Questions About Tutoring?

Leah’s Answers

Normally, I speak with both a parent and the student to glean information that a tutor needs to know to individualize the teaching experience.  Because I’ve taught students with dyslexia and dysgraphia for a few years and many of my students have ADHD, I can successfully manage most learning disabilities.  We settle on a class schedule that’s convenient for the family.  I recommend allotting two months at twice weekly at the start for test prep, especially if we’ll be tutoring during months with holidays or the student has a busy schedule already (or as close to that time frame as possible).  If the sessions are going really well, we can always drop back to once weekly, but we cannot manufacture time at the end of our tutoring and avoid the stress of cramming – it just doesn’t work out well.  The two months allow time for reviewing timed practice tests that are quite valuable for sensing how quickly you must move through the exam and for employing the test-taking strategies that have been introduced.

I use original, authentic practice tests, ACT or SAT, by the ACT authors or by The College Board, respectively.  I’ve never used any other source.  I’ve had far too many students come to me, saying that they were not prepared for what was on the test.  Whether it be Kaplan, Mometrix, Barron’s, The Princeton Review, or anything else, the copycat books are sorely lacking in the nuances of the actual questions and answers.  I aim to get my students to complete close to a dozen tests with me in order to foster familiarity with how the questions are asked and how they are answered.  They learn how the test works, and the familiarity enhances confidence and calm.  Any test anxiety (freezing up or going blank) gradually dissolves, because the students realize that they have most likely encountered in practice nearly every type of question the exam could include.  Additionally, I supplement the class material with several handouts in typical areas of confusion: grammar, exponents, factoring, and more.

I will fill in any skill gaps for the student, what they’ve not learned yet in school or cannot remember.  It’s not unusual for students to tell me that they learned more math from me than from their teachers.  Sometimes it pays to take a couple steps backward to establish a firm foundation for a new math topic so that the subsequent learning is understandable and solid. It’s vital to me that all my students comprehend thoroughly every explanation given – nothing hazy or half-baked.  I can explain topics several ways until something registers.  It’s no problem.  For math, we keep an ongoing “math sheet” that gradually fills up with mathematical rules, laws, formulas, and equations that the exam does not supply and must be memorized by test day.  The student can do a quick brain dump at the second the test begins to get on paper what they do not want to forget during the math.

We initially do math or grammar together in class, due to the fact that those two topics are historically, from my tutoring, the two weaker subjects.  I assign reading and/or science for homework, depending on the test, ACT or SAT, as they involve more time to read and interpret.  Homework is examined first at our next lesson, so that we learn from mistakes.  I make an effort to impact school homework as little as possible.  We discuss strategies during just about all lessons, with a major review just before our timed tests begin.  Also, I advise about wise calculator usage.

I tutor online and use the software at Wyzant.com, transferring all my students there.  The excellent interface is just for tutors and is personal – it feels similar to sitting across from one another at the kitchen table.  I would never put a student in front of Zoom again!  The entire screen is a whiteboard for math and essays.  I have placed on this site brief directions for establishing your account there.  Wyzant also handles billing you for each session, after I submit a completed lesson summary, and paying me a few days later.

Although I’ve specialized in test prep for 14 years, I usually tutor what I’m asked to tutor, unless I’ve gotten rusty in that subject.  Right now, I also offer: algebra, geometry, dyslexia, writing, grammar, and vocabulary, and a class in study skills that I authored.  My students gained so much from the study skills class that they began telling their friends to take advantage of it.  I help juniors and seniors with college essays and résumés and how to put their best foot forward for college admission.  Finally, I distribute handouts on subject matter in which the student may need a refresher, such as factoring, grammar, or exponents, or anything else I devise.

Hourly Pricing

$55

  • Test Preparation for ACT, SAT or GED

$70

  • College Preparation

$55

  • Writing and Grammar

$45

  • Algebra

$45

  • Geometry

$40

  • Study Skills