Mar Vista Tutor Reflects on Best Practices and Strategies for Academic Success

Academic tutors are often able to provide a truly unique kind of insight into the efficacy of the many different practices and strategies intended to yield academic success. After a discussion with a Mar Vista tutor who has worked with students from Pacific Palisades to Huntington Beach and beyond, it became clear that there are a few core concepts every parent, teacher, tutor, and student should consider incorporating when developing a comprehensive approach designed to help students of all levels succeed throughout every stage of their academic lives.

Patience, Positivity, and Punctuality

With the benefit of years of professional experience working with Southern California students in early education programs all the way through postgraduate studies, the overwhelming majority of tutors believe three specific character traits play an outsized role in determining whether or not a student is able to make substantial progress across all subjects throughout the duration of their academic career.

These three character traits -- patience, positivity, and punctuality -- do not necessarily have to be inborn; they can be learned through consistent practice and specific skill-building strategies. In fact, the Groza Learning Center has enjoyed a great deal of success by actively working with students to develop these specific traits as well as several others the learning center believes are similarly critical to academic success.

Identify Goals, Strengths, and Weaknesses

In any endeavor, short- and long-term goals should be first identified before any strategy is developed or implemented. Academic goals should carefully consider each individual student’s current strengths and weaknesses to ensure that strategic measures can be implemented that address any areas of weakness while simultaneously taking advantage of any current areas of strength.

When developing these academic goals, it is critical that each goal is both measurable and achievable within a reasonable timeframe. With measurable short- and long-term goals in place, students often benefit from the palpable sense of academic progress being made, resulting in a snowball effect in which the student becomes increasingly confident and highly motivated to achieve the next academic goal within their reach.

Respect the Law of Diminishing Returns

It is important to recognize the difference between an optimal approach to academics and a maximal approach to academics. Those who try for a maximal approach will quickly realize that there is a point in which any additional investment of time or effort begins to yield minimal gains at best. This is also the point at which a student may begin to exhibit the early signs of burnout, which can have disastrous long-term consequences that every parent and student should take great care to avoid.

When parents and students understand and respect the law of diminishing returns, it becomes clear that an optimal approach to academic success involves adequate time to recover and recharge. The best students are those who make a commitment to striking that ideal balance between academic and recreational pursuits, with the understanding that regularly occurring periods of rest and relaxation should be considered a productive use of one’s time.

The fact that each of the aforementioned strategies, skills, and characteristics can be applied on an almost universal basis is perhaps the most encouraging aspect associated with these diverse approaches to the achievement of academic success. Any student at any academic level can benefit from these practices and can work on refining these skills in a way that makes it possible to achieve any number of lofty academic goals.