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Award-Winning History Tutors

Ruth

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Ruth

PhD
Ruth's other Tutor Subjects
Pre-Algebra
Writing
History
High School Level American History

My teaching philosophy is focused on a single objective - that students learn. I have a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Temple Law School. My GRE score was a 326, and my LSAT score was a 173. I've tutored over 60 students through Varsity Tutors. I'm co...

Education

University of Pennsylvania

PhD

Moravian College and Moravian Theological Seminary

PhD

Emily

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Emily

AM
Emily's other Tutor Subjects
Middle School Math
Elementary School Math
PSAT Writing Skills
SAT Reading

I am an Ivy-league graduate (Princeton summa cum laude) and an editor for an academic publishing press. I have years of experience teaching and mentoring at the university level (University of Notre Dame), and I've also tutored students in chemistry, math, the arts, and humanities from elementary sc...

Education

University of Notre Dame

AM

Princeton University

AM

Jacqueline

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Jacqueline

Doctorate (PhD)
Jacqueline's other Tutor Subjects
Pre-Algebra
Middle School Math
Geometry
Algebra

As a dedicated educator with a PhD in German Studies from Cornell University, I am passionate about nurturing student success through personalized tutoring. With over 7 years of teaching experience, I specialize in a wide array of subjects, including AP courses in Physics, English, and Calculus, as ...

Education

Cornell University

Doctorate (PhD)

Cornell University

Master's/Graduate

Yale University

Bachelor

Linford

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Linford

MDV
Linford's other Tutor Subjects
PSAT Writing Skills
SSAT- Upper Level
SAT Reading
ACT English

Strong historical thinking means reading a source and immediately asking who wrote it, why, and what it leaves out — a skill that doesn't come naturally but can absolutely be taught. Linford brings graduate-level training from Northwestern and Yale to every era and region, whether a student is worki...

Education

Yale University

MDV

Millersville University of Pennsylvania

MDV

Megan

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Megan

Master's/Graduate
Megan's other Tutor Subjects
Pre-Algebra
Middle School Math
Algebra
Elementary School Math

Hello parents and future students! I've been tutoring for more than six years now and have tons of experience working with learners of all ages. My teaching focuses on building confidence and encouraging vulnerability- we all make mistakes and tutoring helps us fix them! As for some background on my...

Education

Vanderbilt University

Master's/Graduate

Straley

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Straley

Master's/Graduate
Straley's other Tutor Subjects
AP Statistics
AP Calculus AB
Pre-Algebra
College Algebra

I hold a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University. I tutored GED math for 3 years in college, so I have experience breaking down concepts for students with a variety of learning styles. I've also informally tutored oth...

Education

Johns Hopkins University

Master's/Graduate

Johns Hopkins University

Bachelor

Harleen

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Harleen

BS
Harleen's other Tutor Subjects
1st-5th Grade Math (in Spanish)
1st-5th Grade ELA (in Spanish)
6th Grade AP Language Composition
AP Statistics

I am a Molecular Engineering major at the University of Chicago, I am currently taking time off to focus on other aspects of my career but I don't want to stop tutoring outside college campus!. I am a child of immigrants and have spent my life tutoring my siblings and younger students, and I loved...

Education

University of Chicago

BS

Thomas

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Thomas

AM
Thomas's other Tutor Subjects
AP Statistics
AP Calculus BC
AP Calculus AB
Statistics Graduate Level

Thomas's science background might seem unrelated to history, but his liberal arts training built the exact skills historical thinking requires: evaluating evidence, constructing arguments, and identifying cause-and-effect relationships across complex systems. He brings that structured, analytical le...

Education

Columbia University in the City of New York

AM

Dartmouth College

AM

Orne

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Orne

BS
Orne's other Tutor Subjects
Pre-Algebra
Middle School Math
Geometry
Algebra

Hey! My name is Orne Akter and I am an undergraduate student at Harvard College under the majors of Neuroscience and Psychology! After 3 years of teaching Geometry and Algebra at my high school, I have picked up a passion for teaching students like myself! I can teach math (geometry, Algebra I/II, S...

Education

Harvard University

BS

Ainsley

Certified Tutor

2+ years

Ainsley

BS
Ainsley's other Tutor Subjects
AP Calculus AB
Pre-Algebra
Pre-Calculus
Middle School Math

Studying philosophy alongside physics at Rice gave Ainsley a habit of asking why events unfolded the way they did, not just what happened. She brings that analytical lens to history, teaching students to trace cause-and-effect chains, evaluate competing historical interpretations, and write argument...

Education

Rice University

BS

Meet Our Expert Tutors

Connect with highly-rated educators ready to help you succeed.

Clark

Pre-Algebra Tutor • +34 Subjects

I have a PhD (Yale) in history and an MBA (UCLA) in finance. I have excellent writing and research skills, and have made extensive use of German and French -- spoken and for research. My work in finance has required skills with mathematics. I have taught university classes in finance and international economics. Another area of much interest, related to my background in history and public policy, is US constitutional law. I published a book on monetary history (*Gold, France, and the Great Depression*) , and a more recent book of essays on topics in economics and diplomatic history (http://books.ksplibrary.org/978-625-7501-75-0/ ) .... I have worked extensively on government-related projects, often in the greater Middle East. Effective tutoring should do more than impart techniques -- it should certainly do that -- it should help a student come away with some interest in and enthusiasm for the topic. (Soft evidence for the last is that my daughter earned a PhD in neuro-science, and credits me with inspiring her.)

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Elizabeth

SAT Reading Tutor • +18 Subjects

Hi, really nice to meet you! I have 10 years experience teaching GRE. I taught GRE and GMAT as an Adjunct Professor at American University for 3 years, which enhanced my ability to create a standardized GRE itinerary for the classroom. I have taught GRE at Varsity Tutors for 5 years, in person and virtually to individual students, and I was rated in the top 10 percent of tutors by students. Prior to working at Varsity, I taught at Princeton Review for 2 years, teaching the GRE in a classroom setting. I received a score of 730 on my Verbal Section and a score of 770 on my Quantitative Section. I use the ETS GRE text, as the Educational Testing Service (ETS) creates and administers the exam, and I find it the most realistic indicator of how the questions will appear on test day. I hand out guides for the Quantitive section (with formulas and hints for the Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Data Analysis chapters) and the Verbal and Essay sections (with tips for learning vocabulary and guides for Sentence Equivalence, Reading Comprehension, and the Issue Essay). I received my BA in English Literature and U.S. History from Vanderbilt University in 2005, my MA in U.S. History from The George Washington University in 2010, and my MBA in Medical Policy Management from the University of Minnesota in 2024.

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Lucille

ACT Writing Tutor • +26 Subjects

I am a DC-barred attorney and a 2024 graduate of Georgetown Law. I have a BA from the University of Washington in International Studies with a focus on international human rights. Prior to earning my BA I served a term in AmeriCorps NCCC before working for several years in the gaming industry. I have had a variety of experiences tutoring others, from LSAT tutoring during law school to volunteering to tutor English and test prep skills as a teenager to more extensive coaching and mentoring in my jobs. I assisted in tutoring and training other corps members in specific skills while in AmeriCorps, and in my various roles in the games industry, I put together and led a variety of training sessions for new hires, as well as provided coaching and mentoring for colleagues. I understand the stress and fear that students can feel going into standardized testing, especially a large exam like the LSAT, and am passionate about helping others feel prepared going into their tests so that they can perform their very best. I work to empower my students to not only develop their skillsets in the areas that they will be tested on, but also to help them feel capable and confident in their abilities. I hope to help my students find bits and pieces of the exam that they can have fun with to make it feel more achievable. Outside of school and tutoring, I enjoy hiking, working out, watching K- and C-dramas, visiting museums, and finding new restaurants to try!

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Michael

AP Statistics Tutor • +63 Subjects

Though I'm now a few years removed from academia, I still consider myself an intellect at heart. Stints at New York University's Stern School of Business and Northwestern University have given me extensive scholastic training, and running my own private tutoring service throughout college as a means of making a living has helped me exercise and refine my skill set as a personal academic instructor. Partnering up with Varsity Tutors has provided me with a golden opportunity to continue helping students hone their own academic performance across a wide array of subjects, and my own tutoring background, coupled with my flexible schedule as a by-day real estate investor and independent business owner who possesses total control over his hours, puts me in a unique position to better accommodate the students I work with to ensure that they receive the attention and quality service they deserve.

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Charlotte

Geometry Tutor • +31 Subjects

I am a fun-loving fourth-year student from Vanderbilt University and look forward to working with you! I have a 36 ACT score and had a 4.0 in both high school and college. In high school, I was the valedictorian of my 450+ person class. I have a unique ability to create individualized plans for success. I am academically motivated and will instill this excitement for learning and achievement in those I work with. I enjoy learning the skills and passions of those around me to create an intrinsic drive for success. Let's achieve this together!

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Stella

Middle School Math Tutor • +75 Subjects

I'm a current PhD student in the history department at Georgetown University who is also an experienced instructor with Varsity Tutors. As a recipient of several degrees, the most recent being a BA in history from Hillsdale College and a MA in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from Stanford University, I have long sought to make teaching my profession. Meanwhile, as a volunteer grade school teacher and a tutor with this company, I have many years' experience helping students reach their full potential. I am capable of teaching students in many subjects, including reading, mathematics, test prep, Latin, and especially writing, history, and literature. In practice, I am comfortable adapting to different learning styles and specific student preferences. Outside of my academic and career endeavors, I enjoy cooking, reading, and listening to and making music.

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Abigail

PSAT Writing Skills Tutor • +51 Subjects

I am a knowledgeable tutor with over 5 years of experience in SAT tutoring. While studying psychology at Yale, I focused on developmental psychology, early childhood education, and writing. I have a background in nannying as well, so connecting with kids comes naturally to me. I have a master's degree in social work, meaning that I am able to compassionately support your child as they learn, while also providing a strong foundation for college and post graduate study skills. For elementary school tutoring, I specialize in supporting students with phonics and reading fluency. I'm also able to provide support in developing number sense and critical thinking skills in math. For high school tutoring, I specialize in SAT tutoring. Students preparing for the SAT with me can expect a custom study plan and individual assignments each week. I take a broad approach to prepare students as much as possible for the exam by practicing strategies based on general question type rather than focusing on content. It's better to study the test than to study the content during tutoring, and I've had great results with this approach! I look forward to helping your child meet their academic goals.

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Nico

AP Statistics Tutor • +62 Subjects

I'm a student at Yale University majoring in both Economics and Global Affairs. Over the past 4 years, I am lucky to have worked with students of all ages and helped them reach their full potential. I offer tutoring services in all subjects, and I'm particularly interested in English, Economics, Government, and Math. My teaching philosophy centers on creating a safe, welcoming environment where students can learn at their own pace. Outside of academics, I enjoy spending time outside and enjoying good food with family and friends.

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Patrick

Elementary School Math Tutor • +82 Subjects

After serving as an intelligence officer in the Air Force for seven years, I completed a doctoral program in American Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill. Since then, I have edited a literary journal, managed a research center, and published several peer-reviewed articles on American autobiography, fiction, and poetry. I live with my wife and three daughters in Durham, North Carolina.

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Theodore

Pre-Algebra Tutor • +62 Subjects

I am a Master of Divinity student at Princeton Theological Seminary. I graduated Harvard College in 2016 and was a peer tutor at Harvard. Before Divinity School, I taught high school and middle school debate and was an SAT/ACT tutor in Birmingham, Alabama. I then taught middle school debate at Success Academy in Harlem and served as a healthcare advocate. I have extensive experience tutoring English, math, science, and SAT/ACT at the middle school through college level. I have tutored students who went on to be accepted into Ivy League universities. I also am highly skilled at working with students with learning differences such as ADHD, autism, and dyslexia as well as students from under-resourced communities. I look forward to helping your student not only excel but also enjoy learning!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Students often find it challenging to synthesize broad historical periods—like understanding the causes and consequences of major revolutions or wars—rather than just memorizing dates and events. Many also struggle with historiography: understanding that historical interpretations change based on new evidence and scholarly perspective. Additionally, students frequently find it difficult to analyze primary sources critically, distinguishing between a document's historical context, the author's bias, and its reliability as evidence. Tutors help students move beyond surface-level facts to develop the analytical frameworks historians actually use.

History essays require more than restating facts—they demand evidence-based arguments with clear thesis statements and supporting documentation. A tutor helps you learn to construct arguments by selecting relevant primary and secondary sources, evaluating their credibility, and using them to support your interpretation rather than just filling space. They'll also help you avoid common pitfalls like confusing correlation with causation (e.g., assuming one event caused another simply because it happened first) and teach you how to acknowledge counterarguments. This approach builds the critical thinking skills needed for AP History exams and college-level history courses.

Primary sources—letters, speeches, government documents, photographs—are the raw material historians use to construct arguments about the past. However, reading them effectively requires asking specific questions: Who created this? When and why? What was their perspective or bias? What does it reveal about the time period, and what doesn't it tell us? Tutors teach you a systematic approach to source analysis that goes beyond simple comprehension, helping you evaluate reliability, identify bias, and use sources as evidence in your own arguments. This skill is essential for history research papers and standardized exams like AP US History, AP European History, and AP World History.

Historical causation is rarely simple—most major events result from multiple, interconnected causes operating over time (economic conditions, political decisions, social movements, technological changes). Students often fall into the trap of identifying a single cause or assuming that because Event A happened before Event B, it caused it. A tutor helps you develop a more sophisticated approach: identifying primary and secondary causes, understanding how different factors interact, and recognizing that historians may disagree about causation based on which evidence they emphasize. This nuanced thinking is what distinguishes strong history work from surface-level analysis.

AP History exams (US, European, World, or African) test not just content knowledge but your ability to analyze sources, construct arguments, and make historical connections under time pressure. The document-based question (DBQ) and long essay questions require you to synthesize multiple perspectives and evidence into a coherent argument—skills that go well beyond memorization. Tutors help you practice these specific exam skills: quickly analyzing unfamiliar documents, identifying relevant historical examples, organizing complex arguments, and managing time across multiple question types. They can also help you identify gaps in your content knowledge and teach you efficient strategies for retaining the breadth of material these exams cover.

At the middle school level, tutors focus on building foundational chronology, understanding cause-and-effect relationships, and developing basic source analysis skills. In high school, the emphasis shifts to constructing evidence-based arguments, understanding historiography, and analyzing competing interpretations of events. For AP-level students, tutors help refine exam-specific skills like rapid document analysis, synthesizing multiple sources into coherent arguments, and making sophisticated historical connections. At all levels, effective tutoring moves students from passive memorization toward active historical thinking—asking why events happened, whose perspectives are represented or missing, and how we know what we know about the past.

Beyond finding sources, History research requires you to evaluate their credibility and relevance to your argument. You need to understand the difference between primary sources (firsthand accounts from the period) and secondary sources (modern historians' interpretations), and know when each is appropriate to use. Strong History writing also demands that you integrate sources smoothly into your own analysis—using quotations and paraphrasing strategically to support your points, not just to fill space. A tutor can teach you how to construct a thesis that's specific and arguable, organize evidence logically, and revise your work to strengthen your argument. These skills transfer across all your academic writing.

Every historical source reflects the perspective of its creator—their time period, social position, political beliefs, and what they had access to. Learning to identify and account for bias doesn't mean dismissing a source; it means understanding how perspective shapes what information is included, emphasized, or omitted. Similarly, modern historians' interpretations are influenced by the questions they ask and the evidence available to them, which is why historical understanding evolves over time. A tutor helps you develop a critical eye for these layers of perspective, teaching you to ask: Whose voice is heard here? Whose is missing? How does that shape what we can conclude? This analytical approach is central to thinking like a historian.

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