Blake S.
Private tutor in Melbourne, Australia
Education
Masters of Pure Maths, University of Melbourne, 2020. BSc in Mathematics with Honours, University of Glasgow, UK, 2016. Graduated top of the class at Glasgow International College for entrance into university.
Experience
▪ Free trial session ▪ Master’s degree (Pure Maths) ▪ Official University maths tutor for the University of Melbourne (3+ years) ▪ 6+ years tutoring experience ▪ 25+ separate University maths subjects tutored to date ▪ Full-time maths tutor ▪ Marked 1000’s of exams and homework sets ▪ Online booking system ▪ Weekly group tutoring which you can join and try for free (cheaper than one-on-one) Send me a message with your email and I will send you a pdf with information about my tutoring business as well as the links to book a session. My hourly rate is subject dependent, so contact me for that too. You can book a trial session, or full session at calendly[dot]com/realmathstutoring ----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------About me------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- I am a full-time mathematics and higher-level maths tutor with a master's and honours undergraduate degree in pure mathematics. I have over 5 years of tutoring experience, including 4 years of running tutorials for undergraduates at the University of Melbourne. I have tutored over 25 separate university mathematics subjects: ranging from first year to masters level subjects. I tutor a wide range of people with varying abilities. I have expertise in working with both university high-level maths, as well as self-proclaimed ‘non-maths’ people or those without a maths background. I aim to help anyone and everyone, no matter their current skill set, to understand maths and achieve their goals. I am deeply passionate about mathematics education. I have given numerous talks and interactive classes over the years to undergraduate students and even the general public. I am adept in the programming language Python, which enables me to create 3-D animations for the talks, to aid visual demonstrations. I received all A's in all of my 12 mathematics subjects in my first 3 years at university. However, I absolutely did not achieve these results easily. It involved substantial, sustained effort for me to reach this goal. In fact, I actually almost failed high school mathematics, and subsequently had a 5-year gap between high school and higher education. As such, I had to relearn all of high school mathematics on my own, before returning to university. Once at university I always felt behind the curve, and that I had to work twice as hard as other students, despite getting such good results. Whilst this might not sound like the ideal path for becoming a tutor, on the contrary; I feel it has put me in a fantastic position for tutoring, especially for students that find the subject naturally difficult or daunting. Maths is most often not an innate skill, but rather something that takes time and patience, (as well as a lot of fun) to learn. Because my own maths history was from the perspective of a struggling student, I am readily able to recognize and even anticipate where issues of understanding and learning arise, and how to overcome them. Each student is different, and each method of learning is tailored exactly to them. Mathematics is something I am deeply passionate about. My intention is to translate this enjoyment and passion to all my students, to help re-wire student thinking to enable deeper learning and understandings, in this rich and beautiful subject. --------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------Experience----------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- I am currently employed as a mathematics tutor for undergraduate courses where I run tutorials for students at The University of Melbourne. I also work at Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, where in semester 2, 2020, I am tutoring Group Theory and Linear Algebra. For over 5 years I have tutored the following university subjects privately: Calculus 1 (multiple universities) Calculus 2 (multiple universities) Calculus 3 (multiple universities) Linear Algebra (multiple universities) Complex Analysis (MTH328 Charles Stuart University) Differential Equations and Mechanics (MATH 314 ACU) Advanced Mathematics for Economics and Social Science (20136 Bocconi University, Italy) Engineering Mathematics 3B (MTH20014, Swinburne University) Number Theory and Cryptography (MATH308, ACU) Linear Algebra for Data Analysis (SIT292, Deakin University) Discrete Mathematics (RMIT) Mathematics for Economics Linear Algebra for Data Analysis (SIT292, Deakin University) Complex Analysis (MAST30021) Business Analytics for Decision Making (MGMT90239) Real Analysis (MAST20026) Geometry (MAST30024) I have also volunteered as the subject coordinator for VCE specialist mathematics at the summer school organized by the University of Melbourne Student Union in Australia (UMSU). I recently gave a 90-minute talk to high school students about university mathematics, entitled "How to explore higher dimensions". I have also written for the undergraduate mathematics magazine, introducing higher maths to interested undergraduates. In late 2019 I gave a public talk/seminar aimed at the general public also on "How to explore higher dimensions". I have additional experience as a volunteer mathematics and English teacher in India for 4 months. This further developed my communication skills, as many of the students had very little, or no knowledge of these subjects at all. --------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------Approach------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------- I am happy to also send you lecture notes most appropriate for a given topic, or hand-selected examples and questions based on individual needs. I let you, the student, guide me as to what kind of approach is preferred. For example, we may cover pure theory with some examples, or we may answer exercise problems, or past exams together. Central to all of my tutorials is the concept of engagement. If a student is not engaged with the material then they will not learn. I make use of several techniques to keep engagement levels up. One such technique is to aim to keep a 40:60 ratio of student speaking/writing, verses tutor instructing. Encouraging students to speak, engage and interact a lot provides a perfect way to do two things simultaneously: 1) check the student understands the current material, and 2) reinforce what we are covering, and enhance future recall. I pride myself on being able to both quickly identify the gaps in a student’s understanding, and communicate these gaps to the student effectively, in multiple ways. For example, a concept can be both visual (pictures or animation), analogous with the real world, verbal, or algebraic. If students understand the same maths concept in multiple ways, they grasp the idea more thoroughly. I also encourage and emphasize mathematical spoken language, because writing and speaking involve two different parts of the brain. This allows for the student to become a lot more comfortable with the concepts and abstract symbols more thoroughly. Once the student understands how to properly ‘speak’ mathematics, then reading it on their own (sub-vocalization) becomes possible, and hence the symbols become much easier to handle and less daunting. Perhaps most importantly, I ensure that I build a solid rapport with each and every student. I take a warm, light-hearted approach, to build the student’s confidence over time, and ensure that learning is enjoyable.
Subject Expertise
Multivariable CalculusMiddle School MathPSAT MathematicsSAT MathSAT MathematicsSAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 1SAT Subject Test in Mathematics Level 2Linear AlgebraAP Calculus ABAP Calculus BCCalculus 1Calculus 2Calculus 3CLEP CalculusCLEP PrecalculusMathematical Foundations for Computer SciencePre-CalculusACCUPLACER Elementary AlgebraAlgebra 1Algebra 2Algebra 3/4CLEP College AlgebraCollege AlgebraDevelopmental AlgebraElementary AlgebraIntermediate AlgebraIntermediate AlgebraPre-AlgebraGeometryNon-Euclidean GeometryASPIRE Math11th Grade math12th Grade math1st Grade math2nd Grade math3rd Grade math4th Grade math5th Grade math6th Grade math7th Grade math8th Grade math9th Grade mathACCUPLACER College-Level MathACT MathApplied Mathematics10th Grade mathCAHSEE MathematicsCLEP College MathematicsCOMPASS MathematicsCompetition MathElementary MathFinite MathematicsGRE Subject Test in MathematicsHSPT MathIB Further Mathematics HLIB Mathematical Studies SLIB Mathematics HLIB Mathematics SL
Availability
Any day at any time
Can Meet
Up to 15 minutes away for no additional charge, Up to 1 hour away for a flat fee
Hobbies
I am interested in Neuroscience, philosophy and consciousness research. I also play squash and run competitively
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