Experienced Science and Math Tutor and Teacher

Amelia R.

Hi, my name is Amelia. I received my Ph. D. from the University of California San Diego in Physical Chemistry in 2016. Since then I have worked as a lecturer teaching Intro Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry and Physical Chemistry (Thermodynamics, Quantum Mechanics and Lab). I started working as a tutor during undergrad and have 10+ years experience working one-on-one with students. I have successfully tutored students through Algebra 1 and 2, precalc, SAT and ACT math, Chemistry (High School, AP, IB and Intro level courses), Biology (High School and AP), Physics (High School, AP and Intro level courses), Physical Chemistry, BioPhysical Chemistry and more.

My teaching philosophy is rooted in the idea of "see one, do one, teach one." In order to really learn material, students must see it done, must try it themselves and must be able to explain/teach it to someone else. Often when I get students, they have seen a teacher show them how to do something, but are stuck at the "do one" step. My job as tutor is to act as a guide and help them work through the problem, try another on their own and then walk me through what they did. This allows me to figure out where they are getting stuck, what the misconceptions they have might be and to make sure that they can do the problem on their own when I am not there. As a teacher myself, I have good insight into how teachers might change or modify problems for an exam to test knowledge over memorization. Part of my process is to discuss these methods with students as we work through their problems so they are prepared for their quizzes and exams. The most successful students are the ones who have already started putting in the work, but need a bit of guidance and focus.

My advanced degree in Physical Chemistry required a firm math foundation and subjects like Thermodynamics was more akin to teaching applied math.

Along those same lines, my degrees in Chemistry and experience teaching Science both one-on-one and at the college level mean I am more than qualified to tu