Evan's Breakthrough Tutoring

With new students I definitely try to gauge their personality upfront to see if they prefer a straightforward disciplinarian or a looser approach that incorporates humor. Or a balance between the two. Then I know how the lesson should run. If I'm helping someone who has already had a tutor or test prep in the subject I'm helping with I do want to ask questions such as "how is your teacher?" "what did you learn from your last tutor?" "what didn't you like about your last tutor (or teacher)?" I have no problem taking what worked from a prior tutor and incorporating it into my lesson. My main goal is to make sure the student is comfortable with whatever strategy or techniques they want to use in their subjects.

This is my bio from evansbreakthroughtutoring.com:

Evan Wecksell got his first taste of tutoring in high school when he volunteered at the COPAY Tutoring Program in his hometown of Great Neck, NY. After high school, he attended Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts where he majored in Child Development and during those summers he continued to work with children at Buckley Country Day Camp on Long Island.

A few years after graduating from Tufts University, with honors, he moved to Los Angeles and, with an eye on teaching, took and passed California's CBEST test. However, Evan ended up starting to work at several private tutoring companies and learning centers all over the  Greater Los Angeles area.  Such experience included Huntington Learning Center, Perfect Score Academy, Club Z Tutoring and Top Learning Center. There he taught in all environments in ratios of 1:1 to 8:1, including homeschool settings. He even took a practice SAT exam at some of the companies and thanks to his personal study and experience, his scores skyrocketed to a perfect 800 in math and 760 in verbal. 

Wanting to start to work for himself, Evan discovered the tutoring website Wyzant. There he became certified in over 40 subjects and started racking up tons of experience. As of 2019, he has tutored over 3000 hours on Wyzant alone, which led to nearly 700 reviews that averaged 4.9 out of 5 stars! Evan was also named one of the website's 100 most prolific tutors and ranked him in the top 1% of tutors on the entire website!

Now you can use Evan on Tutors.com!

Pricing and session length is different for different subjects. For example, academic tutoring is usually at least 1 hour in the $60-80 range. When it comes to test prep (SAT/ACT/HSPT/ISEE etc), lessons go from 90-120 minutes at a rate of $80-110. 

Exact pricing depends on distance to travel and whether it's online vs in-person tutoring. 

I got my first taste of tutoring in high school when I volunteered at the COPAY Tutoring Program in my hometown of Great Neck, NY. After high school, I attended Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts where I majored in Child Development and during those summers I continued to work with children at Buckley Country Day Camp on Long Island. Throughout my career I have also been around students and had a knack for teaching. My mom is a certified teacher in New York so I guess I'm a 2nd generation education professional!

I work with students of all abilities. I have helped average students become great and great students become spectacular. I have also had success with students who struggle by picking up what their confusions are and clearing the path for comprehension. 

In terms of students with special needs, I have worked with students who were labelled high-functioning autism and ADHD. I have helped students with dyslexia, aspergers and other speech and learning disabilities.

I have had many success stories. Some included helping students pass a course they were initially failing or going from average on a placement test to earning a scholarship. Recently I helped one eight grader who was preparing for a high school placement test. To get a baseline, I had him take a practice test at a school - he scored in the 23rd percentile. He then had less than a month to prepare for the two real tests so I put in the time with him. On his first test he scored in the 54th percentile! Then for his second test he jumped to the 73rd percentile! I have had students who were strong and topped out in the 99th percentile, but the improvement this student had in just a few weeks was very rewarding.

I would ask the teacher what is your approach and how do your lessons usually go. I would also want to hear about some past successes. Where a teacher went to college or did he get certified is fine for the diploma, but what I would be searching for is results and evidence of past successes. Good thing I have www.evansbreakthroughtutoring.com/testimonials.

Students usually take a passive role as the parents usually ask the questions, but I would say they can ask the usual 'what are you like' and 'how have your other students done' questions. However, if you really want to get below the surface students should ask tutors about the things they usually care about - like favorite music, movies, heroes, etc. Fill in what their Facebook profile might look like, because you do want to enjoy spending time with this person.