The Case for Supplemental Education: For Standardized Tests and Competitions

In a typical educational setting, students learn material in the year they are given at the time they are given it. If a student needs particular instruction outside of this traditional pattern, for whatever reason, they may not have access to it barring their own efforts. This could be the need for additional help to catch up, extra challenges to maximize potential, or even homing in on particular skills in the interest of special preparation.

We have discussed at length how we can rely on online learning, private tutoring, and other forms of supplemental education to bolster students’ ability who have fallen behind or, due to structural reasons, need some of the gaps to be filled in. We’ve also discussed how supplementing education can provide an opportunity for kids to think with a different perspective and offer an extra challenge for keen learners.

At Mentorhood, we serve clients with a variety of needs and goals, including students who want to learn or sharpen a mathematical skill for a specific application, such as a test or a competition. For example, students immigrating to a new country often need to complete standardized tests to place themselves properly in the new school system. They need help working through practice exams and other preparation materials, possibly from an angle they haven’t seen before, to get them ready for their move. Our tutors get the privilege of walking alongside students as they navigate standardized testing.

The Big Move

International standardized tests can be an extremely intimidating prospect,. In the course of a regular, uninterrupted educational experience, students typically learn a sense of what to expect from teachers and what teachers expect from them. In navigating standardized testing, there is no pre-existing relationship. There may be past papers to reference, but in the truest sense, everything will feel very new to the student, especially if it originates in an unfamiliar country. Moreover, tests may be very broad, reaching many areas of a student’s understanding, adding to the intimidation factor and the workload in preparing.

Adding to that the anxiety that many kids already feel specifically about math—and the fear that your new home country may be judging you on this high-stakes test—and the fact that you may be placed in a different grade level than you are expecting or are used to, and this can create quite a challenge for kids.

We want to stand with the support families as they navigate these big life changes. As day-in-day-out educators, it is much easier for us to help demystify the process than for students and parents to go at it alone. We can work with these students through the necessary standardized testing material so that they can focus on sharpening their math skills rather than getting lost in the process as a whole. We can give them an intuition for how to answer the questions they’re given and what their examiners are looking for so that once they get into the test itself, it will seem much less alien and much more routine.

Competition Time

Similarly, when preparing for competitions, students are likely going to be asked questions of a style catered to that competition, which, unless they’ve competed before, will be totally new to them. Similar to the standardized testing dilemma, students have no prior relationship to the examination process, although arguably the anxiety is mitigated because a competition is both gamified and optional.  

Competition kids face a different set of challenges. If they're truly passionate about mathematics and are willfully engaging in the competition, they are likely excited about getting better at the material and the prospect of winning. As tutors, this is a wonderful enthusiasm to work with. That being said, they often have high internal standards and can be very hard on themselves when something doesn’t come easy or they answer a question wrong. Though the stakes may be slightly more positive, they are still high and extremely personal.

We love helping students prepare for math competitions. In fact, we’re very involved in some ourselves! We occasionally put together group classes to help students prepare for an upcoming competition and sometimes help to host in-person math competitions ourselves. We can say they are an absolute blast. We encourage that spirit of competitive improvement, where students who are doing math with excellence can continue to refine and be challenged in their skills.

Get Ready to Go

The bottom line is, we can help you reach your bottom line, whatever it is. If you're looking for a full year curriculum support, we're there. If you're looking for private tutoring to master a particular area of struggle, we can help. If you need a month of intensive preparation before a big event like an exam or a competition, we've got you, and we’ll be excited to get you over the finish line.