Information About Ivan - Howick tutor

Personal Description:

Dear Student,

If you're just sick and tired of:
* putting in the hours and the stress,
* staring at your notes and it still not making sense
* feeling guilty of going to sleep, playing your favorite games, just because "I should be studying harder"
* seeing others study less than you yet smoothly get those good grades
* your parents constantly breathing down your neck, checking if you're studying and when the next homework is due
* hearing your teachers or counselors say you need to try harder to reach your potential

If you want to:
* maximize your precious study time (so you remember concepts and formulas after just 1 or 2 repetitions rather than forgetting over and over and over)
* understand math/physics/chemistry/biology at a much deeper level than your school will tell you about… * use little-known problem solving shortcuts (like the "straight line fraction train" method for chemistry or the "rainbow mnemonic") to solve exam questions 2x faster
* stroll into an exam relaxed, feeling confident in your ability to figure out any problem they'll throw at ya
* "genuinely enjoy study" (yr 10 former learning support student) because we
* rest assured your future is safe because employers will be fighting over you, trying to get a piece of your creativity and problem solving skills, while you sit there with a smug grin and warmly reminisce about that time back in school you decided to step it up and get academics handled once at for all (ok, this last one takes a little bit more than just a few tutoring sessions but that's our goal for you)

We'd be honored to help. I work at Cambridge Mastery, a boutique Kiwi education agency dedicated to improving our Math & Science education.

Without this approach, I would have studying twice as long and hard in high school, yet would not have gotten the grades and awards that I did.

My parents passed this approach onto me, and I'm passing it onto you as best as I can, with a few updates for the 21st century.

Whatever it is you need, get in touch, and if we can possibly help you, we will.

Thank you for your consideration,
Ivan

Tutoring Experience:

"My year 10 would have probably been more stressful without you" - student who sadly didn't get the teachers' attention that he deserved, because the overworked teachers chose to focus on the already-excellent high achievers instead

"And as a parent I was assured that Ar*** would be OK" - mother concerned that her son's school was leaving him behind and not providing the challenge he needed

"oh yeah I actually get it now" - students often say this after we cover something they've learned in school but from a different angle

"I'm happy that Henry ended up getting the grades he needed for our first choice university" - father of former Computer Science student

We've been tutoring high schoolers in maths & science since 2013. Our students have been ages 13-18, from learning support to academically accelerated classes, from almost failing to striving to be #1 in their class.

Some recent wins by students:

* High Distinction Honor Roll at Macleans College in Howick
* above average AMC12 (a USA maths olympiad for only the top 1% of students) score on his first try… with ADHD
* #1 in Economics in elite Auckland private school, all A* grades, aiming to reclaim his two-time Dux (best-in-class) title next year
* NCEA Excellence grades in Calculus, Maths, Science
* was worried about failing Chemistry and passed after just 2 of our sessions together. next year -> go for 90%+
* from 38% failing to passing Maths & Science in just 3 months

Tutoring Approach:

8 years and 4,000+ hours spent trying to answer how YOU can GO FROM:

FROM:
"I don't know"
*gives up and plays PlayStation*

TO:
"I don't know yet, but of course I can figure it out"
*solves it easy and then has some time to play PlayStation guilt-free*

Ever wonder why a formula is written the way it is?
Struggling to memorise whether something was just "r" or "r squared"?
Why does a formula apply in situation X but not situation Y? But they're so similar!
Is math just a bunch of weird numbers and squigglies that are like an excruciatingly painful alien language?

And, most importantly, WHY DO I CARE? IT'S NOT LIKE I'LL ACTUALLY USE THIS STUFF IN REAL LIFE! ***

"My granddaughter … learnt more with William [my colleague] than at the whole year at school" - concerned grandma

"Also I noticed him motivated and confident in attempting new things" - mother of year 10 student

^^ Here's the values we take with our approach that can help you get results like the above:

1) Meet the student where they're at.
Doesn't matter what we're learning, we have to start with what we know (aka where we are). Then step by step we build our cathedral of understanding towards the goal. That way, we're virtually never lost and always know how formulas and concepts link together.

2) Strict confidentiality.
What happens in our lessons stays there; you can ask us anything and admit anything. I WANT you to make mistakes. Huh? Yes, because every "mistake" means you've discovered a weak point and get to upgrade your armour & weapon systems. And you can have any (or all) of my own strategies and tips & tricks. Next time that type of problem comes up, the only problem you'll have is it'll be too easy and boring.

3) Check the skills we've just built often - aka APPLY KNOWLEDGE IMMEDIATELY to cement the neural circuit
Remember the last time we nodded "yeah mmhmm" when a teacher or parent asked us if we "get it yet?" How useful was their explanation?
Instead, we just try a sample problem. If you can do it right away, that's our answer to "do you understand it?" And if we're missing something, I guide you towards discovering it yourself. And when we discover something ourselves, how well does it then stick in our brains?

4) Build from fundamentals.
Would you rather have to memorize 42 different formulas, or learn to wield 3 fundamental principles that you can use to derive any one of those formulas, even when you forget one? By starting at the rock-solid "bottom of the mushy swamp", we build outwards, so you can see how everything links together.

5) "I don't know" is the beginning of wisdom - Star Trek (and probably Socrates)
How liberating is it when we admit we don't know something? It's like all the pressure to get it right ASAP evaporates and we're free to explore at our own pace, on our own terms. So we *value* when we say "I don't know" or "I'm not sure… " which leads me to our only real rule at Cambridge Mastery:

OUR ONE RULE:
You are allowed to say "I don't know". In fact, we encourage it and you will hear us say it ourselves all the time.

What you are NOT ALLOWED is to say "I don't know" AND THEN GIVE UP.
Do you really want us to spoon feed you the answers?
What happens when we work out our muscles? (hint: the medical term is hypertrophy)
And what happens to our muscles when we don't use them for a while? (med. term: atrophy)

Every time we say "I don't know" we get an opportunity to upgrade our neural circuits with a newer, more efficient update, to rewire our neurons with new information… so what happens to those neural circuits when we shut down that small window of opportunity to learn by giving up?

Did Newton know the laws of gravity before he worked them out? Did Einstein? YOU and I can do this stuff too.

So:
* to get BETTER grades,
* spend LESS time studying,
* spend MORE time playing PlayStation,
* feel more RELAXED and CONFIDENT about school,
* get your PARENTS OFF YOUR BACK about doing your homework,
* feel SMUG in front of your friends about your grades,
* be SURE of yourself that you actually KNOW the material… not just regurgitate memorised content hoping it's right… your new favorite thing to say is "I don't know YET, and here's what I'm going to try next to figure this out… "

^^ That is the secret to academics in one sentence, as far as I know it. ^^

Experience breeds competence, and competence breeds confidence. So as long as we're gaining experience, it's mathematically inevitable that we'll end up confident.

The QUESTION is, WILL YOU SHOW UP and GET IN THE ARENA to GAIN YOUR EXPERIENCE?!

You started researching tutors for a reason. Contact us right now before your motivation fades and the nagging of everyday life gets in the way.

Use the form to tell us what's annoying you, and let's get started.

To your success!

-Ivan

I prefer not to put my credentials but they insisted I do it:
(#1 Pennsylvania Math League olympiad, #1 Physics Top Scholar in New Zealand, 2011 Dux/Valedictorian of Macleans College)

***
P.S. You're right. Chances are, you *won't* use that stuff in real life. So why even bother learning it?
Well, telling you the answer would be breaking our own rules so I can only give a couple hints:
1) When your dream crush mentions they just LOOOOVE {{{ WEIRD ACTIVITY YOU'RE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE }}}}, how quickly can you learn that weird thing from scratch, well enough to impress them to improve your chances?
2) Would you like your starting salary to be the same as your peers, or $20k higher? Even if they studied harder than you and have better grades? (true story!) So what things should you rapidly learn to you skew the odds in your favor?