Award-Winning Private Microbiology Tutoring in Alexandria, VA

"The student was rustiest on the phases of mitosis and meiosis, which is understandable -- those are among the most abstract complexities covered in introductory biology texts. We covered why the phases begin and end where they do is, to some degree, "because we say so," as the lines in nature between phases are not so discrete (in reality, replication proceeds through a complex chain of interacting processes that may begin and end with very awkward timing, but many scientists attempt to "simplify" the situation by conceptualizing it as a series of phases, with debatable success). We then moved on to basics of DNA and RNA, which were also a bit cloudy, as they involve lots of little detailed processes and the interaction of tiny abstract objects. He caught on to RNA translation quite easily. After covering the basics of the DNA replication process, we finished with genetics, which wasn't really a problem for him. Throughout the session, I linked him to a wide variety of supplemental resources, which I encouraged him to investigate more thoroughly at his own pace when we had finished for the evening. I walked him through several graphical tutorials online and I think he internalized many of the concepts a little more fully than he had in the past. I did not notice anything extraordinary about his character during the session, although he certainly had enough energy to do his work calmly, which seems like a good thing to me. I would describe his energy level tonight as slightly above average, but I would be reluctant to extrapolate very much from this data point; he did, after all, just come back from vacation, and we were able to actually have our session tonight (in significant, positive contrast to our last attempt at meeting). His stamina is generally pretty good when I am prodding him to keep moving, so I didn't notice anything abnormal in that context; he was attentive throughout the session, as is usually the case. I will say that he does not seem to be significantly more interested in the material yet, but I would not have expected such a serious attitude change overnight. In my experience, that will inevitably come in time as his mind becomes faster and deeper by practicing general learning techniques. I will, of course, continue to observe and report further developments."

"We started by going over some AP practice problems that the student needed help with. These were primarily problems dealing with vector addition (steering a boat in a current and finding tension forces in cables suspending a block). We also went over some chemistry homework she had from over the summer. Overall, she appears to understand all of the material we went over very well."