Here’s an excerpt from yesterday’s article:

His low-tech, conversational tutorials — Khan’s face never appears, and viewers see only his unadorned step-by-step doodles and diagrams on an electronic blackboard — are more than merely another example of viral media distributed at negligible cost to the universe. Khan Academy holds the promise of a virtual school: an educational transformation that de-emphasizes classrooms, campus and administrative infrastructure, and even brand-name instructors.

Of course, if your school or local public library offers the Tutor.com Learning Suite, you may already be familiar with Sal Khan.  His videos are some of the most popular and highly-rated educational resources in our SkillsCenter Resource Library, where Tutor.com users have viewed them thousands of times.  You can also find Khan Academy videos free of charge at our website if the Learning Suite isn’t available in your area.

To get you started, here are some of our users’ favorites:

• Quadratic Formula (proof)
• Introduction to Magnetism
• Statistics: Binomial Distribution
• Sex-Linked Traits
• Introduction to Limits

You’ve got five seconds.  Four, three, two, one.  OK, time’s up.

If you said “31,” “Thomas Jefferson,” and “chlorophyll,” congratulations.  Despite the long summer break, your brain appears to be in tip-top shape.  But if you couldn’t answer quickly enough, drew a blank, or ran screaming from the room, your grey matter may need a workout before you (or your kids) head back to school.

Here are a few tips to get your brain back into shape by the end of the summer:

Refresh your math memory. Any math class builds on what you’ve learned before, so most teachers use the first week or two to make sure you understand important concepts from last year.  Whatever math subject you took last, try a few practice problems from our free Homework Resources Library to see where you need more help.

Set aside reading time. It doesn’t have to be a textbook.  It doesn’t even have to be great literature.  For now, just get back into the habit of reading something—anything—at least once a day.  If you’re not sure where to start, try our summer break recommendations.

Structure your day. Staying up late, sleeping in, and lounging around the house are what make summer vacation great.  Unfortunately, these habits don’t work as well during the school year—and stopping them overnight can be hard.  This summer, take your alarm clock out of storage a few weeks early and get used to going to sleep at a reasonable hour.  Whether you like it or not, you’ll be waking up when it’s still dark outside in just a few weeks.

Get organized. No matter how you keep track of your schoolwork, get your system up and running now.  If your teacher releases a syllabus or reading list before your first class, find yourself a copy and look it over.  This can give you a head start on the year’s assignments, but even if you don’t do your readings early, you’ll save yourself time and aggravation later by finding the materials you’ll need in class now.

How do you prepare yourself for a new school year?

There’s even a new vocabulary to master—”positions” instead of MOCs, “salary” instead of base pay, and “vacation” instead of leave.

Fortunately, you’re not alone.  Tutor.com’s Career Specialists are available 24/7 to help you through your transition.  They can proofread your resume, brainstorm ideas for a cover letter, or find local job opportunities near you, all in our easy-to-use online classroom.

With Tutor.com for Military Families, eligible service members can work with a Career Specialist anytime.  (We also have free online tutoring for military dependents.)  For instructions to create your Tutor.com military account, just visit www.tutor.com/military and choose your service branch.

Even if your transition is years away, it pays to start your job search now.  Not only will you have access to tools like Tutor.com for Military Families while you’re still active-duty, you may also find your new career before your current term of duty ends—allowing you to pay for relocation to your new job with your military move.  That can save your family money and give you a leg up on civilian applicants, who may require moving expenses from prospective employers.

No matter where your transition takes you, Tutor.com for Military Families can help you get there.  Sign up for a free military account today, or contact us at help@tutor.com if you have more questions.

• exploring new career paths
• putting together your resume
• writing a cover letter
• finding job listings near you
• preparing for interviews

The SkillsCenter is built into our Learning Suite, so you can access this information anytime if your school or local public library has Tutor.com.  It’s easy—just log into the Adult Education and Career Center and click any of the categories under “Adult Services.”  You can also search the SkillsCenter for career resources in your city.  We have open job listings for the 40 largest metro areas in the U.S. and Canada, which makes it easy to narrow your search:

Once you’ve found a career opportunity near you, you can also download sample resumes, resume templates, and writing guidelines to draft a cover letter, or interview tips to help you help you ace your first meeting with your future boss.

If you need more coaching (or some pointers and advice), our Career Help Specialists are available and ready to help.  They can review your resume or proofread a cover letter to make sure it’s just right before you send it in, or help you find open jobs in your neighborhood.

With a little assistance from Tutor.com, your new career could be a few clicks away.

If your school or local library offers our Learning Suite, you can get dozens of practice tests and study materials for New York students in our SkillsCenter Resource Library.  You can also visit our website for Regents prep if the Learning Suite isn’t available near you.

To make sure you get your Regents diploma, try these free resources for this month’s exams from the New York Department of Education.

Tuesday, June 15:

• Algebra 2/Trigonometry
• Mathematics B
• Global History and Geography

Wednesday, June 16:

• Comprehensive English
• Living Environment
• Physical Setting/Chemistry
• Reference tables for science exams

Thursday, June 17:

• Geometry

Friday, June 18:

• U.S. History and Government
• Integrated Algebra

Monday, June 21:

• French
• German
• Italian
• Latin
• Spanish

Tuesday, June 22:

• Physical Setting/Earth Science
• Physical Setting/Physics
• Reference tables for science exams

If you get stuck on a question from a practice test, you can always connect to one of our math, English, science or social studies tutors for more help—just click the “Get a Tutor” button at the top of each resource.

Happy studying!

Studying for the ACT is like anything else—practice makes perfect.  That’s why you should start with a complete practice test, like this one from the official Preparing for the ACT booklet.  You’ll miss a few questions the first time, but that’s OK.  Once you know your score, you can work on the specific ACT section where you need the most help.  Here are a few more resources to help you build your skills:

• sample math questions
• sample English questions
• sample reading questions
• sample science questions
• sample essay prompt

If you come across a problem you can’t solve on your own, you can get more help from one of our math, English or science tutors—they’ll be happy to walk you through your question, step by step, so you’ll get the right answer on test day.  You can even send them the resources you’re working on, so they can see exactly where you’re stuck.

A little hard work now could make the difference between the score you want and a score you can live with, so take advantage of these free resources while there’s still time. When you get your test results, you’ll be happy you did.

If the Learning Suite isn’t available in your area, you can also get free SAT resources from our website and work with a tutor anytime you need more help.

As you prepare for the exam, a good place to start is with a practice test.  Here’s one from the College Board.  You can print it out or take it online, and then see how you performed on each question type and subject category.  When you’ve identified the areas where you need improvement, you can practice  on those specific kinds of problems.

If the verbal section is giving you trouble, here are some useful practice exercises and tips for each question type:

• sentence completion
• identifying sentence errors
• improving sentences
• improving paragraphs
• passage-based reading

If you’re struggling with the math section, try these free videos from Salman Khan of Khan Academy.  He took eight SAT math practice tests from the Official SAT Study Guide and solved every problem, step by step.  His explanations are clear and concise, and you can always connect to one of our tutors to work on a similar problem or get more help if you don’t understand.

Finally, there’s the dreaded essay section.  You can get ready by writing responses to these essay prompts from previous SAT administrations; our essay-writing tutors would be happy to check your work and help you improve your writing before test day.

We’d wish you good luck, but with a little preparation, you won’t need it.

It’s all available in our Learning Suite’s SkillsCenter Resource Library, so you can get study materials anytime if your school or local library has Tutor.com.

If the Learning Suite isn’t available in your area yet, you can also get free resources from our website.  And if you need more help, you can always work with one of our qualified, professional tutors.

Here are a few math videos from our friends at BrightStorm to get you started:

• Algebra: everything you need to know about factoring, from basic methods to complicated expressions and the sum or difference of cubes.
• Geometry: how to find the area of triangles, circles, annuluses, kites and rhombuses, sectors, segments, parallelograms, polygons and trapezoids.  Did we leave anything out?
• Basic statistics: a great five-minute introduction to mean, median, and mode.
• Trigonometry: you may know the definitions of sine and cosine, but can you graph the sine and cosine functions?
• Calculus: limits at a glance—enough said.

Not taking math?  No problem.  We have resources for science, English, and social studies too.  Happy studying!