51Թ

Connect with hundreds of tutors like Max

Who needs tutoring?
What prompted you to seek tutoring?

I am very happy with our experience so far with 51Թ. They matched my daughter with reading specialist Mary and she is wonderful! My 10 year old daughter feels happy after her sessions and believes her tutor has already helped her.

— Allison K

What prompted you to seek tutoring?

51Թ really helped me understand the concepts during my Calculus 2 class. My tutor has such amazing patience and is open to many questions! Lastly, was always on time and very prompt. Highly suggest 51Թ.

— Joey T

How soon would you like to get started?
Did you know?

Understanding your timeframe helps us to develop a tailor-made learning plan just for you.

Let's finish up your profile so we can find the perfect tutor:
Did you know?

stars

We have a 4.9/5 average customer satisfaction rating.

Let's finish up your profile so we can find the perfect tutor:

Found me a great Python, C Programming, and MatLab tutor for a Engineering Computation course.

— Charles C

Let's finish up your profile so we can find the perfect tutor:

The best tutoring service period. The customer service is beyond impeccable. They provide options that are perfectly suited to your needs. They've done such a wonderful job with my daughter in high school, I plan to use their services when she attends college. I highly recommend 51Թ.

— Yvette

Let's finish up your profile so we can find the perfect tutor:

We know every student is unique. And they deserve a tutoring experience as unique as their needs. With thousands of tutors available, we're confident to find the one best for you.

A photo of Max, a tutor from University of Pennsylvania

Max

Certified Tutor

I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Psychology. I am taking some time off to work, but I plan to return to school in the next few years to obtain a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology. While in college, I volunteered with the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, an organization that brings Penn students into Philly's inner city to tutor low-income middle school students. I found the experience deeply rewarding and my time with WPTP nurtured an interest in working with children professionally. I tutor a wide variety of subjects including English, writing, history, SAT Reading/Writing, French and more! My favorite subject to teach is history. The subject is often viewed by students as boring and unnecessary (along the lines of, "why should I learn something that happened already?"); in my view, history is alive and full of useful lessons that can be applied at the personal, national and societal levels, and I enjoy teaching this point of view to students, helping them to see history as a living, deeply relevant subject matter.

My teaching philosophy can be summed in three words: never sit still. I don't see learning as a static process, whereby a student studies for a test, passes it, then lets the information slip away. Rather, I believe the student should be truly hungry to absorb the material, to truly own it, then use that newfound knowledge as the jump-off point for even higher achievement. The student should never sit still in his/her academic achievements; rather he/she should always strive to improve and grow. It is my job to foster that hunger and to enable the student to progress at the right pace, to achieve his/her potential and then break the barrier even further!

My hobbies include reading science fiction/fantasy novels, writing short stories, and playing tennis. I'm also an on-and-off Celtics fan. I am excited to work with 51Թ to help students maximize their potentials!

Connect with a tutor like Max

Max’s Qualifications
Education & Certification

Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania - Bachelors, Psychology

Test Scores
SAT Composite (1600 scale): 1560
SAT Math: 770
SAT Verbal: 790
SAT Writing: 750
Hobbies

History of cinema, writing a screen play as a side project, enjoyed his intro to screenwriting course last semester, reading (especially fantasy), tennis as a hobby.

Tutoring Subjects
Advanced Placement Prep
AP U.S. Government & Politics
AP United States History
AP US History
College Essays
College Geography
College Level American History
Comparative Literature
Conversational French
English Grammar and Syntax
Essay Editing
European History
French
French 1
French 2
Geography
Gifted
High School Geography
High School Level American History
History
Homework Support
Languages
Literature
Other
PSAT Critical Reading
PSAT Writing Skills
Psychology
Public Speaking
Russian
SAT Reading
SAT Subject Test in United States History
SAT Subject Tests Prep
SAT Writing and Language
Social Sciences
Social Studies
Special Education
Study Skills
Study Skills and Organization
Test Prep
Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?

It is the teacher's responsibility to explain a concept in terms the student can understand, and to ensure the student is always being challenged to grow.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

Identify goals, and then identify: strong areas, weak areas, create a multi-week plan for improving weaknesses, and finding new ways to enhance strengths in order to reach the goal.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Give advice on efficient ways to learn to read, write and speak in preparation for a top-tier university academic workload.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Encourage the student to understand why he or she wants to achieve a goal.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

Try to understand if the difficulty is due to lack of understanding of a more basic concept necessary to learn the skill in question; practice breaking down a complex problem into simpler components.

How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?

Read, read, read!

What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?

Identify key weaknesses, strengths and make a plan for consistent practice of simple skills to improve weaknesses integrated with practice of more complex skills using strengths.

How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?

I try to engage students by relating difficult theoretical concepts and skills to real-world situations using movies, TV, books and current events, placing seemingly dry subject matter in the wider context of daily life.

What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?

Frequent informal testing of small chunks of information, along with more spaced cumulative quizzes. Whenever I cover a new concept, I immediately ask a student to explain it back to me using his or her own words.

How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?

After ascertaining a student's skill in a subject area, I ask him or her to show his or her knowledge on easy problems, building confidence in already acquired knowledge and setting him or her up for the challenge of material that is still not mastered. I believe in the proximal zone theory of learning, whereby I challenge the student with problems not yet in his or her mastery, but not so difficult the student will be discouraged to continue learning.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

The best way to evaluate is to ask the student directly what he or she expects out of the tutoring and what he or she wants/needs to achieve. Speaking to parents provides a different perspective on the student, supplementing what the student tells me.

How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?

Tutoring is not about dragging a student by the hand to mastery of new skills. Rather it is about opening the door to greater mastery and encouraging the student to walk through it of his or her own accord. Using this philosophy, my job is to make sure that the open doorway is the right one (i.e. I understand what the student needs) and providing the support to enable the student to walk through on his or her own, whereby the student achieves a sense of self-efficacy and pride at having achieved academic excellence independently.

What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?

I use sample questions, reading excerpts, book lists, strategy guides, prep books and any materials provided by the student.