Specialties

I Specialize In:

  • Test Prep
  • Dyscalculia – Innumeracy – Mathphobia
  • Math Competitions

TEST PREP

All the well-known tests, from LSAT and GMAT/GRE, through ACT and SAT, down to ISEE and SSAT call themselves problem-solving tests, not knowledge tests. 

That is why even high-performing students with great GPAs find themselves struggling with these tests: most students have never learnt how to problem-solve. 

The reason these tests can feel so overwhelming – like mountains that must be conquered just to be allowed into the greener valleys beyond – is because the only way forward seems to be to pre-learn every possible scenario before taking the test. This is obviously virtually impossible, and would need hours and hours and hours of preparation and practice tests, which only the most diligent and dedicated students are willing to do. No wonder it’s so overwhelming and uninviting to the typical student: how can you possibly hope to learn everything? 

But the whole point of problem-solving is that you are flexible with your knowledge and that you can adapt to unfamiliar situations. In short, that you know what to do when you don’t know what to do! And how useful would that skill be to learn?!

Test prep should not be a burden and a chore. Rather, it is an opportunity to play with your brain – to explore what you can figure out for yourself. Instead of the tedium of climbing this mountain which will take time, effort and money, you instead experience the exhilaration of learning to fly. The time and expense and effort involved in learning this skill pays off many times over… Yes, you fly over this mountain (whether it’s the SAT, ACT, GMAT, LSAT etc) but then you can keep flying forward, giving you the skill to handle even bigger, tougher and more valuable challenges ahead. 

DYSCALCULIA – INNUMERACY – MATHPHOBIA

This is a particular area of expertise of mine, and to be honest there is no better feeling than watching a person who has been battered and bruised by math throw off the weight of personal disappointment and instead replace it with the pride and sense-of-achievement that comes from beating your tormentors. 

My very first tutoring student – over twenty years ago – struggled in math class because he wasn’t “good” with numbers. So from the very start of my career, I was thinking about why he was finding it difficult, and from there I quickly developed an entire approach and system to resolve the issues. Since then, I have helped countless students completely change their relationship with numbers and with math.

Never let anyone claim that academics is all in the brain! As we work through the math skills, we also work through fear, and anger, and grief and discover joy and pride and hope. A recent student told me that our sessions were like “math therapy”! I have taught adults who have been in tears because they had lost decades to this fear, all because a teacher hadn’t explained the simplicity underlying our number system, and hadn’t taught them to speak the language of math. There was anger but also relief that it turned out to be do-able, and even simple, after all. 

If you want to tackle your or your kid’s mathphobia, please reach out to me. I do not want you to be in pain any longer. 

MATH COMPETITIONS

My problem-solving approach is perfect for brighter kids who want to stretch themselves and take on the challenge of a math competition.

Not only will we learn interesting and exciting new math concepts, but more importantly we’ll learn what to do when you don’t know what to do!

In the process, we’ll also learn how to ride the emotions of uncertainty and feeling out of one’s depth, which many bright kids won’t have had to learn to deal with. And then of course we’ll enjoy those great feelings of satisfaction and pride when cracking a tough problem and finding a way through to a conclusion.

It’s a win-win: your kid will love the adventure, and colleges will love seeing it on their resume. It’s fun, and it’s grows and extends your kid in ways that merely “learning more” doesn’t. Set up a free consult to ask me more about what a great option this is!