I've always been one of those people that math just made sense to.
Halfway through my physics program at SUNY New Paltz, I decided to try my hand at tutoring, and the result was by far the most motivational and fulfilling employment experience I've ever had.
I just graduated this past August, my last two years spent tutoring just about every undergraduate Math and Physics course in the curriculum, as well as some SAT and GRE Math prep. I averaged around 10-15 students per semester, received consistently great feedback and eventually became the most requested Math/Physics tutor on campus.
I still keep in touch with many of my students, partly because getting to know a person, and getting a feel for how he/she thinks and sees the world is such an integral part of effective one-on-one tutoring.
There seems to be a 'recurring theme' among students faced with difficulty in math or math-intensive science material- they've somehow managed to convince themselves that they are just incapable of "getting it". Personally, I think this is a tragic side-effect of the dry, abstract and robotic language employed by their textbooks and, presumably, the majority of their teachers.
But the truth is, there are infinitely many ways to explain any given mathematical concept. And for any given student, there must be some perfect analogy or parallel to be found that will serve to illuminate the matter in a familiar, more digestible way. This unique and tailored approach, when used correctly, is exactly what makes one-on-one tutoring so overwhelmingly more powerful than the catch-all rhetoric of textbooks and classrooms: the greatest progress in math and science education comes not from the repetition of problem sets or the highlighting of definitions, but in the practical translation of the core concepts into something that is effortlessly relatable for the student.
