Coming into FSU, the academic expectations and workload can be overwhelming. Being knowledgeable of the facilities available to students is one of the best ways to ease that anxiety. One of the most helpful amenities that I was able to utilize at Florida State during my time here was the Academic Center for Excellence, or the ACE. The ACE is a university learning center which aims to assist students in developing lifelong learning skills and promoting a culture of academic success. ACE is located in William Johnston Ground, but due to COVID-19 they are now offering Zoom appointments. You can set up an appointment with ACE through this link:
The Academic Center for Excellence offers four main types of peer tutoring; course-based, group, math, and study skills tutoring. Each area of tutoring offered aims to help students achieve their academic endeavors through slightly different formats.
One of the most helpful forms of tutoring offered, in my opinion, is course-based tutoring. This allows students to select the exact course that they desire tutoring in and matches that student with a tutor experienced in that course. This unfortunately cannot be offered for every course at Florida State, but it does include many core classes. There is a list of all courses currently available for course-based tutoring published on ACE’s website, and these courses change every semester.
For a few courses, ACE offers group tutoring at a pre-set time for pre-set courses. They publish a schedule of times and courses available on their website, and the sessions are open to any student. These sessions are intended to answer student questions for the courses, so they ask that students come to the session prepared with questions. Due to COVID-19, these sessions are over Zoom, but for group tutoring there is no need to make an appointment. ACE has published the Zoom ID for each tutoring session on their website. If you’re interested in group tutoring, you can view their schedule through this link:
https://ace.fsu.edu/tutoring/group-tutoring
Math tutoring is similar to course-based tutoring, except that you don’t have to signify which course you are looking for help in before booking an appointment. The tutors in the ACE Math Studio are proficient in College Algebra, Precalculus, Trigonometry, Calculus for Business, and Calculus I-III. They also say on their website that other courses may be available subject to individual tutor availability, so if you don’t see your math course in that list, don’t get discouraged! I’ve personally used ACE math tutoring multiple times and the tutors did a great job of explaining concepts to me. I would highly recommend this kind of tutoring!
The final kind of tutoring offered at ACE is study skills tutoring. This is designed to help students strengthen time management and note taking skills, tone their study habits, and educating them on professional email etiquette. This kind of tutoring can be extremely helpful in adjusting to the workload expected of a Florida State student. Students learn habits that will help them succeed in any class regardless of the material, as well as skills that they can carry with them into their professional life after graduation.
The Academic Center for Excellence is an amenity provided by Florida State University to help their students achieve academic success as well as to succeed post-graduation. This is one of the most helpful amenities that I’ve come into contact with through my time at Florida State, and I hope you’re able to take advantage of their services as well.
Author: Hope Knepper
FSU Transfers Helping Transfers 