Math Tutoring Center

Out of the four different places that students seek help for schoolwork, I must admit that I was least impressed with this center. Although I know that the atmosphere is not one of the criteria posted that I would be evaluating, it’s hard to completely ignore the drabness of the room, and personally I felt very uninspired to work upon entering the room.

            On a brighter note, there always seemed to be a good amount of tutors there that could help the students, there were never students left without help. When a student needed help they were aided quite quickly.

            The subjects that they go over were math from simple algebra to complex calculus, and all done quite thoroughly as well. They cover a broad spectrum.

Despite there being more students than tutors most of the time, and not much one on one time, the students are still given a lot of help so I didn’t think that there was much of an issue with that.

This center has great hours, going from 8 am to 8 pm on Monday to Thursday, 8 am to 3 pm on Friday, and 1 pm to 6 pm on Sunday. Students have loads of opportunities to get aid in the academics from highly certified tutors.

            Lastly, we looked at the tutors themselves. I didn’t need to be tutored at this time in math so I asked a student taking a math course how she thought of the center and the tutors themselves. Juanita Baretto had nothing but god things to say stating, “every time I go in there confused and needing help, I always leave completely understanding the concepts that had me confused upon entering. There is no doubt that they help students exponentially.

I would have to give this tutoring center a high rating because even though I thought the atmosphere had low appeal, the tutors seem to make up for it ten-fold.

Biology Tutoring Center

In the Physical Sciences buildings, there can be found a free Biology tutoring center for a few general biology courses. It is there to aid students with the understanding of the courses, and will help explain concepts that can be tough to understand. With science being proven to have the lowest GPA’s in college, it comes to no surprise that students taking these classes would seek out help, and help they find when they enter this room.

         There can be a low amount of tutors to students ratio, but that being said, there are computers in the room that give you exercises to practice and give extra explanations to concepts, so the tutors can give more time to students, keeping other students occupied.

         As stated previously, the tutors go over a broad range of general biology courses, going into general genetics as well.

         Because of the help the computers give, each student when they need extra help apart from those is now given quite a bit of one on one time, and group aid is also encouraged because teaching someone else a concept solidifies the concept in ones mind.

The hours for this room happen to be the same as the math tutoring center that was already listed, giving students plenty of time to sneak in a visit for extra help.

The tutors themselves are extremely bright, not once have I not been able to get a question answered or a concept explained to be.

         All in all this center was very impressive and set up very nicely, I recommend any who is struggling in Bio or just wants a little bit if help to head on down there immediately. 

Intercollegiate Athletics Building

The ICA is building designed for academics for athletes, so naturally tutoring comes as a part of this design. There is a room that during certain hours of the week houses math tutors to help with all that material, and on top of that the ICA is supplied with tutors for many different subjects that help students individually. 

There tends to never be an issue having a tutor on hand to help a student in general, but an athlete can also to have personal lessons, so the amount of tutors is always an adequate number.

What’s great about getting tutored at the ICA is that they can cover almost every subject, even more than just a general overview; they have tutors that know more complex subject material.

Since you can book one on one time, having individual time with a tutor is never really an issue, although if you don’t book time and just go to the tutoring room, it can at times get a little crowded, but it never really an issue.

The hours that the tutors work are the hours that the study area in the ICA is open which is 8 am to 9 pm Monday to Thursday, 8 am to 5 pm on Friday, closed Saturday, and open from 2 pm to 9 pm on Sundays. This shows a lot of opportunities for athletes with busy schedules to be able to come in and get tutored at many different hours of the day.            

Lastly I took notice of the tutors themselves. Many of them are very helpful and enthusiastic with the subject material they are covering. They got their students really involved in the work and have them work hard for the hour or so that they work together. I asked one of the athletes, Miranda Tornatore, how the tutoring experience was for her? She responded, “The tutors are great, really helpful and know what they are talking about. It’s great to have the opportunity to work with them when needed.” It shows that the athletes really appreciate the tutoring, and it seems like it’s a pretty good system they have at the ICA. Unfortunately for non-athletes this resource is not available to them, but that is why they have the other public tutoring centers on campus that are always available to help students when needed.

Chemistry Tutoring Center

In my experience, chemistry may honestly be the hardest subject to grasp and completely understand the concepts learnt. That is why there is a room in the physical sciences buildings completely dedicated to helping students have full comprehension of what they are learning in chemistry.

PSH 137- Chemistry tutoring center. This is where lab TA's have their office hours and any one of them is willing to sit with students and help them understand concepts. There are many tables to work at, as well as a computer lab in the back that has programs to help with chemistry work.

There are always many TA’s in the room willing to help any students who need help, as well as two tutors at the front desk who help explain questions as well. That being said, typically there is probably three students to one tutor ratio.

This tutoring center only focuses on chemistry but the TA’s will work with students from general chemistry all the way to the complex concepts of organic chemistry.

            As said earlier, there isn’t normally one on one time; usually there will be three students to one teacher. The good thing about that though is that group work in this room is really encouraged, students help each other work together to figure out problems as well.

            This room is open every business day from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm. That gives students the enough opportunity to go during the day but it would have been better to have it open during the weekend for students who have their weekday schedules full.

            The tutors themselves usually tend to be the TA’s who teach the chemistry labs, therefor they are very informed with the subject material and know where the students are in the course. From my experience they all seem to be very nice and will help any student that seeks aid in chemistry.