Class Info

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Quick start for the class

Parents or students who are interested in this class, please email Dr. Huang at SATEnglish@gmail.com to

tell the parent's full name,
tell the student's full name, and
request the information about the class.

How:

SEEC is offered all year round. A student can try and join the class any week so long as there is space, but the student or parent must contact Dr. Huang first.
There is one class each week. If a student wishes to take more than one class, s/he can purchase the video recordings of the earlier lessons since all lessons have been video-taped.
The amount of time on the homework every week is roughly 30 minutes.
Parents are welcome to observe.
Dr. Huang does NOT provide one-on-one training on a routine basis.
Dr. Huang has never refrained from effusively praising and encouraging his students for their outstanding work and work that has shown salient improvement. Dr. Huang makes honest and unsugarcoated comments on a student's work, which sometimes may sound harsh, especially to those students who are used to their school teachers' dominantly positive comments. However, it is Dr. Huang's promise that no abusive language will ever be involved in any of his comments. All such constructive comments are meant for a student to make quick progress in his or her English performances.
Students often discontinue the class after they have earned a satisfying SAT/PSAT score. It is also common that younger students who have taken the class for some time wish to take a break for some months and rejoin the class later. In either case, it is appreciated that a student notifies Dr. Huang. For any student who will be permanently gone or be away from the class for longer than four weeks, the student's name will be taken off or temporarily taken off the class Google Group.

Where:

Online classroom (Contact Dr. Huang for the online classroom link.).

When:

Please see schedule.
The Saturday session and the Sunday session are repeated. Students do not need to come to both sessions. Students are busy. Therefore, the two sessions are set up for the students' convenience. SEEC Students should feel free to attend either session and hop between the two without asking for permission.

Does Dr. Huang critique his students' SAT essays?

Yes. He critiques and grades every student's essays assigned as homework. See an example.

How early should a student join SEEC to prepare for SAT/PSAT?

Many similar classes have a defined period, such as 10 weeks, or a defined number of classes. Dr. Huang's class is different. It is like a never-ending train. Students can hop on anywhere with any kind of preparedness for SAT/PSAT and get off at his/her self-defined destination (goal of score and English competency) without experiencing the repeated content in two years unless Dr. Huang intentionally repeats some materials to solidify retention. The missed content will reappear later in a different flavor. With all that said, Dr. Huang tends to provide heavy foundational training in essay writing, passage reading and grammar in the summer since there are significantly more new students in the summer.

With all that said, students are suggested to start to prepare for SAT/PSAT from the second half of 8th grade and work till 10th grade. Here are the four reasons:

Any meaningful progress takes time. Most students usually take half a year to two years to achieve their desired level of performance.
11th grade is often the busiest year in high school. Students are very busy with their AP courses or IB courses, club activities, community service, competition preparation, etc., and hardly have time for SAT/PSAT preparation. If a student starts the SAT preparation in 8th grade, students can take the real test in October of 10th grade once and for all. If they wish to take it one more time if the score is not desirable, they can make it up sometime also in 10th grade.
Many students apply to summer camps at the end of 10th grade. Many competitive summer camps require your SAT score. Such applications must be submitted between December and March.
SEEC content is not systematically taught at school but is tested in standardized tests and is useful for a lifetime. Therefore, early exposure to professional English training builds confidence both inside and outside of school. Early SAT training greatly helps high school students with their performances in school, especially those advanced courses, such as AP or IB courses, because all of these courses require that students demonstrate outstanding reading and writing abilities. Some 6th to 8th graders in this class have participated in their states' talent search by taking a real SAT and won awards.

How long should a student attend SEEC?

Dr. Huang's answer depends on a student's answers to the following questions:

How academically mature am I? Am I ready for such a training? Some 7th graders in SEEC can be more motivated than 11th graders. If a student plays with cell phone in class often, talks casually with another student frequently, hardly works on homework, then the progress is surely slow or minimal.
Am I a quick learner? If a student can remember, understand and apply what s/he has learned in SEEC, quick progress is inevitable.
How well prepared am I for SAT/PSAT? Students have joined the class with different preparedness, which can be detected in the SEEC diagnostic test. Students who are better prepared tend to stay shorter time in SEEC. After a period of training, if a student does not feel comfortable yet to take SAT/PSAT, the student can continue to learn until s/he feels comfortable.
What is my goal for SAT/ACT performance? A student who wishes earn 1600 in SAT tends to stay in SEEC longer.

In short, since students have different kinds of academic maturity, learning pace, current preparedness for SAT, and goal in a real test, Dr. Huang allows students to stay in his class to learn until they feel comfortable to take the real test. During their stay in SEEC, they learn not only test-taking skills but also foundations of English language art. Therefore, their learning not only helps them with their SAT/PSAT performances but also boost their school performances.

What if a student misses classes?

Since all sessions are video-recorded, students can take video recording as a time-shift tool.
Since the class is online, a student can take the class anywhere in the world so long as there is a fast Internet connection and as the student is available.

What do you physically need to join Dr. Huang's class?

You need to install free Adobe Connect.
You need a relatively fast Internet connection. Ideally, it is faster than 20mbps. You can test your home Internet connect speed at least three times by clicking fast.com.
You need a printer to print in-class exercise materials.

What is the best way to take Dr. Huang's class from Mainland China?

Please pay attention if you are taking Dr. Huang's class from Mainland China. Congratulations on being able to even view this page since almost anything Google is blocked in China! To use any Google products during the class, you need to use a VPN to fly over the Great Firewall set by the Chinese government. However, connecting to VPN may drastically reduce your connection speed. Therefore, here is a recommended solution: Use one computer without VPN to connect to the online classroom. Use another computer with VPN to access Google Docs.

How does this class help ESL students?

While ESL students certainly can greatly benefit from this class, Dr. Huang simply has not enough time to teach ESL content. ESL students should rely on their own schools to improve their basic English speaking, reading, and writing skill.

What if your child will take a real test very soon?

For those students who have to take a real test very soon, you can contact Dr. Huang to purchase any number of the recorded sessions so as to have a concentrated training within a very short period of time.