Physics Tutor

29/01/2021

Three men are standing on a ladder as shown. Estimate the angular acceleration of the ladder the instant the chunky one on the left steps off.

https://www.facebook.com/makesyoulaughtoo/photos/a.112881476853940/269410371201049

04/01/2021

Schlegel shared a post about mandatory screening at New Trier High school. The test is evidently an RT-LAMP screening and will cost the district $11 per student per week. This seems well worth the cost to me.

I only wish at home test kits were available at that cost to me. I'd gladly test myself to make in person dance lessons safer! (Some test kits are available at $25 test. I think you need a doctors prescription. I'm going to try to find out more.)

https://www.newtrier.k12.il.us/Administration/About/Back-to-School/COVID-19_Screening_Program_Frequently_Asked_Questions/

Students — but not staff — must participate in the district's COVID-19 saliva screening program to come to campus in Northfield or Winnetka.

31/07/2020

Physics Tutoring: What you need in August.

This upcoming year is likely to be unpredictable for parents and students. Some who have never considered tutoring may be wondering what a tutor can do for their students. Today I’ll focus on the most popular roles for a physics tutor hired in August just as the school year begins.

In August, the most popular role for a physics tutors is to provide once or twice weekly hour-long sessions to help a student master material their teacher is covering now, or better yet, will be covering soon. Many parents also consider the need to transition to test prep around March.

When hired to help students master material being taught by a teacher, the tutor will help students learn how to apply and solve mathematical models to predict physical outcomes and to understand fundamental concepts.

So, what actually happens during tutoring? The nuts and bolts of how a tutoring session works will depend somewhat on their student’s maturity, the teacher’s approach to teaching, and how often the student meets with the tutor. I’ll describe two extremes.

For some students particularly younger ones whose classes cover simpler more repetitive material, or for students whose teacher’s philosophy is to have students figure out methods on their own, I often use the once popular strategy called “I do-you do”. That is: I show how to work a problem, then challenge the student to work a similar or nearly identical problem. Implementing the strategy may require meeting two hours a week to permit time for the “I do” portion of teaching, and then assign the student the “you do” while still covering enough material to ensure the student stays on their teacher’s schedule.

For more mature or more focused students, the sessions focus on material students already worked on and found troublesome. These students may read ahead ask about basic concepts introduced in an upcoming chapter; they may request a tutor show them how to work a homework problem they found intractable.

Either approach can help improve mastery and grades. A tutor cannot be sure which approach will work until after they meet your child. When students meet with tutors for one-hour long session a week will most likely all fall in one approach or the other.

I hope this answered some questions you might have about tutoring. This upcoming year is rather unique, and you may have other questions. Feel free to post questions in comments and I’ll try to answer them for you.

Dr Lucia

25/03/2020

Students taking AP Physics Classes might want to watch YouTube video lectures posted by the College Board. Generally, the first week of videos are for topics taken OFF the upcoming 2020 tests. Later videos will be review for topics ON the test. However, AP Physics 1 started with rotational kinematics which is ON the test.

If you have questions about the test or physics let me know. I might know the answer, or I can try to find out.

The general link for science videos is:

ttps://www.youtube.com/user/advancedplacement/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=11

You can click the link for your course to find videos. As of noon central March 25, the available and scheduled videos for each course include:

AP 1:
Rotational Kinematics (On test)
Torque and equilibrium. (On test.)

AP 2:
6.1 The Wave Nature of Light, 6.2 Electromagnetic Waves (Not on test.)
6.4: Refraction. (Both scheduled.) (Not on test.)

AP C ME:
6.1 Simple Harmonic Motion, Springs, and Pendulums. (Two videos. One available, one scheduled.) (Not on test.)

AP C EM:
4.1: Magnetic Fields: Forces on Moving Charges in Magnetic Fields (Not on test.)
4.2 Magnetic Fields: Forces on Current Carrying Wires in Magnetic Fields (Not on test.)

20/03/2020

AP Physics Exams: Highlights from the college board announcement ( https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/news-changes/coronavirus-update )

1) AP Physics exams will take place but not in their ordinary locations. Dates aren't stated.
2) Students can opt to take 45 minute FREE RESPONSE versions at home. ( Presumably they can take free response tests also.)
3) The final units will not be tested.
4) The college board has indicated which units.

The remaining part of this post will be in the form of screenshots; the final ones will help you find the topics that will be covered on the test. For more information, visit the College Board's site.

12/03/2020

Tutoring in the Time of Coronavirus

Many schools are facing disruptions. Now might be the time to consider finding an online tutor quickly without getting gouged. Most my clients find me through Wyzant.com, so I thought I would explain how you might use Wyzant.com's search feature to find a suitable tutor at the right price.

I'll assume you are looking for a physics tutor.

1) Go to Wyzant.com, enter a general subject, for example "Physics". Click. Look to the right, find the "just go to my results" link. Click that. Today, this retured 1,349 tutors

2) Find tutors that meet your need. You now need to refine your search. I advise entering exactly two words in your search. This is because Wyzant’s search algorithm behaves weirdly if you enter more than two terms.

Suppose you want “high school AP physics” enter “high physics”. (Really!) That returns 320 results. Or enter “AP physics”, that returns 347 tutors. Entering “High school AP physics” returns 9,250 results, many of which match only “high school” with neither “AP” nor “Physics”.

3) Eliminate the 10% highest priced from your list.

This next bit of advice is tricky! After you do your search, write down the number of tutors returned for your search. Multiply that by 0.90; write that down. I wrote down 0.90*320 = 288. This is your “target” number of tutors. Find the hourly rate filter on the left sidebar. Lower the top price by sliding a little to the left. Click “search”. This now return fewer tutors. Slide until the number of tutors returned matches your target number. For “high physics” between $99 and $100/hour eliminated the 10% highest priced.

This is the list of reasonably priced tutors. Look through this list.

Why follow this advice?

You might wonder why you should eliminate the top 10% highest priced tutors in a particular category? Perhaps you think those are the best tutors. Perhaps some are.

As a tutor, I know a few things clients many not know. First: we tutors set our own prices and have different goals for number of hours we tutor. A tutor who wants to cover 40 hours a week will keep prices a little lower than a school teacher who takes 3 hours a week to supplement her full time job. Tutors who live in high price areas charge a lot for in person tutoring and don't lower their price online. They aren't necessarily better.

Second: I, like many tutors, sometimes jack my price up when I am busy for other reasons. So, for example, I’ve jacked my price up to $200/hour during Christmas break because I don’t want to be contacted by prospects! (I do keep up with my on going clients!) I am not worth $200/hour during Christmas. I just don’t want to answer emails from prospective clients.

Eliminating the top 5% or 10% highest price prevents you from overpaying. Unless you have a very specialized need, the very highest priced tutor is probably not what you are looking for.

Do I recommend screening out the least expensive tutors? No. They are often new to the site. Read their profiles and decide if you want to give them a try.

20/08/2019

Is your daughter or son studying for an AP Physics test?

Did you know there is another test they may need to take?

It’s the SAT Subject Test in Physics. Competitive colleges sometimes require students take three subject tests. But did you know AP Physics 1 covers only half the topics on this physics test? If you want to know what your student can do to prepare for the physics subject test, ask me.

13/08/2018

The fall '18 semester is upon us. I have experience helping many bright students at Benet Academy, Naperville North and Central, Lisle, Downers Grove North and other near by schools. I've successfully helped students with conceptual, honors, and all the variations of AP Physics and adapt to the class level.

My hours are M-F 9 am-5:30 pm, Sat 9:30am-5pm, Sun 1-5 pm. My current rates are $90/hour for individual students; I usually meet students at the Lisle Library near downtown Lisle.