David R.

Experienced, patient, tutor, specializing in math

Experienced, patient, tutor, specializing in math

I began tutoring other students while I was still in high school. I graduated from Caltech with a B.S., majoring in math and minoring in physics. I was awarded my Master’s degree in math from UCLA, tutoring to earn a living as I went through graduate school. I went on to a career in aerospace as an engineer and a second career as VP for Technical Marketing and Sales for several very large firms in the electronics industry. As part of my responsibilities, I set up training institutes to make our sales teams better, so my heart was always close to education. (During those years, I tutored my own children who graduated from Ivy League schools on the way to their own professional careers.) Bored after my retirement, I went back to tutoring. I have learned a lot from my students over the years, and I give that back to my present students, who, typically, do very well.

The easiest way to learn is to understand a few basic principles, and how to reason from them to solve a wide variety of problems. Homework is more fun when it can be done more quickly. Test performance is greatly improved, because, knowing the basic principles, the student can deal with whatever the teacher asks. Math can become enjoyable as the student builds skills. As each math class builds on the previous material, there is no substitute for sound fundamentals. A bonus is that, since I teach SAT/ACT as well (I gave the SAT prep course at Ventura College for several years.), I show the student those problem types from their regular courses that will likely be on their college admissions tests.