Nancy L.
Pleasant Hill, CA
Math Tutor: Fifth Grade to Twelfth Grade, including ACT/SAT prep
University of Miami, Florida
mathUniversity of Miami, Florida
Master'sUniversity of Miami, Florida
Master'sAbout Nancy
I am a graduate of the University of Miami, Florida, achieving a B.S. and a M.S. degree, majoring in math. I have been tutoring math to students of all ages one-one-one since the early 1990s.
My strength in teaching math is my ability to make abstract math understandable to students. After working with me, regular students of all ages
Policies
Cancellation
24 hours notice requiredHourly rate: $40/hour No Shows: $40 unless cancellation is confirmed by 24 hours prior to meeting time. This policy applies to scheduling new lessons as well.
Travel Radius
Travels within 6 miles of Pleasant Hill, CA 94523"Amazing Tutor !"
- Farnaz, Walnut Creek, CA on 3/1/16Loved her! The first time my daughter met her, she couldn't stop talking about how helpful she was and how she enjoys having her help her with her grades!
"Knowledgeable, organized, and patient teacher"
- Ali, Walnut Creek, CA on 6/13/17Nancy is a very organized and very flexible teacher. She is very responsive, responsible, and is a rarity. I'm surprised to see her response at 1:30 AM, 15 minutes after my email to her. Very impressed.
"The best tutor I've had!"
- Natalie, Walnut Creek, CA on 4/14/17Nancy engages in the material. She goes over the basics and is very patient. Even after our first session I learned the material quickly and I was not bored. She is also very kind and polite. I am keeping her for awhile (:
"She really helped me understand."
- Karen, Pleasant Hill, CA on 3/26/17I requested help with Geometry. I was behind due to multiple illnesses. Nancy really understands the concepts. Easily started teaching the current lesson and made sure I understood before going on to the next equation. She has promised that I will understand all of semester 2 in time for my finals.
"Wonderful Tutor!"
- Mary, Walnut Creek, CA on 3/22/17Nancy did s wonderful job with my son during their first lesson. She was warm and friendly, but most of all she was patient and very positive. My son understood the lesson and felt good after tutoring.
"Amazing"
- Jennie, Martinez, CA on 9/27/16I loved seeing Nancy get so excited when things would register with my child. I can't wait to watch my child grow thanks to Nancy!
"Great Tutor!"
- Cynthia, Pleasant Hill, CA on 4/16/16Our son has give positive feed back on what Nancy is teaching him and questions he has for her. The second lesson out of four , I picked him up, he got in the car and immediately said" I understand probability!" I was so excited! Thank you!
"Nancy is great!"
- Erica, Walnut Creek, CA on 2/24/16We just had our first lesson with Nancy. My daughter walked away saying, "I actually learned Algebra!" I'd say that's a huge success already.
"My only regret is that we didn't have Nancy earlier in the semester."
- Cynthia, Pleasant Hill, CA on 1/21/16We had two appointments with Nancy before finals. Nancy worked with my daughter and reviewed old tests and concepts. My daughter went into the Final feeling very confident and prepared. My only regret is that we didn't have Nancy earlier in the semester. We shouldn't have waited so long!
"Patient, knowledgeable and kind"
- Nancy, Walnut Creek, CA on 1/6/16Nancy was very helpful on this first tutoring session. My daughter really likes her, which I believe will go along way in making her tutoring most effective. We're excited to continue with Nancy and raise my daughter's geometry grade!
"Experienced and Patient"
- Karla, Alamo, CA on 12/15/15Nancy was able to quickly establish rapport with my daughter. She is very patient and encouraging. She broke down the concept into understandable pieces. A very good experience.
"Nancy is Awesome!!"
- Ashley, Moraga, CA on 10/16/15She taught functions and related graphs. It was very helpful to recognize functions of given grasps and vice versa. She has lots knowledge. I am confident that the grades will go up worry he teachings.
"Great Tutor!!!"
- Vanessa, Concord, CA on 8/25/15Nancy is very patient, knowledgeable, and creative. She offered tips and new perspectives and made our first session a real success.
"Wonderful Tutor - Pre-Calculus"
- Sonal, Concord, CA on 6/19/15Nancy helped me a lot in my Pre-Calculus class. She helped me understand each topic by going through them with great detail, and I'm grateful for having such a wonderful tutor!
"Very knowledgeable and patient"
- Kurtis, Pleasant Hill, CA on 6/5/15Nancy has been tutoring my 11 year old daughter for several months. She was struggling in math her first year in middle school. Nancy's approach to teaching and calm demeanor have helped my daughter to be an honor roll student. I'm very pleased with the progress my daughter has made and plan to have Nancy tutor my daughter again next school year.
"Fun, positive instructor"
- Kenna, Lafayette, CA on 6/1/15Nancy was clearly knowledgeable about the topics my daughter needed help on and had many different ways to solve problems. She presented solutions clearly in a way that allowed my daughter to become more confident with the material before her final. We would call upon Nancy again!
"Fantastic tutor - Precalculus/Trig"
- Solange, San Ramon, CA on 3/19/15We tried many tutors, and nothing really worked out for us, until we found Nancy.
She is an excellent tutor. Super knowledgeable, energetic, and very positive. Her high energy helps engage students, and motivates them to learn more about the subject.
Nancy is very reliable, and always willing to go above and beyond. She obviously deeply cares about the success of her students. My son is taking precalculus/trigonometry at a very demanding school. His grade was a C-.
Nancy started tutoring him about 1 1/2 months ago, and now his grade is a B. His school teacher even made a comment that he has noticed an improvement lately.
We recommend Nancy, and will be working with her to prepare for SAT/ACT.
"SUPER!"
- Jeanette, Pleasant Hill, CA on 10/17/13Always on time. Always polite. Always able to come in and get to work with my daughter. My daughter had her first 100% on a test.
"Great job"
- Edward, Pleasant Hill, CA on 9/29/13Nancy did a great job tutoring my daughter. She was very knowledgeable in algebra 2 and a good teacher. We will definitely use Nancy again.
"Impressive!"
- Alex, Pleasant Hill, CA on 9/16/13We began working with Nancy eight weeks before the STAR test, and the results were impressive. My daughter's score increased over 100 points. Wow! And the best part was that my daughter enjoyed her time with Nancy and was more than anxious to attend her sessions. Now that the new school year has began, we have once again picked up our studies with Nancy because my daughter absolutely loves studying math with her. Nancy is an extremely gifted educator. I continue to highly recommend her.
"Nancy has done a great job!"
- Ivanna, Pittsburg, CA on 5/28/13My daughter has been tutored by Nancy for the last eight months, and I am very happy with her service. My daughter is currently in Geometry. With her help, my daughter has been getting straight As in Geometry. Nancy always does the problems with my daughter and helps her find her mistakes. Nancy makes sure my daughter understands the subject. She is very flexible and very generous with her time. Nancy also helps my daughter prepare for the math SAT. She always gives my daughter extra time to review the SAT questions. Nancy has been a wonderful tutor and I highly recommended her to anyone who needs a math tutor.
"Very dedicated and committed to my daughter’s success."
- Mey, Pittsburg, CA on 5/13/13My daughter has been meeting with Nancy for Geometry lessons since the beginning of the school year. I must say, Nancy is a godsend. She is very dedicated and committed to my daughter’s success, continually going above and beyond the call of duty. She is consistent and extremely reliable in committing to weekly meetings with my daughter. If rescheduling was necessary, she was always very accommodating and graciously worked with us to find a mutual time that worked for both. Not only that, Nancy is extremely generous with her time, often taking questions and clarifying material beyond the designated hour if needed.
She also has a broad base of knowledge in math and is highly effective in helping my daughter achieve success on the material being covered. She is consistently patient and encouraging, which has helped develop my daughter’s self-esteem and confidence in her ability to handle the subject matter. With Nancy’s help, my daughter was able to do exceptionally well on the subject and earned an A her first semester. She continues to excel, while working with Nancy during the second semester. I credit Nancy for much of my daughter’s success in math this past school year and for my daughter’s continued interest in the subject. I know that my daughter has a great advantage having Nancy as her tutor. We hope to be able to continue to work with Nancy as my daughter advances to higher levels of math in school.
"Very Unprofessional/disrespectful"
- Mary, Alamo, CA on 4/10/13Nancy was very unprofessional. We had an arrangement for undoing lessons. My son had surgery. I contacted Nancy to ask about a lesson. She called me back and said she was booked until the end of this year. And to please not call her again. Really??
Very out of character. I'm very concerned about her change of character. It was so abrupt, that I would not recommend her to any family.
In response to your feedback: To date, I do not have any records that show any of your outstanding lessons with me in the last three months and my WyzAnt records can certainly support me on this claim. Furthermore, you never told me that your son had a surgery. He appeared to be in good health each time I tutored him.
There are four reasons why I hesitate to tutor your students:
1. I cannot believe that a nice person like you could write such an adverse student-feedback on my WyzAnt profile. You considered only your inconvenience without remembering all the good, kind, and gracious tutoring sessions that I have provided for your students in the last three months.
On the day you posted your feedback, you randomly chose one completed lesson with me on your list, that occurred two months ago, and attached a one-star rating to it. If I was incompetent as you had claimed, why did you ask me back to tutor your students for four more lessons after that one-star rated lesson? Thus, your one-star rating for one out of eight lessons was random, irrational, and inconsiderate. All along, your students have been very happy to see me in each lesson and worked with me diligently at all times.
2. It has been a hassle for us to schedule tutoring sessions for your son for the last three months, especially during the last two weeks when you repeatedly tried to schedule last minute emergency lessons via emails plus phone calls. Your 7 emails, sent to me within eight days, were 3/31 at 10:44:02 pm, 4/2 at 12:01:21 am, 4/2 at 8:49:31 am, 4/4 at 1:47:22 pm, 4/4 at 7:40:50 pm, 4/8 at12:01:01 am, and 4/8 at 11:10:08 am eastern time, saved in my WyzAnt inbox, not counting the phone calls you made within these days, were all inquiries of this nature. You knew that I was not available on the days that you requested this week ever since I first tutored your students, yet you insisted on having lessons with me. Your excessive inquiries in this week frustrated me because I indeed have no time in my schedule to tutor your students this week. We tried many options of time but nothing worked well for your son because of his excessive late afternoon sports activities. I have been patient in working out details of scheduling with you all along, putting your students' best interests before mine.
3. A few days ago I received an email from WyzAnt office, asking me not to tutor your students until further notice because your account was not current. This email was the secondary factor that affected my will to tutor your students. I fear that I will not get paid for my work.
4. I have to find it out the hard way that you do not have safe parking areas inside or outside of your estate. Your electronically controlled gates almost closed in on my brand new car on my way out of your estate one night. This unsafe incident was the major reason why I declined tutoring your students thereafter. There is no safe parking area outside of your gates either. Many days I had to park in a dirt area very close to 5-foot hedges in front of your neighbor's house. If I parked on the street away from the dirt area, my car would block oncoming cars from going through your street.
In conclusion, I must ask my readers: What tutors would like to work with parents who repeatedly make last minute calls for emergency lessons via emails plus phone calls knowing that the tutor in contact is not available on the requested day, who are harsh evaluators, who are irresponsible in keeping their WyzAnt accounts current, and who have high degree of unsafe parking areas around their residences? I'll let my readers judge on the validity of my arguments presented here. I have always been an outstanding math tutor and this truth will always prevail!
"Awesome!"
- Kelly, Pleasant Hill, CA on 11/16/12Nancy has done a wonderful job in building my daughter's math foundation stronger. She is more confident in her math skills now. Nancy was exactly what she needed. I highly recommend Nancy. She is so excited about mathematics. It has been a pleasure.
"Excellent Tutor"
- Blayne, Martinez, CA on 9/4/12Nancy is a wonderful tutor. She is extremely patient with my daughter and is always very organized and punctual. Her system of learning is easy for my daughter to understand. We have been working with Nancy twice a week for about a month or so and I am very happy with the results that I have seen in my daughter's understanding of math concepts. She is also very encouraging which my daughter responds to very well. I'm very happy we found her!
Approved subjects are in bold.
Approved subjects
In most cases, tutors gain approval in a subject by passing a proficiency exam. For some subject areas, like music and art, tutors submit written requests to demonstrate their proficiency to potential students. If a tutor is interested but not yet approved in a subject, the subject will appear in non-bold font. Tutors need to be approved in a subject prior to beginning lessons.
ACT Math
Content of ACT is taken from students' high school math classes with problems that are more sophisticated than those in the textbooks. The key to scoring high on ACT is to have a thorough understanding of the math courses and apply students' knowledge to ACT. Quick reviews, prior to the test, can refresh students' memory on formulas needed for the test. Having strategies to approach test items, and knowing the format of the test are also helpful to the mastery of this test.
Algebra 1
Core concepts in Alg 1 are solving linear equations & inequalities, simplifying exponents, performing basic operations involving polynomials, rational expressions, radicals, writing equations of lines, solving systems of linear equations in two variables, solving radical equations, and solving word problems.
Algebra I is one of the most important math classes in high school because it is the foundation for higher math. Practice makes perfect. Being a math tutor for more than 20 years, I am committed to taking the important responsibility of providing my students with extra practice, guidance, and personal encouragement. I also nurture my students' self-confidence. With support, my students will be kept interested in learning Algebra I concepts and excel in this class.
Algebra 2
Beyond a thorough review on basic Algebra I concepts at the beginning of the an Alg II textbook, core Algebra II curriculum includes basic operations with Matrices: ±, scalar products, products, & inverses; graphing families of functions; polynomials: synthetic division for polynomials; rational roots for polynomials in second degree and higher; the binomials Theorem; system of 2 by 2 or 3 by 3 linear equations via matrix; basic operations with complex numbers; composite & inverse functions; exponential and log functions; conics; sequences & series; periodic functions and trigonometry.
This is a long list of math skills, where many skills are seen for the first time by the students; however, practice makes perfect. Being a math tutor for more than 20 years, I am committed in taking the important responsibility of providing my students with extra practice, guidance, and personal encouragement. I also nurture my students' self-confidence. With support, my student(s) will be kept interested in learning algebra I concepts and excel in this class.
Bar Exam
Contents of CBEST include: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and formulas. Actually problems in the "formulas" category are formuas taken from the previous three categories. Problems from the "algebra" category are taken only from algebra 1. So there are actually three categories in CBEST.
In light of the above categories, CBEST is less complicated than SAT tests because SAT requires more than CBEST. The latter has problems taken from algebra 2 and some introductory trigonometry, which are subjects beyond algebra 1.
CBEST
Contents of CBEST include: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and formulas. Actually problems in the "formulas" category are formulas taken from the previous three categories. Problems from the "algebra" category are taken only from algebra 1. So there are actually three categories in CBEST.
In light of the above categories, CBEST is less complicated than SAT tests because SAT requires more than CBEST. The latter has problems taken from algebra 2 and some introductory trigonometry, which are subjects beyond algebra 1. Since I am certified for tutoring SAT at WyzAnt, I should be certified for tutoring CBEST as well.
Elementary Math
Math Facts, Basic Operations with Decimals, Fractions, and Percent are basic requirements in middle school math. Measurement, Geometric Facts such as terminologies, area, perimeter, & volume of geometric figures, Probability & Data Analysis/Graphs in Statistics, integers, and an introduction to Elementary Algebra are all important subjects in middle school math as well. Fractions must be mastered prior to Algebra One because there usually has no time in the secondary math curriculum to review fractions thoroughly. Secondary math students often forget how to do fractions. Their vague memory of fractions often prevents them from getting an A in a math class because somehow fractions are used at one time or another.
Success in secondary math depends on its foundation, elementary and middle school math. As an middle school math tutor, I assist students in their mastery of the basic skills, especially in fractions. Once this foundation is firmly laid, secondary math will be easy for them later.
Geometry
Core concepts in Geometry are deductive reasoning, concepts related to parallel lines, proving congruent & similar triangles, theorems on right triangles & circles, and calculating perimeters, areas, and volumes of geometric figures.
Geometry provides abundant opportunities for students to reason mathematically. It teaches students thinking, communicating, and problem solving skills. Applying axioms, postulates, and theorems in solving problems are practices that help students to become independent learners. In Geometry, the more theorems are stored in the students' repertoire, the easier is the course.
Being a math tutor for more than 20 years, I am committed to taking the important responsibility of providing my students with extra practice, guidance, and personal encouragement. I also nurture my students' self-confidence. With support, my student(s) will be kept interested in learning Geometry concepts and excel in this class.
Precalculus
Core concepts in Pre-Calculus include algebra in the coordinate plane, system of equations, roots of polynomials, functions & their inverses such as polynomials & rational functions, exponential & log functions, and an introduction to trigonometry, with some variations among different Pre-Calculus textbooks. It also includes a review of major topics in Algebra II in the beginning chapters.
My strength in tutoring math is two folded. One the one hand, I can put abstract math simple enough for all students to comprehend and on the other hand, I have the methodology to help students, who lack pre-requisites to a math class, to understand on level math concepts.
Being a math tutor for more than 20 years, I am committed to taking the important responsibility of providing my students with extra practice, guidance, and personal encouragement. I also nurture my students' self-confidence. With support, my students will be kept interested in learning Pre-Calculus concepts and excel in this class.
SAT Math
Content of SAT is taken from students' high school math classes with problems that are more sophisticated than those in the textbooks. The key to scoring high on SAT is to have a thorough understanding of the math courses and apply students' knowledge to SAT. Quick reviews, prior to the test, can refresh students' memory on formulas needed for the test. Having strategies to approach test items, and knowing the format of the test are also helpful to the mastery of this test.
Other Pleasant Hill, CA Tutors
Nancy L.
Pleasant Hill, CA
Math Tutor: Fifth Grade to Twelfth Grade, including ACT/SAT prep