About
I am a STEM tutor for middle school, high school, and undergraduate students. I have 2 years of experience in tutoring and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering and a minor in Biomedical Research from UCLA in 2019.
I am currently earning my Ph.D. from UC Irvine in Bioengineering. I have 5 years of academic laboratory experience and am a published cancer therapy researcher.
I love helping young people engage with and become excited about science and technology. Helping someone understand a tough concept and seeing it finally "click" in their head is such a rewarding experience.
Highlights
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Melina G.
Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
The first thing I do when I meet with a new student is help with their immediate issues, such as preparing for an upcoming exam or completing homework assignments they are stuck on. Once those are resolved, I sketch out with the student the broad topics they are struggling with and how they fit in with their overal coursework. I then work with the student to strengthen and refine their understanding of these concepts by working through specific homework problems with them and by teaching them to draw up "concept maps" of their coursework.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
I charge $50 per hour for in-person tutoring. For every hour I work with a student per week, I spend 30 minutes of my own time generating new test questions, study guides, and other materials to aid the student. This extra time I do at home is free of charge.
How did you get started teaching?
In my freshman year at UCLA (2014) I began tutoring at-risk middle school students in Los Angeles through Los Angeles Team Mentoring. I was struck by the passion that these students had for learning and in particular for science and math. Despite coming from poor backgrounds with few role models, these students worked hard to learn as much as they could. They inspired me to give other students the extra help they needed to be successful.
What types of students have you worked with?
I have worked with middle school students and high school students from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds.
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
Ultimately, the goal of any good tutor is to eventually make themselves obsolete. If I am doing my job right, then after only a few weeks or months of working together, you should have the skills necessary to move forward in school without my help. That is to say, look for tutors who not only teach you about chemical bonds and how to find a derivative, but who teach you how to clearly define what you don't know and find new ways to strengthen your understanding.
What questions should students think through before talking to teachers about their needs?
Specificity and clarity are everything. You want to clearly know what parts of a course you are not understanding well so that you can quickly work with a teacher to get to the crux of the topic that needs to be reinforced.