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Licensed Teacher, Master's | AP Calculus, College Math, SAT/ACT Prep
John P.

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About John

Bio

I'm a private mathematics tutor with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, and I'm a licensed teacher. For more than ten years I've worked one-on-one with students in Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus, Statistics, and SAT and ACT math.

My students have ranged from elementary schoolers building number sense to college students working through a calculus sequence, though most of my work is with high school and...

I'm a private mathematics tutor with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, and I'm a licensed teacher. For more than ten years I've worked one-on-one with students in Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus, Statistics, and SAT and ACT math.

My students have ranged from elementary schoolers building number sense to college students working through a calculus sequence, though most of my work is with high school and college students facing a difficult course or a high-stakes exam. I began in a campus tutoring center, where I was named Tutor of the Year, and I've spent the years since building a private practice around long-term one-on-one relationships with students and their families.

The way I teach comes down to a single idea: confusion always starts somewhere specific, and it is almost never where the student thinks it is. A student stuck on quadratics is often really stuck on negative signs. So I open with a diagnostic session rather than a lecture, find the actual break point, and rebuild from there in small steps the student can repeat on their own. For geometry I maintain a vocabulary system I developed over years of student questions, because so much of that subject is language before it is math.

Most of my tutoring is now online, using an interactive whiteboard, screen sharing, and recorded sessions students can rewatch while doing homework. I also tutor in person. I'm a strong fit for students who want to raise a grade, prepare for an exam, catch up in a class that got away from them, or move from doing okay to doing genuinely well.

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Education

University of Houston
Mathematics
University of Houston
Masters
  • Licensed teacher

Additional Languages

Vietnamese

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Approved Subjects

ACT Math

ACT Math

I scored a 28 on the ACT mathematics section, and I have spent more than ten years helping students prepare for that same test. Because the ACT math section spans everything from pre-algebra through trigonometry, I keep that full range current rather than teaching to a narrow band of question types. I hold a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, and I am a licensed teacher. My approach starts with a diagnostic on a real practice section, which tells me whether a student is losing points to content gaps, to careless errors, or to pacing, since those three problems require three different fixes. From there I build targeted practice around the question types costing that student the most, along with timing strategy for the back half of the section, where most students run short.
Algebra 1

Algebra 1

I completed Algebra 1 coursework in both Vietnam and the United States, and I have been teaching the subject for more than ten years, both to high school students and to college students reviewing before College Algebra. Algebra 1 is where most long-term math trouble begins, and in my experience the problem is rarely the algebra itself; it is usually the arithmetic underneath it, especially negatives and fractions. I hold a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, and I am a licensed teacher. I always start with a diagnostic so I can find that actual break point instead of guessing at it, then rebuild in small steps the student can repeat on their own without me.
Algebra 2

Algebra 2

Algebra 2 is the course where students either build a foundation for precalculus and calculus or quietly fall behind, so I treat it as a gateway subject rather than a standalone class. I have tutored it one-on-one for more than ten years, and in my experience most Algebra 2 struggles trace back to Algebra 1 skills such as sign errors, fractions, and factoring rather than to quadratics or functions themselves. I hold a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, and I am a licensed teacher. My first session is always a diagnostic to locate that underlying gap, and I patch it while we keep moving with the current material, so the student is not forced to choose between catching up and keeping up.
Geometry

Geometry

I studied geometry in both Vietnam and the United States, including three-dimensional geometry, and I have tutored the subject one-on-one for more than ten years. Early on I noticed that most students who say they are bad at geometry are actually struggling with its vocabulary, and the problems stop feeling hard once they know precisely what the words mean. So I built and still maintain my own geometry vocabulary system, developed from years of student questions, and it has become the single most useful tool I bring to this subject. Beyond vocabulary I focus on proof structure and on teaching students to draw and label a figure properly before attempting anything, which resolves a surprising number of problems on its own. I hold a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, and I am a licensed teacher.
Prealgebra

Prealgebra

Prealgebra is the foundation for algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus, which is why I take it as seriously as any advanced course I teach. I have tutored it for more than ten years, mostly with middle school students, and I hold a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston along with a teaching license. This is the point where negative numbers, fractions, and the idea of a variable all arrive at once, and a gap in any one of them will follow a student for years. I start with a diagnostic to find which of those is actually shaky, then rebuild it patiently before moving on, because time spent carefully here saves years of frustration later.
Precalculus

Precalculus

I completed precalculus and calculus in high school and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston, so I have seen this course both as a subject in itself and as the foundation everything after it depends on. I have tutored precalculus one-on-one for more than ten years and I am a licensed teacher. Precalculus punishes shaky algebra and trigonometry harder than almost any other course, so I begin with a diagnostic on those underlying skills rather than assuming they are solid. From there I concentrate on the units that reliably cause trouble: trigonometric identities, function transformations, and sequences and series.
SAT Math

SAT Math

I have been tutoring SAT math for more than ten years, working with students across a wide range of starting scores. I hold a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a master's degree from the University of Houston and I am a licensed teacher, so I approach this test as mathematics first and test strategy second. Every student begins with a diagnostic on their most recent practice test, because the fix for a content gap is completely different from the fix for careless errors or for running out of time in the second module. From there I build practice sets aimed only at that student's weak areas, and we work on pacing and on recognizing question types quickly, which is where most of the recoverable points sit.
Trigonometry

Trigonometry

Trigonometry is my favorite subject to teach and the one I have tutored most often over the past decade. I studied it in depth as an undergraduate at the University of Houston, including research through the Honors College, and carried it forward through a master's degree there; I am also a licensed teacher. Most students arrive able to recite the ratios but unable to use them, so I teach the unit circle as one organizing idea rather than a table of values to memorize. I also spend real time on the transition from right-triangle trigonometry to functions, graphs, and identities, because that is the exact point where most students lose the thread.
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Hourly Rate: $100
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