Award-Winning AP English Language and Composition Tutors
serving Spokane, WA

I'm a current PhD student in the history department at Georgetown University who is also an experienced instructor with Varsity Tutors. As a recipient of several degrees, the most recent being a BA in history from Hillsdale College and a MA in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from Stanford University, I have long sought to make teaching my profession. Meanwhile, as a volunteer grade school teacher and a tutor with this company, I have many years' experience helping students reach their full potential. I am capable of teaching students in many subjects, including reading, mathematics, test prep, Latin, and especially writing, history, and literature. In practice, I am comfortable adapting to different learning styles and specific student preferences. Outside of my academic and career endeavors, I enjoy cooking, reading, and listening to and making music.

Pursuing a PhD in English means Alex has spent years inside the machinery of written argument — not just reading it but producing and defending it at the highest academic level. That depth shows when he teaches AP Lang's free-response essays, particularly the argument prompt, where students need to stake out a nuanced position and support it with evidence that does real analytical work. Rated 5.0 by students.

As a dedicated educator with a PhD in Communication from the University of Washington, I have spent over 10 years as a college instructor and professor of writing, working with students both one-on-one and in the classroom. I have an additional decade of experience as an award-winning journalist and editor. I specialize in helping students develop writing and language skills, as well as reading comprehension. I enjoy getting to know students and providing them with the tools they need to gain confidence as writers and scholars. My teaching philosophy centers on meeting students where they are, helping them discover joy in their academic work, and tailoring my instruction to meet their individual needs. I am enthusiastic about guiding students to achieve their academic goals, and I find joy in witnessing their growth and confidence in their abilities. In my spare time, I enjoy building my Spanish language skills, exploring new writing techniques, and writing and publishing content about blues music.

AP Lang isn't really about writing well — it's about arguing precisely, which means dissecting how authors use rhetorical strategies like appeals, tone shifts, and structural choices to persuade. Sophie tackles the synthesis and argument essays by teaching students to read sources like a debater: identify the claim, evaluate the evidence, then build a counter. Her 1570 SAT score reflects the same close-reading and analytical skills the AP exam demands.

Rhetoric is everywhere once you learn to see it, and that's exactly what AP English Language asks students to do — dissect how writers use tone, structure, and evidence to persuade. Cynthia's arts background and love of reading give her a sharp eye for the synthesis and argument essays that make or break AP Lang scores. She walks students through real exam prompts, teaching them to construct thesis-driven responses under timed conditions.

AP Lang is fundamentally an argumentation course — every rhetorical analysis and synthesis essay demands that students identify how writers build persuasive cases. Jonathan's background as a competitive debater at the University of Chicago sharpened exactly that skill, and his extensive coursework in philosophy gives him a deep toolkit for teaching logical reasoning, rhetorical strategy, and evidence evaluation. He breaks down the three essay types into repeatable frameworks students can deploy under timed pressure.

AP English Language is where Patrick's two degrees converge perfectly — English Literature gives him deep fluency with rhetorical analysis, while Linguistics gives him the technical vocabulary to explain how syntax, diction, and structure create persuasive effects. He has taught academic writing to students ranging from middle schoolers to university freshmen, so he knows how to build the kind of evidence-driven argumentation the AP exam's free-response questions demand.

Scoring well on AP Lang means recognizing how writers construct arguments — the difference between an anecdote used as evidence and one used as an emotional hook, or why a concession strengthens rather than weakens a claim. Kirstie unpacks rhetorical strategies like ethos, logos, and kairos through real op-eds and speeches, then applies that same analytical lens to students' own argumentative writing. Her 1550 SAT reflects the kind of reading and writing precision this exam demands.

AP Lang's rhetorical analysis essays trip students up when they can identify ethos, logos, and pathos but can't explain how those strategies function within a specific argument. Meghan, who studied English at Cornell and is pursuing a PhD in American Literature at UConn, teaches students to dissect an author's purpose at the sentence level — connecting syntax choices, tone shifts, and structural decisions to a writer's persuasive strategy. Rated 5.0 by students.

Rhetorical analysis is the backbone of AP Lang, and most students struggle not with identifying devices but with explaining *why* an author's choices matter for a specific audience. Jake unpacks arguments piece by piece — ethos appeals in an opening anecdote, strategic concessions in a counterargument — and teaches students to write analysis that goes beyond labeling techniques. His background in marketing gives him a practical lens on persuasion that translates directly to the exam.

The AP Lang exam lives at the intersection of rhetoric and writing — two things Maddy has been immersed in since college, where she studied American literature and wrote an honors thesis analyzing cultural criticism. She digs into how authors use tone, diction, and structural choices to persuade, then teaches students to replicate those moves in their own synthesis and argument essays.

Rhetoric is the backbone of AP English Language, and Winnie unpacks persuasive strategies — appeals to ethos, strategic concessions, shifts in tone — by connecting them to real arguments students encounter in journalism and political speech. Currently studying mass communications at ASU's Cronkite School, she brings a working understanding of how language is crafted to move audiences, which is exactly what the synthesis and rhetorical analysis essays test.

Rhetorical analysis is the backbone of AP Lang, and it trips students up because they confuse identifying a device with explaining how it functions in context. Stephanie approaches each passage as an argument to dissect — examining how authors deploy ethos, strategic concessions, and syntactic choices to persuade specific audiences. Her experience writing and editing at the college level at Princeton keeps her feedback concrete and actionable.

AP Lang is ultimately about argument — dissecting how writers use evidence, tone, and structure to persuade, then doing it yourself under timed conditions. Molly's experience editing for newspapers sharpened her ability to evaluate rhetorical choices quickly, and she walks students through synthesis and argument essays with an emphasis on building claims that actually hold up to scrutiny.

Medical school trains you to read dense, argument-driven texts and extract exactly what matters — a skill Abrahim now applies to AP Lang's multiple-choice passages and timed essay prompts. His biology degree from UCLA (cum laude) required extensive analytical writing, and he teaches students to construct argument and synthesis essays the way a scientist builds a case: clear claim, targeted evidence, no filler. Rated 5.0 by students.