Wesley Collins attends Kitsilano Secondary in grade 11, and improves his English and Math skills with our tutors, in class and in study space. Last year, he really boosted his Socials 11, with two intensive classes, and received excellent results.
How would you describe Study Space to someone who has never been before?
You gotta come in with an idea of what you want to do, and if you don’t understand it fully, the tutors will help you. I usually go for Math, to prep for my Saturday Math class, and sometimes for English too. The tutors there are pretty good! I work with Markie, Michaela, and Caitlin mostly. Just the way they teach really works for me. Like, Markie won’t just give you the answer, he will make you write it out a thousand times until you understand it, and then you’ll never forget it! It’s the same for everyone in study space – they won?t just give you the answer, which is awesome.
Do you find that you’re more productive in Study Space than at home?
Totally. If I do my homework at home, I’ll end up just giving up. Study space is more of a work environment, and you can’t really talk with all of your friends, so it makes me do the work!
Can you tell me a bit about your Saturday Math class with Keri?
It’s pretty awesome, but it’s on a Saturday morning – that’s the only bad part about it! It’s hard because it’s a giant dose of math, but it’s still easier than if you were doing it in school. For me, it’s easier this way, with Keri, because her lessons are very hands on: like you get to cut out stuff, and colour! It’s fantastic! Keri is awesome and she’s really on top of us, which other teachers in public school aren’t always.
What was the Social Studies 11 Exam Boost like?
Uhm, it was early in the morning! [Laughs] But, I would describe it as a bunch of kids in a classroom learning about Social Studies. Also, it was very hands-on because we had this great booklet covering everything in Socials 11. We had to fill it in instead of just being lectured at, where your mind easily drifts away. I studied that for two weeks before the exam and I got like a 90 something on the Provincial.
The Boost wasn’t just lecturing, you had to pay attention! We would play trivia games at the end where you could win prizes, which was a big incentive to focus, and it totally worked for me. I’d take a boost again, it helped a lot!
Why do places like BrainBoost need to exist?
Because school sucks and BrainBoost makes it a bit better.
Three words to describe BrainBoost.
Awesome.
Social.
Fantastic.