High School Math Tutoring at Study Hut

You’ve landed at Study Hut Tutoring, the best place in the South Bay for One-on-One high school math tutoring. We specialize in focused private tutoring sessions where we identify the unique strengths and weaknesses that each student possesses and use our tried and tested tutoring and studying methods to lead every student to a victory in math class. We’ve had success in The South Bay for over a decade

Why Is Math So Hard? 

High school math presents a unique challenge to high school students for two reasons. Firstly, Math is abstract, with no obvious way to visualize it. It cannot be “seen” the way that a chemical reaction can be seen or a historical event can be imagined.

Secondly, Math courses are cumulative in a way that other courses are not. If an English student struggles with Shakespeare, she can still do well with a book by Faulkner. If a History student fails the Middle East geography quiz, he can still understand American history at an A-level. Not so in Math. PEMDAS (the order of operations) becomes factoring in Algebra 1, which becomes rationalization in Algebra 2, which becomes imaginary polynomial solutions in Precalculus, and so forth for many fundamental Math concepts. 

And, of course, the third confounding factor to a solid understanding of math is the role of arithmetic. Modern math educators have observed the shift away from arithmetical knowledge and toward calculator-based skills. This shift is widely accepted in the math community, with future mathematicians being those who can set up problems for supercomputers to solve, as opposed to the mathematicians of the past, who got us to the moon by making every calculation by hand. 

What Does this Mean to a High School Math student? 

The plus side is that calculators can feel familiar to today’s kids, who are already iPhone experts. The downside is that they remove a very tangible skill — multiplying “by hand” — and bury it in TI-84 Option menus. In short, trends toward computers have made Math even more difficult to visualize and manipulate.

This is why it is vitally important, when selecting a high school Math tutor, to choose one who understands the three crucial elements above. This tutor must be calculator-proficient, must be ready to fill in gaps in knowledge from Pre-Algebra to Calc BC, and must excel at making Math tangible and relatable. We’re proud to say that Study Hut seeks out these High School Math tutors for your kids. Sign up for a free assessment today!