What is your teaching philosophy?

I think the best way for students to find success in school is to study smart, rather than just studying hard. After years of fine-tuning my own study habits and skills, I am confident I can guide a student to find a study medium through which he/she will pick up and retain information more quickly, and understand difficult concepts easily.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

My first session with a student usually is focused more on the type of learner he/she is. What do they like about the subject, what don't they like about the subject? What do they find difficult, and why? By addressing these questions at the forefront, I can better prepare the next sessions to effectively target these concerns.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

One of the best ways I became an independent learner was by finding my optimal study method. Each student is different, some require flashcards to learn biology, while others do better with a whiteboard. Does he/she grasp concepts better visually or by reading things out? Once we have addressed these questions, you'll be better equipped to tackle challenging concepts when studying on your own.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

Let's try a different approach. Maybe memorizing things blindly isn't working for him/her. I'd give something else a shot; perhaps sketching it out on paper, or writing out concepts on a whiteboard. Whatever make the information stick, and the concepts easier to understand is the winning method.

How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?

Reading comprehension was never my forte throughout grade school. But I realized something that drastically altered my ability to comprehend prose - authors are people too. Using this approach, I was able to top the 90th percentile on my MCAT for reading comprehension! Be it Shakespeare, or JK Rowling - the goal of the author is to relate some concept or idea to the reader. Once I remind my students of that, and we work on addressing questions like "What is he/she trying to say here?" or "Why does the author have that opinion?" we tend to be able to comprehend prose easier.

How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?

Breaking it all down. No activity, be it studying or playing a sport, is fun when we experience struggle from it. By breaking down the concepts into smaller pieces, and tackling them via an easier approach, my students tend to build up their confidence to the point where they begin to enjoy the material they are learning - because they do well in it!

What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?

I try to use a little bit of everything that I can. Textbooks are great for preliminary exposure to material, but by using YouTube videos, review books, and practice questions/sheets, I can really fine tune my students' understanding of difficult concepts.