High School Tutoring
Strong grades build admissions strength and a student’s confidence, and both depend heavily on how well a student learns to manage the work. Our tutors teach the humanities, every level of high school math, biology, chemistry, and high school physics, and between us we hold degrees in math, chemistry, economics, art history, physics, literature, history, and biology. At Xcel, we love our subjects and it shows in the quality of our teaching; we want students to love their classes as much as we do.
We believe in working smarter, not harder, but we also know that hard work and well-earned grades are critical to academic commitment. In every meeting, we check in on short- and long-term assignments and help students sort what is truly urgent from what only feels urgent. That way, term papers and exams can get a student’s best effort, the assignments that reward depth the time they need, and long-range projects a series of small, manageable bites. Our goal is to protect the student’s energy and confidence, especially in a subject that may be a source of stress.
Undergraduate Tutoring
College coursework demands more planning, prioritization, and tracking of competing deadlines than most students have needed before, and our tutors help them build those skills alongside mastery of the material. Our academic team supports students in biology, chemistry, and organic chemistry, and in writing-intensive courses in fields across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. We also serve as a sounding board and extra pair of eyes for papers in philosophy, political science, and sociology, especially the culminating projects of a four-year degree, such as capstone papers. These papers require a tutor who knows the topic well and takes on the additional highly technical reading and research, so that they can help sharpen students’ logic, argumentation, and writing.
Specialty & Niche Tutoring
Students at every level, including graduate students, come to us with goals that are particular to them, many of which fall outside any course syllabus. Our team’s range of training and interests means we can usually match a student with a tutor whose background lets them get up to speed quickly, and who brings real rigor to the tutor-student partnership. Recent projects include writing competitions, competitive program application submissions, art portfolios, AP Art History, CASPer and medical school interview preparation, the Psychology GRE, screenplays, religious studies, theater, and even natural hazards.
As with all of our tutoring and advising, we begin by establishing the student’s goals and timeline, then break the work into small, manageable steps. Each session is built around the student’s specific objective, whether that means feedback on a competition entry, development of a program application, or scientific writing from high school through dissertation. Whatever the goal, our aim is for the student to finish with work they are proud of.