How Growth Wise teaches "Mindset for Success” both in School and in Life
After tutoring 4,000 sessions of SAT and ACT, I've seen a common mindset among students who score at the top range of what they're capable. Not just the ones who score a 36 on ACT, but also the ones who jump from 17 to 31.
My life's passion is to teach that mindset. It raises test scores, but it also imbues kids with the skills they need to have a life of success and fulfillment. High scores are fantastic, but as Tony Robbins reminds us: "success without fulfillment is the greatest failure." Why do all the hard work, if it isn't going to lead to a life we love?
So how do you have a life of success and fulfillment?
And how does learning to do so as a teenager also raise test scores?
Below are three mindset shifts we teach students at Growth Wise - and why the teens you know need to learn them yesterday.
Drop the stories that disempower you
“What if I fail?” “What if I fail?” A student of mine would repeat to herself throughout her ACT. Needless to say, she would bomb when she did this. Through the lens of “what if I fail,” her mind focused on what she was afraid of instead of on the questions she was supposed to be solving.
Other students of mine announce “I’m so bad at math” or “I always read carelessly,” and then, little to their knowledge, their brains filter the contents of their lives to present a self-confirming picture: any question answered incorrectly is highlighted to show that yes, I am so bad at math.
What we say to ourselves - how we define our lives - has a massive impact on how we live them. Kids are rarely taught that the things they say, particularly about themselves, have a way of coming true.
That doesn’t mean they need to assert that they’re the greatest testtaker since Good Will Hunting, but it does mean learning to rework “I’m so bad at Math” into “this is challenging but I can get it” - and picking up that habit will absolutely change their lives. It’ll permeate into how they show up to completing college applications, their willingness to apply to a more competitive college, their attitude to obstacles in their jobs one day, and even how well they show up to their partner.
Knowing WHEN to work: wait until your body tells you to!
Interoception is a little-known word that is crucial to a fulfilled life. It’s the skill of listening to the subtle signals of your body.
Your stomach tightens when you’re offered a job promotion that, on the surface, seems like everything you should want.
A flush of lightness comes over your teenager each time a particular new student arrives in their class.
These are powerful signals - don’t take that job - go up and talk to that person - that tell us about our truth each moment of the day.
When we honor these signals - a feeling of lightness and openness in the body, for example - we’re guided when to work, who to speak to, and which risks to take.
If we miss them, though, we might take that job we shouldn’t have; attempt to study when we should have gone camping with friends (or vice versa); or neglect to talk to the person we have a crush on - all out of fear.
As my students learn to listen to their bodies around when to attack their work and when to take breaks, they gain access to an inner compass that is guiding them in all of their decision making. Choices big and small, academic and non-academic. And consistently I hear from parents how at home in their skin my students now feel as they begin to apply these lessons.
Practice with Intention: Drill ONE Technique at a Time into Habit
Based on the experiences of students who come to us having tried another tutoring service before us, most SAT tutoring involves giving students practice tests to do at home, then spending session time talking about wrong answers.
The problem with this approach is that new habits aren’t getting built. Student and tutor are just talking about wrong answers.
In Growth Wise’s methodology, we teach students how to pattern-recognize problem types and then apply protocols of precise, systematic thought to that particular type of question. One by one, these techniques of more precise thinking are drilled into habit, and THAT is how scores rise.
If you’re not changing who you are as a testtaker, habit by habit, then you will not change, and your scores will not improve.
How does this apply more broadly? A basketball player who simply “goes to practice” may think they’re working at getting better, but if they aren’t focusing all practice long on the particular habit that they need to improve next, they’re not going to improve by practicing. They’re just going to do more of what they’ve always done.
If you think these and similar habits will benefit a teenager you know (maybe even one at home), reach out to us. Raising grades and scores is fun, but changing lives is what we’re here for.
- Jim Treadway,
Growth Wise Founder
& Head SAT/ACT Tutor
