Strategies | Chyten Tutoring and Test Preparation of Asheville

Chyten Introduces RANDD’s Revolutionary Reading and Study Skills

Chyten’s Reading and Development program (RANDD) significantly improves student confidence and performance. Based on 20 years of experience and recent learning research, this revolutionary study skills program is extremely successful and is in high demand. Now, you can find it in Asheville.

Specifically developed for elementary and middle school students, RANDD is the most comprehensive Reading and Study Skills program ever created. This 14-session tutorial program is everything your child will ever need for a lifetime of learning.

Review-Integrated Notetaking

Chyten’s RANDD Program teaches students a method of classroom note-taking that transforms student notes into a handy review page. No more wasting time rewriting notes! RANDD students are taught to recognize verbal and non-verbal clues used by their teachers, to code their notes using Chyten’s customized coding system, to differentiate notes into the three levels of information and to compartmentalize information for recall on tests and quizzes. Utilizing the powerful technique called “association” students memorize large amounts of information easily and without undo time or effort.

Classroom Management

Chyten’s RANDD Program teaches student what to say to teachers to make the teachers want to help them earn top grades. This is a long way from bringing the teacher an apple! Training the teacher? Absolutely. What could be more important than letting a teacher know you are serious about doing well in his/her class? Classroom management for students is innovative, creative and very effective.

Information Organization Utilization (IOU)

Never reread a chapter again. Utilizing an innovative strategy called IOU, RANDD students learn to create single-page chapter summaries that contain all the information they need to ace tests and quizzes.

Differentiated Reading

Novels have characters, plot settings and protagonists. Textbooks have headings, subheadings and graphics. Yet, many students read a textbook the same way they read a novel – or a magazine. It is imperative that students learn to differentiate their reading technique to fit the purpose and nature of the reading assignment.

Mid-Range Reading (Read 300 – 700 words per minute)

Amazing! The way we were all taught to read is both tedious and ineffective. Our brain works so much faster than our eyes – no wonder the brain goes to sleep and we experience “the blank page syndrome.” Chyten’s RANDD Program literally reprograms students’ eye-movements, thus speeding up the mechanics of reading while increasing comprehension. THIS IS NOT SPEED READING! It is EFFECTIVE READING.

Active Reading Strategies

Passive reading is far too common among students, contributing to poor comprehension and memorization. Becoming an active reader is essential to effective reading. Chyten’s instructors are experts at helping students become more involved in their reading – and the results can be amazing.

Time-Management and Organization

Should I study math first, or English? Evening or morning? Last minute scrambling to finish a project is not the way to earn high grades. Chyten teaches students to acknowledge their short and long term schedules and to plan their study times for maximum efficiency.

Test-Taking Strategies

From standardized tests to essays, test-taking strategies are essential to a student’s success. Chyten has long been considered a premier test-preparation service and shares its knowledge with students in a way that is clear, simple and easy to apply to tests and quizzes.

Study Environment

Where a student studies, what kind of lighting is there, background noise, music, telephone, TV or I-Pods, on a bed, at the kitchen table or at a desk – these are all factors in effective studying. Chyten helps students create an environment conducive to effective learning.

Chyten’s proprietary RANDD 14-session reading and study skills program transforms struggling students into star students by teaching them a series of proprietary study techniques and advanced reading techniques.

Chyten’s RANDD Reading and Study Skills Program may be the most important investment you’ll ever make in your child’s academic future.

Call 828.505.2495 to discuss how RANDD can change your student’s life, with amazingly effective skills and strategies that will last a lifetime!

Should your child take the SAT or the ACT?

If your student is a sophomore or junior in high school, you are starting to hear about the acronym soup of standardized tests. For exceptional students, you are faced with the daunting challenge of helping them map out their test calendar for the year (PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP’s, SAT Subject Tests, etc.). One of the first options you may be considering is whether they should take the SAT or the ACT. Let me help you cut through some of the clutter.

Both the SAT Reasoning Test (as it is now called) and the ACT are widely administered standardized tests that are supposed to level the playing field between the various secondary schools (or education options) throughout the country. The vast majority of colleges consider these tests in addition to GPA and course work when making admissions decisions. Virtually all Indiana schools use these scores for determining “automatic” scholarships. Both tests are developed and administered by non-profit organizations, however, they do compete for “market share”. Historically, the ACT has been most prevalent in the Midwest (Indiana being an exception) and the SAT has been the driving force on the east and west coasts. The ACT is currently making major inroads and for the first time last year held a very slight lead. All colleges accept scores from either or both.

Many educators (but not all) recommend that a student take both exams (and multiple times). The ACT has long allowed students to choose which test scores are sent to colleges. In the past, colleges received all SAT scores and created a composite of the best scores for each test component. Since 2008, the SAT has provided for Score Choice, where the student selects which scores are sent. (Note: some schools, like Purdue, still require all SAT scores be sent to them, although the College Board will only send those that are requested by the student). This has eliminated any potential reason not to take these tests on multiple occasions.

However, if time and effort are to be used wisely, one should spend reasonable resources examining the differences between the tests and determine which best matches the academic strength of your student. Any time preparing for the test can then efficiently be applied to the one most likely to produce the best relative result.

The SAT consists of 3 sections: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing (which includes an essay). The ACT has 4 sections: English, Math, Reading and Science Reasoning. Writing is optional although most colleges require it. The SAT purports to be an aptitude test that examines reasoning and verbal skills. The ACT attempts to measure what students learned in school. Therefore, the ACT is considered more skill based and straightforward. The math certainly is. Be aware that it covers trigonometry, which the SAT does not. The SAT has more statistics, probability and data analysis. The ACT tends to have more reading in general, so it favors those who are stronger in that area. The Science Reasoning is mostly about reading skills, although the student must interpret and evaluate data and the draw logical conclusions. The grammar sections are more reading based than the SAT. The ACT reading section itself is often considered more difficult than the SAT’s reading sections. There are more questions overall on the ACT exam and some find it hard to finish. Some also point out that there is no penalty for wrong answers on the ACT while the SAT deducts a fraction of a point. This is true, but it is a smokescreen and should be disregarded. Statistically it is a break even, and you can always eliminate at least one obvious wrong answer anyway.

As the SAT is more strategic (some might call it tricky), there are great advantages to learning how to employ specific methodologies for each question type.

Apart from these generalities, it is difficult to predict success. Your best option would be to come to Chyten and take our ACT vs SAT Comparison Test. This test will provide indications of your scores on both exams and determine whether you have a higher probability of success on one versus the other. It will also highlight key areas for improvement.

By Paul McCarthy, Chyten Educational Services of Carmel, Indiana

Chyten Introduces RANDD’s Revolutionary Reading and Study Skills

Should your child take the SAT or the ACT?

Chyten of Asheville

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