Experienced college tutor for calculus and higher level maths.

Jake P.

Hi, I'm Jake, and I have a uniquely expansive perspective on education. In high school, I was a "gifted and talented" kid. I aced all my tests, started undergrad as a math major with a National Merit Scholarship, and thought I had smooth sailing ahead. Then I got to my first math class and realized just how little I actually understood. I failed several assignments and quizzes, dropped the course, changed majors, then burned out and took a break from college for several years. When I returned to school, I'd forgotten just about everything and had to re-teach myself from the ground up. That process was immensely humbling, and I learned a lot about how to study effectively and stay focused on understanding the material instead of relying on shortcuts and memorization.

I now have a BSc in Neuroscience, a MSc in Math, and ten years of experience as a software developer for neuroscience research. During my undergrad, I worked in the university's tutoring center for a year as a general STEM tutor. I helped dozens of students with one-on-one tutoring in science and math and quickly learned to love it. During grad school, I taught lab sections for Calculus for four years. That involved a mix of one-on-one tutoring, lecturing, and computer labs, with a focus on improving understanding through visualizations and group projects. Since I was at a small commuter campus with a lot of transfer students like myself, I got to teach a diverse group of students from high schoolers getting a head start, to military vets using GI bill benefits, to older adults making a career change.

As an educator, my first goal is always to teach you to teach yourself. I understand we all have deadlines and sometimes you just have to pass a test before worrying about anything else, but my hope is that you'll always leave our sessions feeling empowered.