The Academic Success Center, located in the Student Services Building, provides a variety of services for Iowa State students in need of academic help.

Gwen Woodward, program coordinator for the Dean of Students Office, said midterm is the “second heaviest time of the year,” in terms of students seeking help.

Woodward said the Academic Success Center started with the Academic Learning Lab.

“Two years ago the Disability Resources Program was added to the center,” Woodward said.

She said the lab helps students with time management, study skills, writing papers and other school-related areas.

Woodward said some of the study skills covered include reading strategies, dealing with test anxiety, note-taking techniques and test-taking skills.

She said the lab is open 19 hours each week, and students may walk in or make an appointment.

Mary Camp, secretary in the Dean of Students Office, said the Academic Success Center also helps students find tutors, a service that is widely used.

Woodward said the Center generally has 250 students working as tutors each year.

She said math and chemistry are the two subjects with the greatest demand for tutors. Sometimes the demand is so great that the center often has to recruit chemistry and math tutors during the semester, Woodward said.

The cost of a tutor is $3 an hour for students if they are part of a group and $6.50 per hour if the tutor teaches the student one-on-one, Camp said.

She said undergraduate tutors are paid $6 per hour and graduate tutors make $7 per hour. Woodward said the center sometimes works with professors when selecting students to be tutors.

Camp said it generally takes about two days to schedule sessions between a student and tutor.

“Sometimes students run into a dead end when searching for a tutoring time to fit in their schedule,” she said. However, she said most students can find a time that works.

The Academic Success Center also coordinates the Supplemental Instruction Program. According to the center’s Web site, supplemental instruction involves students who already have completed a course holding review sessions for students who currently are enrolled in the class.

Amy Rutledge, director of the Supplemental Instruction Program, said students must fill out an application and go through an interview process to become supplemental instruction leaders.

Rutledge described supplemental instruction sessions as “facilitated study groups.”

In its sixth year at ISU, Rutledge said the program has received positive feedback from students.