Abacus Math Student and First Grader Gets Into Woodbridge NJ’s Gifted and Talented Program

First grader Akshath got into Woodbridge NJ’s Gifted and Talented program after taking the COGAT test. His parents share how Genie Academy helped Akshath advance in Math, improve his reading, and conquer the COGAT test, all within a year. 

Math has always been Akshath’s strongest subject in school. But Amit and Aditi wanted to align his education with the standards back in India. Thankfully, they found what they were looking for in Genie Academy’s core curriculum and abacus math program. Since these programs are aligned with international standards, choosing Genie Academy over other institutes was a no-brainer. 

Besides giving Akshath the best education, they also wanted to improve his reading skills. “When he joined Genie Academy, he wasn’t fluent in reading. He was good, but his grades weren’t high. For example, he didn’t know he had to stop when he sees a comma. He told me that his teacher didn’t teach it yet so we were really confused by this,” shares Aditi. This motivated them to enroll Akshath in the reading program in addition to math.

In just one year, Amit and Aditi saw great results in both his math and reading skills. “The abacus has definitely sharpened his math skills. He’s comfortable with adding up numbers earlier in the year and now we are in multiplication. He’s now up to a level where he doesn’t need an abacus or paper to write the numbers. He’ll just tell us the [answer],” shares Amit. When it comes to his Core Curriculum workbooks, he’s almost 2 levels advanced, already finishing his 3rd grade workbooks. 

Akshath has also improved a lot in reading. His schoolteacher mentioned that he’s doing well and his grades are very good for a first grader. “I think when he was taught by Mr Kamran, he was able to understand it. Mr. Kamran knows how to teach him in a friendly yet effective manner. His approach to teaching is to converse with Akshath naturally. There’s a lot of chitchat but he’s teaching him in the process,” shares Aditi.  They also commend him for being approachable. “He makes an effort to get to know each kid. The class size is also not too big so he can focus on each of them.”

Akshath also says he likes his teachers and learning the abacus. “He loves sharing his experiences with his teacher so there is openness,” shares Amit.

The cherry on top of all of his progress is that Genie Academy helped Akshath prepare for the COGAT test. “We spoke to Mr Kamran and he suggested the type of questions that would be included.” 

His improvement in reading comprehension also came at the perfect time since he needed to understand the questions well. “Basically, there are two components in the test. The first is to be able to read and understand the question and the second is the ability of the child. His ability was already there. Being able to read and understand the questions was offered by Mr. Kamran and Genie Academy,” says Amit. “Mr. Kamran’s efforts to improve his reading abilities helped him a lot in understanding the questions,” Aditi adds.

Akshath was able to excel at such a young age, even in a highly competitive exam like the COGAT test. Amit shared that they had a bigger pool of examinees this year but they succeeded with Genie Academy’s help.

Akshath’s parents are delighted with his staggering growth in just one year with Genie Academy. “It has definitely been helpful. We just joined about a year back and have seen good progress. Within a year, he started from scratch and he’s already finishing off his 3rd grade books,” shares Amit. 

Overall, their experience with Genie Academy has been positive. “It’s been great so far. We are pretty happy with the kind of commitment and dedication the teachers have shown Akshath. Mr. Kamran also takes time out to discuss how he performed in their sessions. It’s very helpful that they keep us in the loop.”

Amit and Aditi couldn’t be happier with Akshath’s achievements at such a young age. They shared that his next endeavor would be the Johns Hopkins program. With Akshath’s openness and constant progress, we‘re confident he can pass with flying colors, too!