Time management isn’t just about using a planner, it’s about how we perceive time. For students, especially those with ADHD, the future can feel blurry until it’s right in front of them, making deadlines and priorities tricky to manage. This post breaks down why that happens and offers practical, evidence-based strategies to make time visible, boost motivation, and help you work with your brain instead of against it.

If you’ve ever stared at your laptop knowing that you have a paper you should start, a reading assignment you should do, or a math problem set you should finish, you know what difficulties with task initiation feel like. 

Task initiation, sometimes called self-activation, is the ability to get started with a task, especially one you don’t find interesting, easy, or urgent. It’s one of the core executive functioning skills that helps you move from intention to action. When it’s working well, it looks like this: you sit down, open your laptop, and begin your work without too much internal resistance. When it’s not, you may find yourself reorganizing your desk, scrolling social media, or convincing yourself you’ll “feel more ready later.”

STATE COLLEGE, PA – Tierney Education, a leading academic coaching and tutoring company serving Penn State students and families, proudly announces that Maddy Pryor is joining the team as Public Relations Manager in a part-time capacity.

A 2013 Penn State graduate of the Bellisario College of Communications and a 2015 master’s degree recipient of Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism, Maddy brings over a decade of experience in social media content creation as well as public relations management skills, including a wealth of involvement in the State College area.

Planning is one of the most important academic skills a student can develop! A robust and well-created study plan reduces stress, increases your chances of success, and helps you feel more in control of your life. 

You want to know that your child is thriving in college in all aspects of their life: academically, socially, and personally. We know that the transition into college life can raise a lot of questions for parents. We’ve compiled a list of the most common questions parents ask our Director of Academic Coaching, Kimberly Tierney, about academic coaching, executive functioning, and how we support students. 

Once the initial excitement has worn off, many students find themselves overwhelmed with their classwork, homework, and complicated schedules. Adjusting to the planning and time management demands of college can be difficult and frustrating. At Tierney Education, our coaches help you feel confident and in control of your academic success! Our goal is to help you build the skills you need to do it all on your own. 

Whether you're heading off to college for the first time or returning for another year, having the right tools can make a big difference. Here are 10 Prime Day deals to grab before they’re gone:

There is a lot to do when preparing to start college! The summer between high school and college is filled with excitement, nerves, and a never ending list of tasks to complete and things to buy. We understand this challenge and are here to help!

Starting college is both an exciting and nerve-wracking journey! New experiences await, but so do high expectations. Many students stress about their ability to thrive academically while also joining clubs and organizations and taking advantage of the social aspects of a full college life. One of the most effective ways to rise to those expectation is by honing your executive functioning skills. The good news is, executive functioning skills aren’t set in stone, you can grow them!

At Tierney Education, we get a lot of questions from families wondering if it’s worth having their student take a summer class elsewhere and transfer the credits back to Penn State. The short answer? It depends—but we’re here to help you navigate that decision.

Whether your student is hoping to get ahead on Gen Eds or make room in their fall schedule, understanding how Penn State evaluates and accepts transfer credits is crucial. This blog post is designed specifically for families with students already enrolled at Penn State—not full-time transfer students, but those just trying to make the most out of a summer or winter break.

Kimberly Tierney brings over a decade of experience as a school psychologist and has worked extensively with students to support executive functioning, social-emotional development, and academic growth. She holds a degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Irvine, and both a Master’s and an Educational Specialist degree in Educational Psychology from Chapman University.

In a groundbreaking fusion of academic rigor and party prep, Tierney Education has announced its latest offering: beer pong tutoring. Designed to help students refine their aim, develop teamwork, and master the subtle art of not hitting the ceiling fan, sessions are priced at $69/hour or $420 for the full semester.

One of the most common mistakes college students make is equating “nothing due” with “nothing to do.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if there aren’t any immediate deadlines, you can take the day off. But in reality, staying ahead is one of the best ways to manage stress, stay in control, and set yourself up for success—however you define it.

Learning Spanish can be challenging, but with the right tools, success is possible. At Penn State, Spanish classes are known to be rigorous, with a fast-paced curriculum that prioritizes vocabulary, grammar, and cultural content. Since students must learn a lot of new vocabulary while mastering challenging topics like sentence construction, reading comprehension, conjugations in many tenses, and more, the fast-paced environment can be overwhelming. However, students can overcome these hurdles with effective time management and website resources. Students can develop strong language skills and gain a deeper understanding of Spanish by staying consistent and having a positive attitude.

At Tierney Education, we pride ourselves on delivering high-quality, meaningful support to students. Over the years, we've refined our approach to ensure our tutoring services not only help students improve academically but also foster skills that lead to long-term success. One of our key policies is that we don’t accept new tutoring clients after Week 10 of a standard semester.

In a world where our to-do lists seem never-ending, finding simple, sustainable ways to accomplish goals is essential. Enter habit stacking, a powerful strategy for building new habits by tying them to ones you already do. Popularized by James Clear in Atomic Habits, habit stacking transforms your daily routines into opportunities for growth and productivity. For college students and professionals alike, mastering this skill can pave the way for lifelong success.

There isn’t one “correct” way to get through college. While some students finish in three years, others take five or six. The path to graduation is unique for each person; sometimes, dropping a course can be an essential part of navigating that journey. Here are some reasons students might consider a late drop (LD).

In college, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by a constant flow of small assignments—quizzes, problem sets, discussion posts, and homework. Especially in STEM courses, these tasks are designed to help you build foundational knowledge. But many students fall into the trap of doing them just to earn points and check off a box. The real problem? When you focus solely on points, you miss the chance to turn these assignments into powerful learning tools.

If you’re preparing for an upcoming exam, practice exams are a powerful tool—if you use them correctly. Many students, however, make the mistake of simply looking up answers or relying on shortcuts, which leads to poor performance on the actual exam. In this blog post, we’ll break down how to best use practice exams, why they should be a part of a larger study strategy, and how this fits into the deliberate practice method for mastering your material.

As an academic coach, I’ve seen it countless times—students relying solely on the Canvas calendar to keep track of their assignments and deadlines. While the calendar is a useful tool, it has one major flaw: not every professor uses it consistently. Some assignments, readings, or even major announcements don’t show up in the calendar, which leaves students at risk of missing important information. This can lead to unnecessary stress and last-minute panic, something we all want to avoid.