PrepNow Tutor - Jonathan B.
Jonathan has an impressive record of testing, schooling, and tutoring. He was a National Merit Scholar based upon his excellent PSAT results and scored a combined perfect 1600 on his SATs. He holds a BA in computer science, with honors, from the University of Chicago. He has been tutoring high school students for many years, and since 2021, he has mainly been tutoring 11th and 12th graders in precalculus, trigonometry, and calculus.
Jonathan admits that tutoring was not a part of his original career plans. After taking a tech job right out of college, Jonathan says that he began to think that he “wasn’t really doing any good in the world, and was instead just helping rich people to make money.” Just like for many others, the pandemic allowed Jonathan to re-prioritize, and he took up tutoring so that he could make a real difference in students’ lives.
Jonathan describes his approach to tutoring as a combination of creativity and methodical planning. First, he strives to understand the needs of the student, always aware of the importance of patience and composure. Then, he likes to ensure not only that the student can perform the task at hand, but also that the student can understand the broader context that defines the task. “I find that this process makes it easy to identify precisely where the misunderstanding is,” says Jonathan, “and also helps reinforce important test-taking skills, such as categorizing problems.”
When Jonathan is not working with students, he especially loves seeing theatre productions. He developed this love as an actor himself, having walked the boards in high school and university productions of shows such as Bus Stop and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Also, having moved after college from Chicago to the West Coast, Jonathan loves the milder winters that some West Coasters dislike.
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