"Hi! My name is Akshat, and I am a Computer Science and Applied Physics college student studying at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science. In general, the most engaging classes are those where the instructors are most passionate about their field and show excitement in their lectures. In my experience, these classes were mainly STEM classes. When comparing teachers that have an impact in the classroom and those who do not, I find that the teachers who do not engage their students tend to make students memorize concepts while not explaining the underlying reasons for why they are correct. In doing this, the students will only retain information for an upcoming quiz or test but cannot apply it in a future exam, other relevant classes, or even in real life. I try to learn from my experience, and when teaching, I will explain why the concept works. In addition, I will try to make the lectures more engaging and often use real-life examples to introduce the topic to show why it is important. All of my good instructors engaged the class and truly made learning an enjoyable experience. I try to bring these experiences into my tutoring sessions to give the tutees a fun experience while learning and retaining subject material.

I have seven years of both group and individual tutoring. I first started tutoring competitive math for elementary and middle school students, and some of my students went on to win local and state tournaments. Here, I taught Prealgebra, Algebra I, Geometry, Probability, and Number Theory. In school, I tutored math ranging from Algebra I to AP Calculus BC and all of the AP Physics subjects. One of my tutees started in Geometry with a low B. After engaging them with conceptual reasons why a proof is correct and showing how each step of the proof fits, they understood how to think about and tackle Geometry questions. At the end of the semester, they were able to pull her low B up to a solid A!" less...