Suzanne's Tutoring

"Cultivate Your Mind" Logo -

NOTE:

When watching a tutorial video in a subject you already feel comfortable with, it might seem like I'm going too slow for you. Or, maybe you only have 20 minutes and my video is 35 minutes long. Just adjust the "speedback play" under YouTube's "settings" to 1 - 1/2x or 2x, and speed me up until I sound like a chipmunk. You can always go "Wait, -What?" and slow it down for just that part.

Although my tutoring style is to cut through all the fancy, complex presentations (You know, those lectures that use million-dollar words you've never heard of, delivered to make subjects like math and science seem so complicated and over your

head. I hate those. I'm like, "Who are you trying to impress?"), this means that many times in my videos I first take things back to basics before diving right into the main subject. This is so students can get a little refresher on some concepts they need to know but probably either forgot or never learned in the first place.

It is DEFINITELY worth taking the extra 5-10 minutes to refresh; not just in my tutorials, but in all of your classes, because these are the pieces of background knowledge that you're going to need to know for everything else ahead of you!

BULLETIN
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Hi, folks! How are you doing so far as college students? Things are crazy, right? That's okay, you're not alone!

Although my full-time engagement as an undergrad college student in St. Louis, MO has ended, my YouTube Channel "Suzanne's Tutoring" is still going strong! I am still here for you to answer questions and to take requests for new tutorial videos!!!

If you leave a comment on a video, I WILL get it!

I will keep posting my videos on YouTube, but soon you will also have a centralized website to find the videos paired with their corresponding study materials on my brand-new-shiny website, SuzannesTutoring.com !!!

I am currently working on collecting and uploading all of my original supplementary materials, which I personally created for my St. Louis college students to pair with the videos. These will soon be available on www.SuzannesTutoring.com . As of October 3, 2023 (now), it's not online yet... but look for it soon, later this semester!

In the meantime, comment on a video to reach me.

I have always made my online tutorial videos ad-free, membership-free, and fee-free. I will continue with this mission for my new website. College is already expensive enough, right? Furthermore, I'm not going to interrupt your viewing with those annoying pop-ups trying to guilt you into giving me money.

...Since that's the case, I don't have any budget for advertising. Nadda. Nothing. No-dough. Zed. Zip. Zero. Zilch. So, the only way for anyone to know about my content is for YOU to like, subscribe, and MENTION ME to your friends! If you quote, download, share, forward, or print out something of mine, PLEASE credit me and provide the YouTube channel's address www.YouTube.com/SuzannesTutoring . The only payment I want from any of this is to see my stats go up, so I know that I'm helping a small corner of the world.

I do charge for official, professional, personal, 50-minute tutoring sessions, either in person (if you're in St. Louis) or online (no matter where you are!). But - that doesn't include suggestions for new videos! Videos are free!

So, bring on your questions and requests for videos in the comments section! I'm happy to help! Remember, I've been there - if it weren't for a few amazing teachers of mine, with the ability and willingness to break it down and explain things simply, I wouldn't have made it myself! It is in tribute to those teachers that I am making all of my tutorial content free of charge.

You're not alone. Don't be scared, and don't give up. You CAN do this. Science and math actually aren't that difficult; they're just usually taught that way! It's my goal to cut through all the stupid "fancypants" talk and explain it like a normal person.

-Suzanne

Tutoring - Why? When?

Tutoring isn't only for students who are getting bad grades in class. In fact, if you wait until you're flunking to get help, you may not have enough time left in the semester to bring up your grade! Colleges, Junior Colleges, and Universities almost always offer free tutoring for foundational STEM classes. A lot of the time, these tutors are also students at the school, just like you, and have already taken the class. So, they have firsthand knowledge about what it takes to study and get good grades in the exact same class that you're taking, often with the exact same teacher! These Peer Tutors are a wealth of information and can pass along their personal experiences about how to best succeed as a student in your position.

Beginning of semester - Contact the school (or you can usually also go through your teacher) and find out what the tutoring department is called, their location on campus, and their contact information. Set up an introductory appointment with a tutor specifically designated for your class. You may not need to organize a continuing weekly or bi-weekly appointment with them yet; just use this 1st appointment to pick the tutor's brain on their suggested study tips, what pitfalls to avoid, if the teacher tests heavily on one thing or another, etc.

1st test /Unit - When studying, keep a note about what concepts are confusing for you. Get explanations of these concepts from the tutor in addition to the professor; having a different person explain it in a different way, from a different perspective, will give you a broader understanding of the material. Have the tutor quiz you on the information you need for your upcoming test.

After the 1st Unit test - Now that you've gotten back the results from the first major test, you have a better idea of how things are going to go and how well you've performed so far. Sometimes, you may have thought you were studying well, but then the test wasn't what you thought it was going to be and you bomb. Sometimes, it's the exact opposite; you were a nervous wreck and didn't expect to do well, but the test actually came pretty easy for you! Other times, your experience could be somewhere between these two extremes. Any of these are okay; the important thing is NOW YOU KNOW. And now that you know, you can adjust your study behavior to improve and personalize your routine to suit your own needs. Consult with the tutor for their tips on how to customize your approach to studying for class.

Studying In A Group (and actually accomplishing something!)

All too often our teachers will suggest studying in a group, or even go so far as to put us into study groups in class. The teachers certainly mean well, but if the students don't really know HOW to study in a group, it can cause anxiety, frustration, or at least waste everybody's time!

I've been in groups when we just end up sitting there in silence, studying individually. I've also been in groups where one or two people do all the work and the others just sit there quietly. Thankfully, I have ALSO been in groups that actually functioned as a group, and we all left at the end of class feeling like we benefited more from the group than we would have just studying by ourselves. Here are some things we did in the more "functional" study groups:

Divide and Conquer:

Take whatever assignment it is that you're working on, divide up the questions, and each group member complete a section of the assignment. Then, take turns going around and explaining the answers to the section you each worked on.

Don't just tell your group the answers- explain why you gave that particular answer, and/or provide the reference (text page number, etc.) from which you took the information.

Quiz Show Games:

When studying together for a test, you can quiz each other over parts of the material. This not only helps the person being quizzed, but you'd be surprised at how much it reinforces the material in your own mind when you are quizzing others.

Instead of getting quizzed on the points that you need the most work on, start by being the quizzer. Get quizzed on the material you feel most comforatable with.

Trade-off Sticky Questions:

Whenever you get stuck on a particular problem, open it up for the group to help answer. Out of all of you, chances are that someone will know. And, hearing someone else explain it might click with you better or offer a new perspective you didn't think of when you are studying by yourself.

Also, chances are that someone else will also be stumped, and you'll start to realize that you're not alone when you don't understand something in class.