News and Events

Classes for October 26 ACT. Only $600

Best class in town. Weekly two-hour classes starting Sunday September 15 from 1:30 to 3:30 or Tuesdays September 17 from 6:30 to 8:30. TWO hours individual tutoring no extra charge. Two full-length practice tests. Call 865-694-4108 or email [email protected].

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Parent and Student Testimonials
“After receiving a recommendation from a friend, we decided to use the services offered by Dr. Michael Smith to prepare our daughter, Jessica, for the PSAT, SAT and ACT. She thoroughly enjoyed working with Dr. Smith and looked forward to their sessions”.
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Articles By Dr. Smith

“The Word Problem,” from Humble Pi: The Role Mathematics Should Play in American Education. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1994. (Chapter 3, pp. 77-96)

Two trains leave at the same time but from different cities. One train is traveling west at 120 mph while the other is traveling east at 100 mph. Assuming the trains are traveling on opposite but parallel tracks, and the two cities from which they leave are 440 miles apart, how long will it take before they meet?

It seems that every time I mention the train problem, nervous laughter ensues. Practically everyone remembers the difficulties of doing word problems in high school math courses. Why are these problems so difficult and why do they evoke such bad memories? Do people have latent phobias about trains, perhaps caused by a primal archetype that even Jung overlooked? Read more…View/Print Adobe Acrobat File.

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Free: ACT Home Study Courses
Dr. Smith has just released his ACT Video Review courses for use by high school students in the East Tennessee area. Get a head start on improving your ACT scores by working through these videos with accompanying PDFs of sample problems and strategies. Read the introduction to these courses.
ACT Video Courses: Introduction