The purpose of this page is to try and take care of questions that occur frequently. I will update this page often

Do I have to make an appointment to attend one of your tutoring sessions?

Not for the group sessions, just for any private tutoring you may want. I let each person who works for me set their own schedule, so you will have to contact the person you want tutoring from. For some of us, like me, I require a weeks notice for private tutoring. (I just get too many request for it, especially around test time.) But, the other tutors might be able to fit you in the next day.

Should I pay for tutoring in advance? (Buy a season pass, ect.)

This is a tactic that some of the local tutoring establishments use to trap you with their services. Be warry of anyone that wants an application fee for tutoring. I prefer that you come in and try my service before you pay a large sum of money and commit to yourself to a bad business. Once you have purchased a season pass, you are trapped with that business. They have your money, what is to keep them honest?

Do I need to buy tickets in advance?

No, we try to keep the class sizes small, that means we have almost never turned a student away. When class sizes do get large, we will double up on the class instead of selling tickets. You might want to show up early for a few of the larger classes only to get the seat you want, not to make sure you get in.

What kinds of payment do you take?

We accept cash, credit cards, and checks. Checks must be made out to tutorjohn, if one of my tutors request you make the check out to them, go along with it, and bring me a copy of the canceled check for a $40 credit for tutoring. Unfortunately at this time, I don't accept Aggie Bucks, I am working on changing this. (Does anyone have any info on how I can accept them? I have tried figure this out with little success.)

Why don't you answer the phone?

I recently hired a few people to help out at the office. The phone does get answered now, but only on Monday - Thursday between 4 PM and 10 PM

What do I need to bring with me?

That varies from tutor to tutor. For me (Tutorjohn), all I require in most cases is something to write with, and your calculator. For the other tutors, If you don't know, ask them by sending an email. I will post what to bring in my class descriptions.

What makes you different from the other tutoring places?

First off, I will keep my class size small. A small class allows you to ask questions, it allows me to give you problems to work before you leave, so I can check and see if you are understanding the material, another is that you are not crammed into a desk that was designed for a 10 year old, and I try to keep my sessions as short as possible. (I know that for math 142 it might not seem like that, but the time on my schedule is the minimum amount of time I have found that will get most students through that class the first time.)

Do you sell season passes?

Currently I do not sell season passes. There are many reasons for this, one of them is that I haven't figured out a way to prevent students from sharing them. Another is that I don't have time to keep track of who has paid for what when. I work with about 250 to 300 students a week, and trying to remember who paid what can be confusing. I do sell gift cards for those of you who would like to pay in advance, or your parents would like to pay for a lot of tutoring at one time.

Why do the teachers hate tutoring places?

Only the teachers really know the answer to that question, but I can speculate. First, I think that some of it is the old green eyed monster, jealously. The owners of a tutoring service, typically make way more money than your teacher does. Second, I will tell you things that they don't want you to learn, like the easy way of answering a problem. Third, it is a lack of knowledge on their part. I don't always teach the traditional methods, which can confuse a teacher who doesn't know the material the way they should (they also don't like it when students question them, it makes them feel dumb, and they think that they are smarter than everyone else because they have a piece of paper that says so. It is just a stupid piece of paper, go wipe you ass with it. ), and finally, I will tell you when they are just plain being mean. The math department at both A&M and Blinn seem to be filled with this type of person.

Do you always use clean lanuage?

No (I am not speaking for everyone that works here, a couple of my tutors will use clean language, I am only speaking for me.) , most of my students are over 18, and I am going to treat them as adults. I am not a public school, so I don't have to follow some stupid rules that a few parents feel justified in forcing on the rest of us. If you are easily offended, I will probably offend you at one time or another. Don't call mom and dad and complain about it, and then have them call me. I will tell them that they were stupid for crippling their child so that when they hear a cuss word, they have to cry about it. If I was teaching High school kids it would be different, but I am not. I use certain words to emphasis some topics and to help students remember difficult subjects. I tell a lot of stories with my teaching, to help the students remember the rules in math.