Math tutoring — elementary, high school & university

Who this is for

Math is the subject where confidence breaks first. A student misses a couple of weeks in grade 7, and by grade 9 the whole subject feels like a language they were never taught. Another student sails through until the first proof-heavy or abstract unit arrives and suddenly nothing works the way it used to. We see both, constantly, and neither is a sign that a student can't do math.

We work with elementary students who are still building number sense, high school students facing their first genuinely hard course, and university students who need to keep pace with a lecturer moving at full speed. Sessions are one-on-one, so the starting point is wherever the student actually is — not where a curriculum document says they should be.

What we cover

Math is universal, so we're not tied to one curriculum. We support students in BC, elsewhere in Canada, and internationally.

• Elementary: place value, fractions, decimals, ratios, early algebra, word problems, and number sense
• Middle school: integers, linear relations, exponents, surface area and volume, introductory statistics
• High school: algebra, functions, trigonometry, logarithms, sequences, probability, and introductory calculus
• University: differential and integral calculus, linear algebra, discrete math, and statistics
• BC high school courses: Foundations of Math 10, 11 and 12, Pre-Calculus 11 and 12, Calculus 12 and AP Calculus, plus provincial numeracy assessment preparation
• University courses: Calculus I–III, linear algebra, differential equations, discrete math and statistics

Where students commonly struggle

Three sticking points come up again and again. The first is fractions and negative numbers — unglamorous, but they quietly sabotage every algebra course that follows. The second is the jump from arithmetic to abstraction, where a letter stands in for a number and students lose their grip on what a question is even asking. The third is word problems: translating a paragraph of English into an equation is a separate skill from solving that equation, and it's rarely taught explicitly.

At the senior and university level, the struggle shifts. Students can usually execute a procedure but can't tell which procedure a question calls for. We work on recognising problem types, so exam questions stop feeling like ambushes.

How sessions work

Every student starts with a short diagnostic conversation and a few problems, so we can see how they think rather than just what they get wrong. From there we build a lesson plan around their actual gaps and their upcoming assessments. We track progress from session to session, revisit shaky topics deliberately rather than hoping they stick, and ramp into focused review before tests and finals.

In person and online

We meet students in person across Metro Vancouver, and online anywhere in the world over Zoom with a shared virtual whiteboard. Math is one of the best subjects for online tutoring — the whiteboard means both people can write, and the student leaves the session with a saved copy of everything worked through. Online scheduling is flexible across time zones.

Also see our physics tutoring, chemistry tutoring and worldwide online tutoring pages.

We also work with students who have ADHD or other learning challenges, breaking work into manageable steps and keeping sessions structured and calm.

Course-specific help

We have dedicated pages for the BC math courses families ask about most:

• Foundations of Mathematics and Pre-Calculus 10 tutoring
• Pre-Calculus 11 tutoring
• Pre-Calculus 12 tutoring