Learn Calculus with a student who knows how to facilitate the learning of it.

Learn more about Ali

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I developed an interest in mathematics at a very young age as I was very intrigued by the logic and reasoning behind it. I got into tutoring after seeing how bad people are learning from their teachers. I remember once I got into middle school that some teachers were better than others and people would often be confused and not understand concepts and the teacher would move on and they would be forced to build on those weak concepts until it all comes crashing down when it doesn't make sense anymore. I am very good at this stuff and am thinking about teaching so that is where I come in.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I teach all kinds of math except arithmetic, geometry, statistics, or multivariable calculus and above. I would love to help you with exponentials, logarithms, trigonometry, rational functions, polynomials(quadratics especially), finding the slope of a line, limits, how to use derivates (definition and rules), integration,(Rienman sums, indefinite, and definite) and the second derivative.
  I don't teach arithmetic as I am not that good of a tutor to give them a foundation, but I can patch up what they don't know
  I don't teach geometry/statistics/MVC or higher as they are different branches of mathematics I cannot teach well.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  Yes, I didn't like history that much, but there was one teacher who was all about respect, but was actually a cool person. I strive to be like him to actually get his students interested in the subject and feel respected.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  Anyone who is able to guide them through the process rather than just knowing the answer and making them find it. Only giving an answer just makes me a calculator and you want a tutor that knows what happened.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  I was in my Calculus(BC so Calc 1/Calc 2) class. We were going over definite integrals. My teacher said for the test tomorrow we have to review stuff ourselves. So who's gonna review it? She inquired. And another student called out my name. She joked maybe Ali should make a video about the properties. So I did and went into full depth and it helped my classmates grades go up as I was able to explain to a depth that we don't have time to do in the class.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  The most demoralizing thing was competitive math. I know all the concepts but you are forced to answer really hard questions in a really fast time. I overcame this by not worrying about it because tutoring you are trying to make sure the person understands and it actually is worth it to go through it step by step.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I love how uniquely fun and different each integration problem is. Throughout all of math there is always a backdoor to smash if you can't solve it. Like the quadratic formula, or L'Hôpital's rule, but in integration for example the integral of 1/x^4 dx is- x^-3/3 but the integral of 1/(x^4+1) dx is (-log(x^2 - sqrt(2) x + 1) + log(x^2 + sqrt(2) x + 1) - 2 tan^(-1)(1 - sqrt(2) x) + 2 tan^(-1)(sqrt(2) x + 1))/(4 sqrt(2)) + C and you can not use the same trick twice even if just a one is added somewhere so it encourages actually thinking instead of mechanical understanding.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering this interview questions :-P)?

  I am a Superprof because I encourage my students to be the best they can be and give them the gift of learning just like Superprof.