Claudia holds a Bachelor’s from UCLA and a Master’s from Georgetown University. She has been a professional SAT/ACT tutor for almost 10 years. Students she has tutored have gone on to attend several top-tier universities, including UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Georgetown, Princeton, Columbia, and Yale.
Professionally, Claudia is a Clinical Research Consultant for the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In this role, she embarks on various projects with her team so that up-and-coming medications and scientific devices can enter the market. Despite having a fulfilling career in research, Claudia dedicates time to education because she wants to nurture academic interests in young students.
In college, Claudia discovered her love for traveling. She studied abroad in England for two months and then backpacked through various European countries for a month. She also volunteered in Guatemala to provide medical care for the local community, where she discovered that she would like to pursue healthcare as a career.
As a tutor, Claudia is personable and friendly. She prioritizes establishing a relationship with her students and believes a good relationship between the tutor, student, and parent/guardian is necessary for trust and effective communication. She understands that each individual is unique, so she adjusts her teaching methods to accommodate each student.
Outside of her academic and professional pursuits, Claudia spends most of her time exploring the outdoors, discovering great restaurants, practicing yoga, playing the piano/guitar/saxophone, reading fiction novels, or watching anime. She is always looking for new anime to watch, so if you have recommendations, let her know!
Simone earned a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Design and Ecolocy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as a minor in Visual and Media Studies from Duke University. She has over eight years of tutoring experience, including teaching English as a second language to German and Spanish-speaking students. Professionally, Simone has also worked in public health and education as a UNC Global Gap Year Fellow and with an affordable housing agency in Chapel Hill.
Simone’s passion for tutoring stems from her desire to contribute to students’ learning processes. She likes to plant an idea in someone's head and watch it grow into a tree of their own knowledge. In other words, she loves to amplify students' ownership over their learning. She specializes in SAT tutoring as well as English, history, and algebra tutoring at all levels, including AP and IB.
As a tutor, Simone is collaborative and playful. She recognizes students as leaders in their learning journeys, and she incorporates optimism and play into her lessons to diminish feelings of anxiety or dread. Her tutoring is entirely student-centered and designed to empower students.
Some of Simone’s greatest strengths as a tutor include her ability to keep students motivated and engaged. When a student needs encouragement, she can be firm and steadfast, but supportive. She uses positive reinforcement, pep talks, feedback from students, and breaks as needed. Simone also connects content to real-world examples relevant to each student's life so that it can be grounded in something familiar and useful to them.
In her free time, Simon likes to dance, listen to music, try new foods, and travel. She took a gap year before starting college and spent three months in Mexico and another three months in Colombia.
"Seeing my students succeed is my primary driving force in assisting students to reach their academic goals."
Saied holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Rutgers University and a Master of Science in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University. He also has a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) from Cambridge University. Saied has over eight years of experience as a tutor and has helped hundreds of high school and college students. His passion for tutoring began during his childhood in the Jamaican school system, where he experienced the opportunity to substitute for a mathematics teacher for three months.
Saied specializes in ACT and SAT tutoring, all math courses from Pre-Algebra to Calculus II, and English composition. His passion for tutoring is driven by his love for imparting knowledge and helping students master the world of mathematics. Engaging in one-on-one interactions, understanding each student's learning style and interests, and presenting content in a way that resonates with them and sparks those light bulb moments are what continually motivates him to strive for excellence as an educator.
Saied's tutoring style is characterized by a dynamic partnership with students. In the initial conversation, he strives to understand each student's preferred learning style and identifies any knowledge gaps they may have. Based on this assessment, he develops a customized plan to address their needs. Recognizing that some mathematical topics can be abstract, Saied incorporates real-world applications to solidify concepts and encourage students to apply what they have learned. By fostering this iterative process, Saied nurtures mathematical maturity and helps students make connections between different mathematical ideas, informing his approach to introducing new content. What truly drives Saied is witnessing his students' success, confidence, and motivation. Students' genuine smiles of accomplishment further fuel his passion for assisting others in achieving their academic goals.
Saied's greatest strengths as a tutor lie in his background in applied mathematics, which enables him to present content in a relevant and applicable way. He ensures students grasp the core foundations necessary to tackle any mathematical challenge. Additionally, Saied is skilled at pushing his students to excel. During tutoring sessions, his primary focus is ensuring the concepts are deeply understood and internalized so that when presented with external content-related problems, students glide through with ease.
When he isn’t tutoring, Saied enjoys hiking, chasing beautiful skylines and waterfalls, and learning new skills. He is certainly one for adventure, as he swam with sharks when he was only 13 years old and has been skydiving!
Our calculus tutors have tutoring/teaching experience or have a degree in a mathematics-related discipline.
We welcome parent involvement in all our tutoring programs. Parents can monitor progress using our progress tracker. Here, they can check on activities you’ve completed, comments from your tutor, insights as you advance through the program, and next steps in future sessions.
Our tutors are all experts, but our matching process ensures you work with a tutor who fits your needs best. The information provided in your intake form gives us insight into your needs, goals, and preferences; these are the parameters we use to select your tutor.
The best program is one that offers the support level you’re looking for. However, all our plans are personalizable to align with your needs and goals – we can help you select the right package if you’re unsure!