How to Find a Great ACT Math Tutor
As I was stepping out of the pool yesterday, I began chatting with a lovely snowbird from New York. When she found out my profession, she commented, “Oh, my husband was an amazing math teacher even though he’d always struggled in math as a student.” I replied, “That’s exactly what made him a great math teacher!” Unlike this lady’s husband, I’d always excelled at math (before AP Calc BC) but never enjoyed or even appreciated its beauty until I became an ACT math tutor. Today, I believe my own teenaged antipathy to math and my challenges in Calculus help me relate to my students, many of whom share my former feelings and hurdles. Read on to discover the top three qualities of an excellent ACT math tutor.
ACT Math Tutor Essential #1: Keep Abreast of (Changing) Test Material
The ACT has always covered a greater variety of mathematics topics than the SAT has. Recent changes to both tests, though, require ACT math tutors to familiarize themselves with new topics and new materials. For example, I recently partnered with a third party to offer online practice SAT and ACT tests, since official, full-length materials for both are limited.
Likewise, I was able to answer one potential client’s recent question – “What’s the difference between the SAT and the ACT?” – with this chart which looked completely different two years ago. ACT math tutors worth their salt can quickly field students’ and parents’ questions about the test and allay their anxieties during major test overhauls.
ACT Math Tutor Essential #2: Offer Concrete Test-Taking Strategies
ACT math tutors have a grab bag of testing strategies, whether it’s PITA (Plugging In The Answers), math content review, or breathing techniques to settle nerves. More importantly, they equip students with building their own arsenal through repeated practice and quizzing during sessions. By the time the student sits for the test, the ACT math tutoring should enable those strategies to pop out of the student’s grab bag automatically and without effort.
Like Felix the Cat, every great ACT math tutor has an impressive bag of tricks. Image found on YouTube here.
ACT Math Tutor Essential #3: Relate to the Student, Relate the Math to Life
As I mentioned in the introduction, math didn’t always come easily to me – and I almost never enjoyed it. So I’m good at detecting the alarm bells that go off in some students’ brains when they encounter a math problem that stumps them. I share my own challenges and guide students to uncover which types of problems set those bells off. Then I teach students techniques to not only solve those problems, but also to maintain their composure when they show up.
Image by @liammward on Unsplash
One of students’ biggest grievances that I hear in my work as an ACT math tutor is, “But when am I ever going to use this?” Pointing out personal finances and building a more logical brain, I attempt to connect what might seem pointless test prep to their academic and personal futures.
Conclusion: ACT Math Tutors Get Results
As Jeff Selingo noted in Who Gets In and Why, the only demonstrable gains in ACT scores came from students who worked with a tutor. And while ACT math tutors don’t need to have struggled in math like the snowbird’s husband, any extraordinary ACT math tutor will possess command of the latest test material,* concrete testing strategies, and the ability to relate to teens.
*You can register for my free webinar detailing these changes, along with those made to the SAT and college admissions practices, here.
About the Author
Dominique Padurano, M.S., Ed., Ph.D. – aka “Dr. P.” – loves helping students across the globe fulfill their academic and personal goals. President and Founder of Crimson Coaching, Dr. P. herself personally tutorsstudents in English, French, History, Math, Spanish, and study, time management, and organizational skills; prepares them for the SAT, ACT, GRE, ISEE, AP, and other exams as a test prep coach; and shepherds them through the college application process as a private admissions counselor and essay coach. Dr. P.’s students have earned admission to Harvard (her own alma mater), Princeton, Stanford, and other top universities, as well as scholarships – including full rides – totaling more than $2 million. Learn more straight from the hearts and minds of Crimson Coaching’s parents and students on Google.
