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Executive Summary
This case study tells the story of a young working professional living on the north side of Chicago. This young woman was taking an Introductory Physics course as a prerequisite for a graduate program she was considering. She worked with three separate MyGuru tutors to achieve a B+ in the class.
Introduction: Why We Develop Case Studies
MyGuru students seek private tutoring for a variety of reasons.
Some are already scoring above the 90th percentile on a standardized test, but realize that getting into an Ivy League university or one of the top graduate, MBA, Law, or Medical schools is only getting more intense, and thus seek private tutoring to squeeze out a few extra points on the test. But, others are truly struggling, scoring well below average.
For some students, the key issues are knowledge-based –meaning the students don’t know certain facts or understand certain concepts that they need to master to perform better. But, in more cases than many people might realize, the issue is more emotional or psychological – the student just needs a private tutor to help them build confidence, relax, and perform.
The benefit of customized, private tutoring is that the particular situation, strengths, and weaknesses of the student can be understood and addressed by the tutor, thus improving performance. The purpose of MyGuru’s Case Studies is to illustrate how a particular student benefited from private tutoring. Of course, your or your child’s particular situation is different – but if you can draw some comparisons and identify some similarities, you might be able to envision how private tutoring would benefit you.
Student Situation
As stated previously, this particular young woman was participating in an online physics course. Although introductory, it was relatively advanced, containing calculus and complicated algebra concepts. As an individual who had not been in school for a few years and wasn’t a science major, the student was struggling to fully understand the material. She came to MyGuru in the hopes of getting help from a knowledgeable tutor.
The Tutor(s)
This case study presents a unique situation. Usually, through our extensive qualification and application process, our tutors are screened to be very good at teaching their particular subject area. Sometimes, however, due to the fact that we work with a number of tutors from different (all very impressive) backgrounds, a good fit is not achieved. This case demonstrates our promise to work diligently to make sure the student feels comfortable and happy with the tutor paired with them.
The first tutor paired with this student was an individual in Med school. Although very qualified, achieving a high score on the MCAT and having lots of tutoring experience, the material was not suited to his strengths as an instructor. He came to MyGuru and explained that he was not comfortably familiar enough with the physics material to confidently tutor the student.
We then contacted an Astrophysics PhD tutor who was very familiar working with this particular content. The student worked with her at a local library for 5-6 hours, afterwards coming to us and explaining that although this tutor was extremely qualified and intelligent, she had trouble understanding the way she was (attempting to) clarify the physics material. The student felt that a slightly different approach would more likely expound upon her understanding of the course.
The third and final tutor to work with this particular student was a Physics PhD from Russia who had spent fifteen years as an instructor of physics at both Northeastern and Loyola University. After meeting every week for two hours for a total of twelve hours, the student finally felt as if she was broadening her physics knowledge.
Results Achieved
Although we always try our best to pair a student with the tutor best suited to the particular situation in question, sometimes this just does not happen the first time around. MyGuru promises that every tutor we independently contract is incredibly intelligent and qualified, but admits that each student is different and unique in his or her tutoring needs.
Ultimately, this student achieved a B+ in the physics class and was generally happy about her tutoring experience despite the exchange of tutors.
This case demonstrates our commitment to understanding our students’ needs and intimately working alongside them to find alternatives when necessary.
