Timothy

I am a patient and adaptable math tutor. My experience allows me to quickly identify weaknesses and bad habits in my students. I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics from California State University at Long Beach and I tutor grades 6-College.

My tutoring style:

I am a big picture tutor. My goal is not to teach a student how to do a single problem, but to clearly understand the process for this type of problem so they can solve any problem of the same type. I am very comfortable adapting to a student’s learning style. If I feel like the student is not fully understanding something I am trying to teach them, then I will immediately try different approaches.

Success story:

A few years ago I got a call from a very panicked parent. Her daughter had an F in math and needed to bring it up to a C-. We came up with a very intense plan that involved my going to their home almost every night for tutoring. The mom also arranged a meeting with myself, the student, and the teacher. Even though I got the impression very quickly that the teacher felt that it was too late for her to bring her grade up to passing, we ended up looking over the most recent exam and the teacher actually graded it on the spot. As we all looked over it, I realized the teacher’s approach to math was almost identical to my own. I was able to provide some insight as to why some of the mistakes were made and I was even able to get a couple extra points for the students on some problems.

After this meeting I started to notice the changes in the student. She was shaking off some of her bad habits and understanding the concepts on a deeper level. Her next two exams went very well and all that was left was the final. We had been splitting our time between the current material and reviewing the old material. We knew the final was going to be a real challenge from the moment we started. We did everything we could to get her ready and I was very proud of how hard she worked. On the final exam, she ended up coming up just a couple points short of what she need. The teacher was so impressed with the student’s improvements and hard work that she bumped her final grade up to a C-. I tell this story full of pride, and it’s not pride of something great that I accomplished. It is pride to be a part of something great the student accomplished. Being able to be a part of great successes is the best part about this job.