AP & honors STEM · One to one
Built to change how your student thinks. The grade is what shows first.
I built this system over three thousand recorded hours, and I run every session of it. It works on the models your student uses to think: finds the one behind the mistake and rebuilds it, on their own coursework, one to one. Students who do the work come out with the grade — and with a way of thinking they keep.
Matt Starolis — UT Austin ECE · Former director at Microsoft
3,000+ recorded one-to-one hours
Meet Matt
Physics 1 · Kinematics
How the week works
The subject is the vehicle. The student is the work.
Every session is a session on how your student thinks. Two things move that: master a concept before moving past it, and work one to one, so the work is built for the student in front of me. I do both. Four times out of six is not mastered. Near automatic is.
Before
Your student's coursework arrives before the session — the problem set, the quiz that went sideways — and the session is built on it.
Together
I ask far more questions than I answer. A right answer with no why is the gap the exam finds.
That evening
A worked guide to your student, a written report to you — both written against the transcript, not from memory.
Between sessions
One set per session: the same idea with the shape changed, never the same problem with new numbers. What comes back is graded, every problem.
Next time
The transcript gets a second read, and that review is what I prepare the next session from.
One real summary, sent the same night — names changed, dates removed
Hi Dana and Nate,
A quick recap of tonight’s session.
What went well
- Vince showed strong number sense throughout the session. On one sigma-notation problem, he bypassed the standard algebra and came up with his own mental shortcut immediately — fast and correct.
Looking ahead
- Wednesday — Unit 10 test
Excerpt from the family's report.
An A in the course. Ownership of the work.
Vince's first AP Precalculus test came back a C-minus. What alarmed his mother was not the grade. It was the distance between the grade and the kid she knew.
At the end of the year his teacher interviewed every student across the whole course and exempted from the final only those who showed mastery of everything raised. Vince walked in, answered everything, and walked out exempt, with an A in the class.
The following year he began sending his own materials before sessions, as he continued into calculus and chemistry — running the system himself. He wants to be an engineer. His parents have asked about his younger brother.
AP Precalculus, 2025–26 · name changed
An individual experience from Matt's one-to-one work; outcomes vary.
Another family, looking ahead to college
“We feel that he is well prepared to take on the next set of challenges as he heads to Purdue. Matt's impact was impressive on both an intellectual and an emotional level—the latter being even more impressive. We are extremely appreciative.”
Who this is for
- A capable student in AP or honors coursework whose grade should be higher. AP & honors STEM tutoring
- A student headed for engineering, medicine, or another demanding path, who needs the thinking to hold when the load gets heavy. How the work is built
- A bright student whose ability and grades tell two different stories — the thinking problem in its purest form. 2e & gifted tutoring
What this asks of your student, and of you
There is no secret. It's smart work.
I prepare the sessions, explain the ideas, build the practice, and grade what comes back. Your student brings the class materials, works through the practice, and sends back what they finish. You support the follow-through at home.
Think of a personal trainer. You hire one for the roadmap, the knowledge, and someone in your corner — not to do the work for you, and not to make you do it. I am not an enforcer, and I am not your student's parent. If the end of our session is the end of your student's work for the week, the session will still help. It will not get them a five.
Your student does not have to arrive confident. The one thing I cannot supply is the wanting. A course the parents chose and the student did not is a hard year for everyone, and I will say so on the fit call, not in March.
Let's talk about what comes next for your student.
Engagements start at $800 every four weeks. One 50-minute session each week, with preparation, the evening guide and parent report, and one practice set per session, graded when your student returns it.
A twice-weekly cadence is available; the scope and exact fee are agreed before you begin.
Taking a few more students for fall 2026 · No contract or minimum term