What people are saying...

"I feel confident that Berkeley Academics gives my child the tools that he needs to be equipped with to succeed. I trust you guys to educate him. If you ever started a school, I would be the first in line to sign up." - Theresa Long, parent

Parents

"My daughter was an incoming 8th grader who would have been a good student regardless of where she was - but she found herself immensely enjoying the science, math, and physical education classes mainly because of the creativity and enthusiasm of the instructors. And, at the end of the first session, she was already talking about what she wanted to take at the next session! I think there is no greater feedback than that my child enjoyed learning and overcame biases and fears about a subject matter that she had originally dismissed as being "not her." I highly recommend Berkeley Academics to parents who are looking for that extra factor to determine where to direct their children for the summer." -Parent of an 8th grade student

"My son loves working with you! Thanks for giving him more self confidence in his English grades. He just got his report card and he had 5 A's and a B+ in Spanish 2 for a 3.83. When he saw his report card, he was smiling from ear to ear." -Parent of a 9th grade student

"I was very impressed with Berkeley Academics' standard of excellence and detailed care for my child's progress. I have been concerned about my son's aversion to writing; however, after taking the course "Essay Writing Lab", he now has confidence to write. He was given detailed and immediate feedback to his essays and therefore learned how to improve his writing. The most important thing my son came away with was that even though writing is hard work, he can be a good writer as long as he is willing to try. After two sessions of this class, I can see tangible improvement in his writing. Thank you!" -Parent of a 6th grade student

"I think the greatest thing about Berkeley Academics is the faculty and staff who provide the right kind of atmosphere for learning. Many institutes can provide solid curriculum and teaching, but only a few can have the warm and inviting environment where students find themselves engaged and enthusiastic about learning. The staff was courteous, personable, and professional, and they took time to learn about the students' needs and background." -Parent of an 8th grade student

Students

"Every year when I have to take the diagnostic test I get nervous and worried, but this year as I entered fifth grade, I was full of confidence when I read the math questions. Since I had taken Berkeley Academics' math class for two weeks during the summer, I remembered fractions, percentage, decimals, and ratio problems. Because I did well on the diagnostic test, I was bumped up to sixth grade math! And, even in sixth grade math, I have one of the highest scores in the class. All thanks to Berkeley Academics!" -Kristen Lee, 7h Grade, Pioneer Elementary School, Davis

"BA was a great help for me. I took the SAT Math class, and not only was I able to increase my SAT score by over 100 points, but the test taking skills I learned helped me in many other standardized tests that I had to take, including the STAR test and the ISEE test." -Isaiah Kang, 11th Grade. Chinese Christian School, San Leandro

Quotes from the Writing Lab

"Writing is crucial for the everyday aspects of life. The first thing I learned was the different parts of a paragraph and how unity, coherence, and development are so important to a good paragraph. If you didn't have any of these things, your paragraph would be a mixed-up jumble of words. The second thing I learned was how to combine 3-4 sentences to one. If you didn't know how to do this, your paragraph could take ages to read. Finally, I learned that it takes a lot of practice to write a good paragraph. You can't write a good paragraph in one sitting. This class was fun, and I hope I can enroll again next year! =)" -Stephen Sun, 8th Grade, Christian Chinese School, Alameda

"I have learned a lot in my session here and it has helped me to understand why I am not a strong writer most of the time. I learned that I have to explain all my thoughts and not be so general in my writing. I learned what transitional words were, which I never learned in school. I only learned how to write transitional sentences. Something I would like to learn is how to write a great story. I am starting to like reading again and I am inspired to try and write a story of my own. Overall I have had a great learning experience at Berkeley Academics and a great time with my teacher and new friends." -Chris Long, 7th Grade, St Philip, Alameda

"In this writing lab I have become a better writer in many different ways. First and foremost, I have learned to better my punctuation. By doing this, I have stopped writing run-on sentences. Also, now I've learned to transition my sentences smoothly. Most importantly, I have improved my writing skills by using better diction. That helps my sentences sound better. Berkeley Academics really helped me." -Eddie Lee, 9th Grade, Alameda High School, Alameda

"In this writing lab, I have learned many things such as how to write in certain ways and how to use transition words. For example, on day 4 we learned how to use transition words correctly so that the sentences would make sense. Another example is that on day 5 we found out why certain reasons and topic sentences don't fit in certain places or don't fit the subject. Last of all, I learned how to understand the meaning of certain writings and how to edit them so that they would sound better. In the end, I think I learned a lot from this experience of writing lab." -Daniel Choi, 9th Grade, Alameda High School, Alameda

"I have learned a lot through this writing lab. I learned how to combine 3 or more sentences into a sentence. Another thing I learned is how to tell what a good paragraph is. Last of all, I know when and how to use transitional words. Overall, this writing lab was a good 3 weeks of learning how to write." -Chris Chui, 8th Grade, Lincoln Middle School, Alameda