The College Prep Podcast

Sometimes small study tweaks can make a difference. In this episode, Gretchen outlines seven small study techniques that can are easy to integrate into your homework time, and can help you be better prepped for tests. We’re listing them here, though you’ll want to tune in to understand exactly how to integrate them into your study routine. They are: * Take 3-minutes to quiz yourself before every assignment. * Don’t use Google Translate to do your language homework, but do use it to assess yourself after you’re done * Eliminate silly mistakes on math tests by doing a “speed practice” when doing homework * Check your homework every night using www.slader.com * Use blue tape to put flashcards up around your house, so that you can study when you’re walking to and from different rooms * Draw a picture next to information that you’re having trouble remembering * Make a quizzable study tool before each chapter test and save those tools for the final.

“Make time visible” is a favorite refrain of Gretchen’s, and it’s equally as true for college planning as it is for daily time management and organization. In this episode, Megan walks students step by step through how to make the next four years visible…by making a 4 year plan for course selection. Listen in as she walks you through the following steps, which you can apply to your high school or your college career: * Gather information about the courses at your school. * Start by laying out requirements and prerequisites on a calendar. * Add electives and “one off” classes. * Strive for balance. * Know your options and make sure you have a back up plan if courses aren’t available when you thought they might be.

Students need to become familiar with failure earlier than their parents often let them. Megan and Gretchen discuss why it is important to let student fail small in the younger grades, and provide tips for how parents might back off as students transition from elementary to middle to high school.  

Teenagers often have lapses in judgement.But when these lapses go too far, how might it impact high school graduation or college admissions? Megan lays out 5 kinds of trouble that teens can get in and analyzes how that behavior might get in the way of their next steps and goals. Specifically, she and Gretchen discuss: * sexual misconduct * social media usage * underage sex and pornography * alcohol and drug use  and * “mob mentality”

Sometimes nagging is necessary! So how can parents do it in a way that will make teens receptive to their reminders and prodding? In this episode, Gretchen tells stories about how 3 different clients made agreements with their parents about how and when they are allowed to nag them. These “family nag plans” can make a big different in terms of helping teens follow through and also preserving the peace at home. Tune into the episode to find out more about how to create a family nag plan that will work in your unique circumstances!  

College visits are a time consuming part of the college search process, so how do you make sure you are getting helpful information when you are on campus? How do you look past the college’s marketing messages to see what is really going on? Megan provides her Top Ten list strategies for rocking your college visit. Tune into this podcast episode for “truly highly advanced” information about how to rock each of these tips: * Make sure to book the basics: an informational sessions, a campus tour, and lunch in the dining hall. * Visit with the specific college and/or department that you are considering. * Meet with a professor in your intended major. * Attend classes. * Visit with students in your major, program, and/or sport. * Spend the  night. * Meet with financial aid. * Tour the campus at night. * Visit the campus on the weekend. * Do a scavenger hunt to look for potential problems.

Thinking about starting your own academic coaching biz? Maybe you’ve already started, but you’re frustrated with how slow moving it is? Maybe you’re a parent curious about hiring an academic coach? Listen in as these 3 newly minted academic coaches (who’ve just completed Gretchen’s Anti-Boring Approach Coach Training Program)  talk about the challenges and joys of marketing their services and working with new families to support scattered students. Together we discuss: * their unique backgrounds and what made each one of them decide to start academic coaching businesses * challenges they’ve experienced in the first year of business * success stories from their first coaching clients, and how they feel they’ve been of the most service * tips for families thinking about whether  to get a coach to support their teenager * tips for folks thinking about starting their own businesses * what kinds of people are the best fit for Gretchen’s year-long mentoring program, and how it benefitted each of them * and more! If you are curious about working with any of these amazing new coaches, feel free to reach out to them. Marni Pasch and Nicole de Picciotto can be found through their websites. Lindsey Permar can be emailed directly at lindseypermar [at] gmail [dot] com.  

How do we motivate teens to take little actions that offer big results? Megan reports in about a book she read recently that has lots of great advice for teens: Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe Even the World by Admiral William H. McCraven. Even though it’s written for grown-ups, Megan sees the ways that this little book could be an inspiring gift for teens, or be a great conversation starter at dinner. Here are the “little things” that the author covers in his book, which Megan adapts for teens in this episode: * Start the day with a task completed. * You can’t go it alone. * Only the size of your heart matters * Life’s not fair. Drive on. * Failure can make you stronger. * You must dare greatly. * Stand up to bullies. * Rise to the occasion. * Give people hope. * Never, ever quit. To check out the book yourself, you can find it here.

Did you know that many of the practice SAT & ACT tests offered by companies to help you study — are fake?! Don’t fall for fake tests! Megan walks you through how to make sure the practice tests you are taking are legit… and will actually help you study effectively for the ACT and SAT. Specifically, she walks you through: * What advertisements to watch out for so you don’t get bamboozled by fake practice tests * Legitimate methods for taking practice tests * Creative ways to get your teen to take “kitchen table” tests proctored by you * How to get a baseline result * Whether or not the PSAT will be helpful for you to take * and more!

What does research teach us about the best ways for teachers to teach and students to study? Guest experts Yana Weinstein and Megan Sumeracki, otherwise known as The Learning Scientists, school us on what research shows is is the best ways to learn, including some surprising myths about what doesn’t work. Together with Gretchen and Megan, they discuss: * The hilarious way that the Learning Scientists podcast got started * Stories from the classroom of what students at the college level struggle with in regards to learning * The three most effective strategies for learning, based on a research study from the NCTQ, which include retrieval, spaced practice, and dual coding. * Why intuition is sometimes misleading when someone is trying to figure out how to study * And more! Here is the link for a cool way to use flashcards to do elaborative interrogation, which was mentioned at the end of the episode. Find out more about the Learning Scientists Podcast at their website, www.learningscientists.org. Here is more information about each of them individually too: Megan Sumeracki (formerly Megan Smith) is an assistant professor at Rhode Island College. She received her Master’s in Experimental Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Purdue University. Her area of expertise is in human learning and memory and specifically applying the science of learning in educational contexts. She also teaches a number of classes from first-year seminars and intro to psychology to upper-level learning and research methods courses.  Yana Weinstein is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from University College London and had 4 years of postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis. The broad goal of her research is to help students make the most of their academic experience. Yana‘s research interests lie in improving the accuracy of memory performance, and the judgments students make about their cognitive functions. Yana tries to pose questions that have directly applied relevance, such as: How can we help students choose optimal study strategies? Why are test scores sometimes so surprising to students? And how does retrieval practice help students learn?

Many families are confused about where to start with college admissions, and Megan has noticed there is a lot of faulty information out there. In this episode, she lays out, in concrete terms, what’s important when prepping for college and corrects some myths that many families have. Specifically, she and Gretchen explore: * 3 great underutilized resources for getting accurate information about colleges * 3 main criteria colleges look at when determining if you are a good fit for their school * 5 myths about the college admissions process (like: “you have to have top grades and great scores to get into any school”) and what is actually true instead

There are seven different types of students, in Gretchen’s experience, each with different approaches to school and studying. As final exams approach, it’s a great opportunity to explore each type of student’s weaknesses in regards to studying, and what students, parents, and coaches can do to turn those blind spots around. Listen in as Gretchen goes into much more detail about these 7 types of students: * The Stressed Out Perfectionist * The Fade Away Student * The Brilliant-But-Bored Student * The Meh Student * The Disorganized Student * The Artist * The Athlete * BONUS (at Megan’s Suggestion): The Over-Scheduled Student

Do you worry whether your high school student has the right kind of activities to impress the colleges to which they’re applying? Megan lays out an easy way to think about extracurriculars to help teens make the most of their time outside of school. She shares: * what it means to “start with the end in mind” with thinking through a teen’s activities * choose an activity that makes sense for your kid without forcing them to do something they wouldn’t ordinarily do * four ways to find the right activities for your student that will be a) aligned with your kid’s interests and b) show them off in a good light to colleges

There are some basic life and school skills that adults assume teens know how to do — but they really don’t! Gretchen and Megan break down 12 seemingly simply skills they’ve observed in their practices and urge their adult listeners to support students in learning how to do these things. Tune in as they tell stories about how they discovered students don’t know how to: * set the time in their alarm clock * study skillfully for tests * work with “to do” lists * take decent notes * make an outline * clean out an email inbox * organize files on the computer * title computer documents in a way they can be found again * use a digital calendar * follow the rules of plagiarism * approach reading a difficult book without overwhelm * visualize what day-to-day life in college is like.

You’ve heard it’s bad for your brain to cram for finals, but what should you do instead to get ready for semester exams? Make an Anti-Cram! plan, of course! During this episode of the podcast (which is a reprise of Gretchen’s recent Master Class for educators), Gretchen walks you through the steps to get ready to rock your finals, including: Mistakes teachers & students make when preparing for exams Why the Study Cycle is so important, and how to teach it to students * What the Study Senses are, and how to incorporate them into your study plan A simple formula for how to learn, so students can identify and fix their weakest link, and How to create a final exam study plan that (hopefully) kicks cramming to the curb. If you’d like to follow along with Gretchen’s slides to her Master Class, here they are. Also, we ended up recording the Master Class as a Facebook live, so if you want to watch the original, check it out here. Finally, here is more information about Gretchen’s upcoming class for educators, The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically.