVID-19 crisis, where students will have been out of school from March to September (and potentially longer), summer break may seem less like leisure time and more like a scholastic drought. In fact, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a non-profit that assess academic proficiency, estimates that students may return to school with only 70 percent of yearly gains in reading and less than 50 percent of gains in math.

Great minds don’t think alike, and these noetic differences are especially evident in the ways we learn. For students with learning differences (LD), the path to cultivating successful study habits begins with analyzing and identifying how you effectively absorb and retain information. Such metacognition involves self-monitoring, strategic planning, and objective assessments of strengths and weaknesses.

As an elite athlete working towards the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Kate Grace is the embodiment of growth mentality. Kate recently spoke to the Yale Club of Oregon on “Practicing Excellence: Mastering Mind and Body on the Road to the Olympics.” We saw parallels between her training, college admissions, and SAT or ACT test prep, so we asked her to sit down with us and share more about her dedication to continued improvement.

Moving science classes out of the classroom decreases the opportunities for collaborative study and eliminates the possibility of in-person laboratory experiments, which provide invaluable hands-on experiences for students – allowing them to see scientific concepts in action. Educators are doing their best to ease this transition for students, but what are some actions students can take to get the most out of their science classes? Let’s take a look.

How can you ensure you’re getting the most out of your math classes?

What are “study skills,” and who needs them?

School’s canceled! Once every teenager’s dream, this COVID-19 containment measure now has you realizing that you’ll be responsible for your own learning. You’ll still take final exams, and maybe even AP tests or IB exams. In other words, you can’t give up on school just yet. But learning is about to get harder: for the next few weeks, you won’t have the support structure of the classroom.

We understand that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to learning.

NOTE: This is an updated post, originally published May 16, 2016.

For many people, math is a source of serious anxiety. Whether they are studying for a test in school or gearing up for the math sections of the SAT or ACT, scads of students experience a sense of dread at the prospect of solving difficult math problems.