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Back To School Mistakes

College Admissions

The blog post below is a rough transcription of the video above – so please listen to the video if possible – otherwise, here is what was in the video:

Hey everyone it is Neha, founder of College Shortcuts. I hope you guys are doing absolutely amazing.

One of the things I wanted to talk to you guys about today and for everyone that listens and reads my emails. Of course I sent you guys an amazing email about back-to-school this morning. Yes, that was from yours truly.

Now I just want to make sure I'm going to do a little sound check. Make sure you guys can hear me.

I want to talk about the three biggest mistakes that happened during back-to-school because we all know that back-to-school is such a crazy time. My favorite thing about it though is of course Target because Target has the best school supplies and a sense of fun.

One thing you do want to know is that back-to-school can be actually quite challenging for your child. You know with a lot families that we worked with, we see a lot of times students are really having a challenge of getting back into the game.

I want to tell you about three top mistakes here today that people make when it comes to getting back into gear.

Number one there's no what I call like nice gradual experience, as you go from traveling, summer trip, and then you go straight into school. I mean I'll tell you for example. I've been on the road with my mission, I've been in Florida passing through Mississippi, Alabama. just now leaving Louisiana. It's been quite a trip. I'm heading back to Texas and I will tell you that it does take time to recoup from travel.

So many times parents will book that last-minute trip, thinking like “I'll do it the week before school starts," but we don't give our kids that gradual get ready for what we call hundred miles an hour.

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Alright, so like I was saying, number one - not giving your kid the gradual that they need when it comes to getting ready for back-to-school.We think its easy right? It's like here's your backpack, books, figure it out, it's done.

The reality of it is they need a little time.

First, one of the biggest things I keep seeing is why did all the kids forget about the summer reading until the week before? I think that's one thing most parents get frustrated about.

It's really about setting them up for success so allowing them to have the time they need in order to really get their stuff done.

The second thing that's really important here about that gradual thing, is that you've got to make sure you have all the supplies ready for your kid.

The planner is a big one. I was talking with a student out in California, this really sweet boy who has signed up for my Peak Performance program. We found out that the reason that his grades were dropping last year was because specifically he did not use his planner effectively and he was just using the online portal.

So many times, by the way, when you think your kids like "Oh, I got it in the online portal," not every teacher has gone up to speed yet about using these portals.

You've got to realize the importance of making sure that your child has everything ready to go when it comes to back-to-school.

That's the first thing I want to talk about that I see over and over where school starts and it's a hundred miles an hour. Your kid is just still enjoying July 4th. I mean literally it's like on vacation still having a good time, used to sleeping till noon and they don't have that routine set. It's the number one big thing.

The second thing that's really big that I keep seeing, is test prep. For example a lot of students are taking SAT really soon in the next few days.

What I will tell you is those students that were planning on taking that test, they started prep at least two months in advance.

When you have back-to-school, most parents think "okay let's go, ahead and get started into school and let's make sure that we set the first two weeks to get set up, etc."

They don't realize that there's these all these other dates for the SAT and ACT that really you should be preparing for now.

The thing about it is, most schools don't give that much homework. They don't have that many tests in the first semester especially between August, September, and October. These are kind of the lightest months academically for a student.

I really want to make sure you understand that when it comes to test prep, it does take a plan of action.

One of the things we love doing and that's why I put my phone number below. We've got team members ready to go for you.

We've got these amazing back-to-school specials right now.

We've got parents calling non-stop and we have about a hundred parents now that we're trying to communicate with to make sure we get all booked up.

What I will tell you is when it comes to test prep, number one - you want the best coach.

When YOU'RE NOT setting your kid up for success in back-to-school, you're waiting till the last minute because you're waiting for them to talk you or you want to talk to them about it.

I will tell you as someone who's an overachiever top of my class type of kid. My parents didn't wait to ask me if I needed test prep. They just got it set up for me. I don't know how else to explain that. While most teenagers would rather be on snap-chat, or watching the Kardashians or Life of Kylie, or all that other trash on television.

If you're asking them to do something they don't like to do. They're children, they're not going to be like "yeah test prep!" like that's not going to happen guys.It's really important for you as a parent to really take ownership and say you know what let me find out some solutions and start getting it booked. Like I say in every email if you have time to be booking your kid for soccer, dance, football, all this other stuff. Let me tell you it’s more important test prep.

Now PSAT is coming up in October and so many parents aren't thinking about it. That's a big test coming up and most parents don't think about it till a week before. Let's face it, you can't drive results a week before anything.

You know I have a gala that's going to be coming up in the next few weeks. I'm not going to try to look phenomenal the week before. I'm going to really work hard ahead of time. That's why if you look at celebrity they have trainers, they have it set up as a game day.

The test is the game day and it's the kids that really set themselves up for success, they studied at least a minimum of 30 hours for the test upwards of fifty that really get the scores that get National Merit, scores above 1400 on the SAT. 30 and above on the ACT, I mean these are the types of scores that really get students in the top school.

On my way back to Texas, I thought why not talk about the pitfalls. No pun intended you know since I'm driving pitfalls. The pitfalls of what happens with back-to-school, because I just see these trends over and over for the last 12 years. I keep seeing this over and over.

The third thing I want to talk about here, so we've talked about number one - not giving your kid the gradual time to get ready for it. Then piling everything on them.

Number two is about test prep and not realizing that like there are certain test dates. Most parents just got their kids sign up and they book the test prep. They get it done with like it's you know we work seven days a week.

Literally you could just get this done pretty quickly. We've got this amazing back-to-school specials guys like incredible pricing on test prep right now it's insane. Call us at 713-401-2867.

The third thing I want to talk about with back-to-school is really not understanding why tutoring is so important. So most of the time I get you know what I call the nightmare call in about October when a parent goes to the online portal and receives the progress report, what I call the dreaded progress report. because they already knew in advance that they sign their kids up for pretty challenging classes but yet didn't get them the support that they were supposed to get.

Let me tell you one of the biggest mistakes I see over and over. Around October we get about, I'd say about 200 calls that come through where parents are like "Oh my gosh! I just got the progress report and my kid just bombed a class." Nice and interesting so tell me, did you already know based on past experience that this class would be hard for your kid. They go "Yes, I knew it already. I knew this would be a really challenging experience for them. Well I just thought they'd be able to figure it out." Like great, so when they took the first test and they bombed it, what happened did you have a conversation? Did you know about it? Did you can't hide it from me? Let's be honest, it happens all the time. They said they would do better next time. I said, "Great, what happened the next time by the way like end of August?" There's the test. There's at least two three test in September. One or two in October so by this point you're like halfway through. Technically 25% of the grades are done in those first 3 months of the year in your GPA. They just said they would improve, and they went to the teacher, and they don't really like the teacher.

Guys this is the biggest mistake I see constantly because you let your child fall over and over and over until October when in any AP or honors class, let's face it they've already gone through five or six chapters. The reason why tutoring is so important at the beginning. I know everyone's like why would I get a tutor now? Well the thing is you have to paste your kid back into school, number one, and having a tutor really helps with that.

Number two, you really want to make sure that they're understanding the material. Let me tell you something, the first three months of material just so you know are the most important parts. They're the foundation of the subject.

For example if your kid's in chemistry and they don't understand what all the elements are or how to balance an equation. The rest of the year, super hard. So all of a sudden you say your tutor up for failure by calling them in November and saying "Hey, my kid's making a C or D. Can you help like one hour a week?"

Let's face it they're learning five hours a week of material. Already moving forward and you want our team teach your kid the last three months of material that they were getting.

I just wanted to a video here because I know I've been a little silent. Last week we had an incredible event with over 150 parents. It's been an insane! Last few days I've been on the road and I'm heading back, but I just missed you guys so much. I wanted reach out to you because I know back-to-school is really intense. Here's a few ways that you can really solve this issue for your kid. Number one, give me a call below and let us know, you know what are the classes you think your kid is going to struggle in. Find some solutions that could possibly help them.

Number two, if you know your kid is taking the PSAT or the SAT or the ACT, I want you to call us because we have some incredible deals that end in August that can totally help your kid with test prep. Like I've told so many times if your kid doesn't qualify from a GPA perspective or a test prep perspective. It's really hard for the schools to want accept your kid into college. These are the types of things you really want to invest in. The third thing I want you to know is just handle your kid with a little bit of care. I mean let's face it they just had a whole summer break. They got to do all these fun and cool things. They got to travel, they got to do these amazing internships.

It's not easy for them either and like I always say with heart, our kids are amazing.

They just need a little time to adjust. Why not get them a little bit of support.

I know that sometimes that's hard, because we don't want to admit we need help.

I'm here to tell you that getting help is amazing.

It's the team that makes the dream work.

We have an incredible team at Elite Private Tutors and College Shortcuts. You know I can't pick everyone on my team. We make sure that energetically were synergistic together that we're all pushing forwards towards our mission of uplifting humanity, making sure that all kids are taken care of.

I just wanted to do this quick video for you guys because I know that back-to-school can really stress you out as a parent. Sometimes you're maybe not your absolute best. I know sometimes I'm not my absolute best.

I just want this to be a quick reminder on some of the trends I see over the last 12 years around this time of the year.I wanted to give you some solutions on how we can be of service to you and how we can make your life easier as a parent because we know how challenging it already is.

Don't hesitate to call me. We have an amazing team ready to go. I've already told my team I was doing this video so anyone that's watching, we'd be more than happy to speak with you. . .

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