What is your teaching philosophy?

Every student is different. Everyone has different strengths as well as different weaknesses, and I believe that each student deserves a personalized plan for improving test scores and performance. I also believe in humor while teaching. I also enjoy relating to my students, and I understand that different approaches are required depending on the client. Anyone looking for a tutor who will keep things light as well as focused, don't hesitate to contact me.

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

I would initially ask the student exactly what he/she was looking for by being tutored. Knowing what the end goal is half the battle, and this knowledge would help me to cater individually to my clients. If students have previously taken practice tests, I would ask about their performance and pinpoint weaknesses that could be enhanced through tutoring. If not, I would talk to the students about what they believe they could improve on most and work on that. I would still encourage them to take a practice test so there would be a quantifiable way of determining what work needed to be done in order to ensure success.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I firmly believe that spoon-feeding the answers and techniques to solve a problem is not the way to go about tutoring a student. Rather, I would inquire about their thought process and try to understand how their minds were processing information. Once I had a good idea, I could help the student use their specific thought process to their full advantage in order to be able to successfully tackle things on their own.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

This fully depends on the student's mentality during tutoring. I would tell them my story involving these tests to build a connection with them. These tests are not fun, hands down, but this is only one small fraction of life and going to a great college will be a huge life changer that makes test preparation worth the hassle.