Andrew B

My mantra: Rule #1: Do not freak out or panic. Rule #2: First learn Rule #1.

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OK, I did kind of steal that. It's from the movie The Karate Kid 2, which is what passed for awesome in the 1980s. Yes, I did say I'm getting old.

Tutoring Subjects:

I consider myself a Renaissance Teacher. I have tutored and taught all subjects, from English to history to algebra and geometry to (ugh) geology.

Ages I’ve worked with:

I have had students at all levels, from fourth grade up to college level. I am here at Learner to teach you how to succeed on your SAT or your ACT (or both, for those of you who are more ambitious). This is something I've taught since I first started educating fifteen years ago. (Yeah, I'm getting old.)

My Tutoring Style:

The thing is, I think there is some overlap between learning karate and learning math. Karate students learn their craft by doing the same moves over...and over...and over. When it comes time for a match, they've done it so much that they don't even have to think about it. They just do it. It's similar with math. If you see something simple, like 2 + 3 = ____, you know just what to do. In fact, I suspect you don't really need to do much of anything; you just write down 5. It's not your brain that solved the problem; it's your hand. We work on understanding the concepts on which you will be tested. We will then learn how to recognize which concepts are used in any given question. And finally, once you've got the knowledge, we drill, drill, drill until the solution to each problem is built into your muscle memory.

Success story:

A girl came across my desk getting A after A in her classes but stuck getting a 22 out of 36 on her ACT math. Not terrible, but certainly not the level at which she was used to performing. It wasn't that she didn't know the stuff. It was that she panicked whenever she had to take a huge test like this. (See Rule #1.) This is always a challenge for both tutor and student, since the goal here is not instruction--it's rewriting the student's basic attitude towards tests. Instead of my usual lessons, our sessions together were entirely practice tests. She would do five minutes of math while I kept barking at her to DO IT DO IT DO IT FASTER FASTER--and then we would stop for a minute while we talked through some breathing and relaxation exercises, calming down from the rather creepy adrenaline of my pushing. After a few weeks of this, she had learned how to keep herself level despite the nerves. She ended up getting a 28, much more in line with what she wanted.

Hobbies and Interests:

When I'm not working, I now spend most of my time helping to look after our baby girl Eloise, born in September of 2020. This is what I do in my increasingly rare down-time:

I love to read. Tell me about your favorite book, and odds are I've read it, too. Same with movies, though I'm very picky and critical.

I used to be very active in the theater as an actor and director. No time for that now, of course, but I still do love the idea of it. Perhaps when Little One gets a little less Little, I'll get back in the game.

Music is a big deal. My library spans most genres, but again, picky and critical. Tell me you love Justin Bieber, and I will briefly consider dropping you as a student. I won't, but I'll spend a moment thinking about it.

My vice is video games. I love to play! For those of you who know such things, I'm currently revisiting the Elder Scrolls series and having a marvellous time.