"Hi!

I graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University with a 3.8 GPA and a BA in Biology in 1987. Since then I've gained more than 25 years of experience as a tutor, teacher, writer, editor, and developer of educational content, including how to approach the SAT and ACT.

I have taught classes at numerous Bay Area high schools in physics, chemistry, biology, algebra, algebra 2, geometry, trigonometry, pre-Calculus and Calculus. I have also tutored extensively in all these subjects as well as in writing and in ACT and SAT prep. I have also worked with companies to develop effective approaches to the SAT and ACT.

There's a big difference between knowing a subject and knowing how to teach it. I have a relaxed, authentic, good-humored approach that makes concepts clear, puts students at ease, and allows them to focus on and truly understand the material at hand, even when they have struggled with the same material in the past.

Over time, I have come to believe that about 90% of good tutoring is helping students feel relaxed and confident. This is the foundation on which everything else--learning the specific techniques and concepts--is built. Years of experience have honed my natural gift as a teacher, allowing me to gauge when to supply an answer and when to prod the student to think of it themselves; how to give examples and hints that gradually build a student's confidence; and how to respond individually to each student's unique temperament and learning style.

Indeed, tutoring well is less like a lecture and more like a conversation. Good tutoring requires not a set program that gets imposed on a student, but rather an on-going give and take with each individual student. Only such a flexible and attentive approach takes full advantage of the power of one-on-one tutoring, which in my experience can be ten or twenty times greater than classroom instruction.

Finally, my involvement in a wide range of activities allows me to identify with and appreciate a variety of students with different skills, temperame" less...