
Raul
Certified Tutor
I was born and raised in Mexico, and I have lived in the US since I was 18. I graduated with a BA in history and a minor in Arabic from BYU in 2009. I later went back and took about 15 credits of undergraduate math and statistics. In 2012 I graduated with a Master's of Public Affairs and Applied Statistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
My Spanish upbringing has opened some doors to help Spanish learners. During my undergraduate years, I taught Spanish to pay for school. I would tutor students who wanted a down to earth explanation of a Spanish grammatical concept or who simply wanted to practice conversation. I later became an approved court interpreter in Utah and worked on a few arraignments and one trial.
I currently work during for a research company writing statistical programs to analyze data. The way I put it is: "I run regressions for a living." I like statistics and I like intuitive interpretations of economic and statistical concepts. I have tutored high school and college students taking their probability, hypothesis testing, regression, and econometric classes. At UT Austin, I took more than 18 credits of graduate statistics and RA'd for an economist there.
I love helping people understand concepts. I feed of the faces of students when they get it.
Connect with a tutor like Raul
Undergraduate Degree: Brigham Young University-Provo - Bachelors, History
Graduate Degree: The University of Texas at Austin - Masters, Public Policy and Statistics
Reading, whitewater rafting, going to the gym, history
What is your teaching philosophy?
I don't just show the students the way; I walk the way with them. We tutors are not in the business of just showing how to solve a math problem, but in the business of walking our students through the solving process step by step.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Get to know the student's preferred learning approach: learn by doing, learn by watching, learn by listening, etc. I also want to hear their questions. I don't go in assuming I know what their struggles with the subject are.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
In my experience, after explaining a math problem, I like to reverse the roles a bit, and have the student walk me through the process of solving the problem. This helps the student internalize the concepts and become, in a way, their independent tutor.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
The best motivation is doing well on the next midterm. When a student comes in to tutoring and then goes out and does very well on a midterm, they can't help but to be motivated.