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Award-Winning Conceptual Math Tutors

Jane

Certified Tutor

8+ years

Jane

Current Undergrad Student, English
Jane's other Tutor Subjects
ACT Prep
ACT English
ACT Math
ACT Reading

I am a current student at Princeton University, obtaining a major in English with minors in Environmental Studies and Musical Theater. I graduated from Sewickley Academy in 2016 as a member of the Cum Laude Society with highest honors for all semesters. I am an AP Scholar with Honors, an Academic Al...

Education

Princeton University

Current Undergrad Student, English

Test Scores
SAT
1540
ACT
34
Anna

Certified Tutor

5+ years

Anna

Current Grad Student, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Anna's other Tutor Subjects
ACCUPLACER ESL - Listening
ACCUPLACER ESL - Reading Skills
ACCUPLACER ESL - Sentence Meaning
ACCUPLACER Language Use

With each of my experiences working with children my passion for education has grown. I first came to Austin to work with a Spanish literacy intervention program through Americorps called A Community for Education (ACE). After my service with ACE I taught at a dual language (Spanish-English) school ...

Education

Oberlin College

Bachelors, Comparative American Studies

The University of Texas at Austin

Current Grad Student, Communication Sciences and Disorders

Deborah

Certified Tutor

10+ years

Deborah

Master of Arts, English
Deborah's other Tutor Subjects
6th Grade AP Language Composition
ACT Writing
Business
Business Writing

My MA in English with a concentration in Rhetoric and Composition, together with my MA in Adult Education and Continuing Education, qualified me to have a stellar forty-three-year career as a full-time college professor predominately in the University System of Georgia. I have successfully instructe...

Education

Georgia State University

Master of Arts, English

University of Missouri-Kansas City

Master of Arts, Adult and Continuing Education

University of Georgia

Bachelor in Arts, Political Science and Government

Deborah

Certified Tutor

10+ years

Deborah

Bachelor of Science, Mathematics
Deborah's other Tutor Subjects
Algebra
Algebra 2
Geometry
Math

Hi. I love math and I love teaching math. I am a state certified high school math teacher. I have 31 years of classroom experience. I currently teach Pre-Calculus and AP Statistics.

Education

Clark Atlanta University

Bachelor of Science, Mathematics

Katherine

Certified Tutor

Katherine

Current Undergrad Student, Computer Science
Katherine's other Tutor Subjects
ACT Science
ACT Writing
Adult Literacy
AP Computer Science Principles

Hi, my name is Katherine and I've been tutoring in various capacities since 2012. Although I'm currently studying Computer Science at Swarthmore College, I have expertise in a number of subject areas and I'd love to help you out.

Education

Swarthmore College

Current Undergrad Student, Computer Science

Test Scores
SAT
1530
Samantha

Certified Tutor

4+ years

Samantha

Juris Doctor, International Law
Samantha's other Tutor Subjects
1st-8th Grade Math
1st-12th Grade Reading
1st-12th Grade Writing
3rd-5th Grade Science

I believe every student has a unique learning skill set and every teacher continues to learn from her students. To ensure every student receives the best tutoring, I strive to offer excellent communication and a diverse set of teaching skills.I obtained my Bachelor in Business Administration from th...

Education

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Bachelor in Business Administration, International Business/French

Vermont Law School

Juris Doctor, International Law

Christopher

Certified Tutor

6+ years

Christopher

Bachelor of Engineering, Electrical Engineering
Christopher's other Tutor Subjects
Algebra
Algebra 2
Math
Middle School Math

I am a current student at Rutgers University on track to major in Electrical Engineering. I tutor a wide range of math from elementary level up to high school and college. This range includes algebra, trigonometry, pre-calc and calculus. I have had many experiences through my high school and outside...

Education

Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Bachelor of Engineering, Electrical Engineering

Test Scores
SAT
1420
Jerry

Certified Tutor

Jerry

Bachelor in Arts, Political Science and Government
Jerry's other Tutor Subjects
ACT Writing
SAT Mathematics
Test Prep

Hey, I enjoy teaching math, computer science, and the SAT! Contact me if you are interested in these.

Education

The Texas A&M University System Office

Bachelor in Arts, Political Science and Government

Test Scores
SAT
1570
Amy

Certified Tutor

8+ years

Amy

Bachelor in Arts, French
Amy's other Tutor Subjects
College English
College Essays
Comparative Literature
Conversational Italian

I have a B.A. in French and a diploma in Business French from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Paris. I also speak Greek, Italian, and Spanish.I have worked as a private tutor in the area of foreign languages, essay writing, and a variety of other subjects for more than a decade. In that time...

Education

Hofstra

Bachelor in Arts, French

Gabrielle

Certified Tutor

8+ years

Gabrielle

Bachelor in Arts, Biology, General
Gabrielle's other Tutor Subjects
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP European History
Biology

I am recent graduate of Binghamton University, with a Bachelor of Sciences in Biology. I am deeply committed to the value of education, and believe that learning is a gift and an opportunity for growth that should be available to everyone. For this reason, I am passionate about tutoring and helping ...

Education

SUNY at Binghamton

Bachelor in Arts, Biology, General

Test Scores
SAT
1550

Meet Our Expert Tutors

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Julie

Languages Tutor • +4 Subjects

I am a graduate of LaSalle University in Mexico City. I received my Bachelor of Science degree inBusiness Administration with a focus on management. I am also a certifiedteacher of Spanish. Since graduation I have worked in Human Resources and I havealso been tutoring children and adults in private and public schools, as wellas online. I am very enthusiastic about teaching my native language because Ifeel that in that way I am enriching my students' education and experiences inlearning aspects of another culture. One area where we seem to have the mostfun is prepping for exams and writing assignments. I am a firm proponent ofeducation, and as a tutor, my approach is based on each of my students'level of proficiency, their goals, and their learning pace. I focus on providinga pleasant and safe experience for my students. I prepare lesson plans that arecreative and introduce new topics in a fun way, spending enough time reviewingthe material. Afterwards, I allow students time to practice on their own. I encourage you to contact me to schedule so togetherwe can start achieving your goals

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Anna

ACT Writing Tutor • +27 Subjects

I honestly love tutoring. While working in finance and publishing over the past decade, I have independently tutored students from many premiere NY and NJ high schools and universities. I continued tutoring even after joining a major private equity firm because of how much I enjoy working one-on-one with students. Breaking down seemingly complex subjects is one of my favorite pastimes--it's part of the reason I also enjoy writing about arcane financial topics like quanto spreads on sovereign CDS. I've also developed a newfound respect for the challenges students face when undergoing years of testing after developing my own study plan to pass the first two CFA exams (I'm taking the third exam in June). This experience has shaped how I work with students to tackle test-taking anxiety and master difficult material quickly.I have both a BA and MA in English from New York University.

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Catherine

Algebra Tutor • +15 Subjects

Hello! My name is Catherine Raj and I am a second-year medical student at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. I graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor's of Science in Neuroscience in 2022. Since 2015, I have tutored children from ages 3-16 in areas of math and reading, as well as their school curriculum. Apart from tutoring here, I have worked for the Kumon Learning Center as a teaching instructor for 5 years. While I am certified to tutor a broad range of subjects, I have years of experience with tutoring young children in math and reading, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, phonics, reading comprehension, and much more. I connect with elementary and middle school students very well, as I believe in understanding children in order to give them a fulfilling tutoring experience. I also very much enjoy tutoring pre-algebra and algebra as those are my favorite math subjects, as well as my best! My students and I have always had a deeper level of understanding beyond the books and I pride my style of teaching on that aspect.

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Grace

ACCUPLACER Arithmetic Tutor • +22 Subjects

I am a graduate of Harvard Graduate School of Education (3.95 GPA) and New York University (3.98 GPA). I have worked with students of all ages. I love adapting my teaching style to the individual needs of each student to help them fulfill their greatest potentials.

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Sarah

Elementary School Math Tutor • +20 Subjects

I have been a special education teacher in Somerset County for the last 5 years. I have worked in self-contained classrooms and am currently working as a 4th grade resource room Reading and Math teacher. Next spring, I will graduate from Rutgers University's Graduate School of Education with an Ed.M in Reading Education. I will be a certified Reading Specialist as well as a certified supervisor. I am currently a certified Literacy Specialist.

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Chester

Creative Writing Tutor • +18 Subjects

I love English, and good writing. Since I like working one-or-one or with a small group, tutoring is a great way for me to help young people communicate more effectively in writing. As a social scientist, I also like to talking about statistics and social science. I like to teach by example and ask lots of questions so students can discover answers themselves. When not working, I like to watch movies, exercise, and write science fiction.

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Maria

ACT Prep Tutor • +15 Subjects

I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Denison University. I am currently pursuing an M.D. at Case Western Reserve University. I've been a college-level teaching assistant for both introductory biology and general chemistry. Besides chemistry, I really enjoy tutoring for test prep (ACT and MCAT) because I view these types of tests to be a collection of puzzles to solve. It's a lot of fun helping students to figure out the logic behind these puzzles and apply it broadly, and it's incredibly rewarding to see this integration of knowledge translate to a high score. When working with students, I like to challenge them to identify the purpose of the problem or question and what underlying reasoning can be applied broadly in future questions. In doing so, students gain more long-term usable skills and the ability to think independently.

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Juliet

Adult Literacy Tutor • +12 Subjects

Passionate social justice advocate eager to serve as a mentor to the youth. Sociologist at heart. I am the rose that grew from the concrete.

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Theo

ACT Prep Tutor • +25 Subjects

I am a current undergraduate student at Columbia University in New York City, pursuing a Bachelors of Arts in History and Economics. These are two of the subjects that I enjoy tutoring the most, but I also have a penchant for tutoring and learning about math and literature. I am passionate about tutoring because I benefited from the personalized guidance of great tutors in my past and I really enjoy seeing students push themselves and develop an appreciation for subject areas or even the mental exercise of test-taking thanks to tutoring. I also believe that tutoring a subject area is the greatest way to maintain and develop understanding of its material for both the student and the tutor. I was an active tutor in high school in mathematics and history and as I take more classes in college, I look forward to tutoring students in those in which I understood the material really well. In my spare time, I enjoy reading about history, camping, biking, and traveling when I can (or exploring the incredible city of New York)!

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Qin

Conversational Mandarin Tutor • +14 Subjects

Living in Great New York Area since 2008. Graduate student at Columbia University.Major in Finance + Economics (Undergraduate Program), and Public Administration (Graduate Program), Average GPA is 3.65.Speak Mandarin, English and Japanese.Subjects cover East Asian History (China & Japan), International Relation, Public sector (NPO related).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Procedural learning focuses on memorizing steps and formulas (like "multiply across, then add zeros" for multi-digit multiplication), while conceptual understanding means grasping *why* those steps work and how they connect to underlying mathematical principles. Students with conceptual understanding can adapt their problem-solving when they encounter unfamiliar problems, explain their reasoning, and see patterns across different topics—whereas procedural-only learners often hit a wall with word problems or multi-step equations. A tutor helps bridge this gap by slowing down to build the mental models that make procedures meaningful.

Word problems are consistently challenging because they require translating language into mathematical relationships—students often don't see *how* to set up the problem, not just how to solve it. Multi-step equations trip up many learners who've memorized inverse operations but don't understand why we do the same thing to both sides. Fractions, ratios, and proportional reasoning are also difficult because they require thinking about parts and wholes in abstract ways. Graphing and coordinate geometry often confuse students who've learned to plot points mechanically but don't understand what a graph actually *represents*. A tutor can help students build visual and verbal models for each of these, moving beyond "just follow the steps."

Showing work isn't just about writing down steps—it's about making thinking visible. A tutor guides students to articulate *why* they chose a particular strategy, what the numbers represent in context, and how they know their answer makes sense. For example, with a word problem about sharing pizza, a tutor might ask "Why did you divide there?" to help the student connect the operation to the real-world situation. Over time, students develop the habit of pausing to explain their reasoning, which deepens their own understanding and helps tutors identify gaps in conceptual knowledge rather than just computational errors.

Math anxiety often stems from years of feeling rushed or confused by procedural rules that seemed arbitrary. When a tutor slows down and helps a student *understand* why a strategy works—using manipulatives, diagrams, or real-world examples—it shifts the experience from "I have to memorize this" to "Oh, that makes sense." This builds genuine confidence because understanding creates independence; students realize they can figure things out rather than being dependent on memory. Tutors also help reframe mistakes as learning opportunities, showing students that struggling with a concept is normal and part of how mathematicians actually think.

Many students learn fractions, decimals, and percentages as separate topics without realizing they're different representations of the same idea. A tutor explicitly highlights these connections—showing how 1/2, 0.5, and 50% all mean the same thing, and how understanding one representation helps unlock the others. Similarly, a tutor might help a student see that multiplication, area models, and repeated addition are all connected, or that the slope of a line is the same concept as a rate of change. By weaving these connections throughout instruction, students build a coherent mental map of mathematics rather than isolated procedures, which makes new topics easier to learn and harder to forget.

Beyond knowing math content, a strong Conceptual Math tutor understands how students learn—recognizing common misconceptions (like thinking that multiplication always makes numbers bigger) and knowing how to address them. They're skilled at asking questions that guide discovery rather than just explaining, and they can represent ideas in multiple ways: with pictures, manipulatives, real-world contexts, and symbolic notation. They also understand curriculum progression and can identify whether a student's struggle with fractions, for example, actually stems from shaky understanding of division. Varsity Tutors connects you with tutors who combine subject expertise with pedagogical skill, so students get both accurate math and effective teaching.

Different textbooks and schools emphasize conceptual understanding in different ways—some use area models for multiplication, others use number lines, and some lead with arrays. A skilled tutor learns your student's specific curriculum and builds on the language, visuals, and strategies already introduced in class, rather than introducing conflicting approaches that create confusion. If a student's curriculum uses a particular model or notation, the tutor reinforces it while also helping the student understand the deeper concept beneath it. This alignment ensures that tutoring supports and accelerates what's happening in the classroom rather than working against it.

Multi-step equations require students to hold multiple pieces of information in mind, decide on an order of operations, and understand *why* inverse operations "undo" each other. Many students memorize rules like "move it to the other side and change the sign" without understanding that we're actually performing the same operation on both sides to keep the equation balanced. A tutor helps students visualize equations as a balance scale or as a sequence of operations to reverse, building intuition for why the steps work. With this foundation, students can tackle unfamiliar equation types and explain their reasoning, rather than freezing when they encounter a problem that doesn't fit a memorized pattern.

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