Maverick Tutoring

I believe that the primary difference between a tutor and a teacher is that a teacher's job is merely to present the material while a tutor's job is to ensure the student learns it.

For each of my students, I develop a customized plan designed to remedy their weaknesses and augment their strengths. I do this by first documenting which concepts and types of questions the student either struggles or is comfortable with, then teaching the student the appropriate strategies, and finally assigning problems that will challenge and teach the student.

I hold a M.S. in Physics and a B.A. in Physics and Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school ranked #8 nationally and #16 globally by U.S. News. I've been tutoring the ACT, SAT, math, physics, and chemistry for the past five years and intend to begin tutoring the GMAT and the GRE soon.

My pricing is $30-45 per hour. The variability depends on the difficulty of the material and how many hours are being purchased (the more hours you purchase, the less you pay per hour). Please message me for a specific rate.

I've always loved to learn, but in high school I began noticing that not everyone did. I became convinced that this was a fault of our education system: subjects that are inherently fascinating are taught in such a way that they become quite dull.

There is not a child in the world that doesn't love to learn - they're fascinated by everything, even by what adults consider to be mundane and insignificant. Unfortunately, our schools actively discourage curiosity and creativity, reprimanding students who display these virtues to focus more on good grades and high test scores.

I teach because I believe that it's entirely possible to get desirable academic outcomes while still loving the learning process, and I want to show that to people.

Most of my clientele has been high school and college students, although I've had a few adult students and a few students who struggled with disabilities like ADHD and dyslexia. I've had quite a diversity of students who hail from different cultures, backgrounds, and even different countries.

A note about special needs students - I am not trained in educating students with disabilities, but I've found that my methods work fairly well with the increasingly common ADD and ADHD. I am also not convinced that what is considered to be a learning disability is actually a disability.

My best friend from childhood started a band called The Beeves several years ago, and they just released their second album. They're punk rock and have a decent following. I went to the show where they debuted the album!

My area of expertise is in standardized testing and in math, physics, and chemistry.

For standardized testing you want someone who not only has high scores but has a decent amount of experience and has worked with students who have gotten both high and low scores. Obviously, you want someone who has a history of improving his student's scores.

For math, physics, and chemistry you want someone who has a degree in a relevenat field and understands the material well. However, many STEM majors are quite good at solving problems but are terrible at explaining them. Thus, the crucial component to look for is a tutor who is both knowledgeable and skilled at communication. For a tutor, it doesn't matter how good he is at math if he can't teach it. Just look at math professors: experts in their field, terrible teachers. So make sure you get someone who can actually teach.

In my pedagogy, I have the student solve a problem in front of me, ideally on a whiteboard or a blackboard. This allows me to catch errors the student makes, providing the instantaneous feedback that science has shown to be so necessary when trying to learn. It also shows me the student's thought process, which means that I can refine the student's problem-solving methodology, making them faster and more accurate in their answers.