Tutor in San Diego, CA 92130
San Diego, CA 92130
CURRENTLY ENROLLING
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Subjects: Chemistry Lessons, Vocabulary Lessons, Grammar Lessons, Reading Lessons, English Lessons, Spelling Lessons, Elementary Math Lessons, and Elementary (K-6th) Lessons
Travel policy: Will travel within 10 miles of San Diego, CA 92130
Wyzant Tutor Rating: 5 of 5 (236 ratings total)
Chem Tutoring with Experienced, Patient Prof!
I have a PhD in chemistry from UT-Austin (graduated 2010) and a B.S in Biochemistry (graduated 2005) from the University of California Riverside. Since Fall 2011, I have been teaching chemistry classes at De Anza College and Mission College. I also taught organic chemistry as a chemistry lecturer at UT Austin 2010 – 2011. As a graduate student, I worked extensively as a teaching assistant at UT for various chemistry classes including general chemistry, organic chemistry and labs. For the past…
Testimonials
Mai T. from Santa Clara, CA Vanessa tutored me in organic chemistry during two of the three quarters at Santa Clara University of summer 2011. During the first quarter when I hadn't found Vanessa yet, organic chemistry was extremely difficult for me. The pace of the summer class was simply too fast and too difficult for me. I was scoring consistently below average on each test and was even on the verge of dropping the summer course. However, when I found Vanessa, ochem finally became much easier to understand and grasp. Since Vanessa has a PhD in ochem and even taught ochem as a professor at University of Texas, she was able to explain and teach each concept I was having trouble in with the perfect and necessary knowledge and expertise of a great college professor. Tutoring with Vanessa was essentially like extended office hours with the professor. Her college teaching experience also gave me great hints and heads ups of the kinds of questions the ochem professors would most likely test on, thus giving me the advantage of knowing which concepts I should study more. Vanessa also was always really great on generating problems/questions off the top of her head when I requested we go over a certain concept that I needed more practice in. And last but not least, Vanessa was a great friend who always had faith that I could do well. Her unlimited encouragement and support definitely helped pull me through the difficult ochem summer. If my praise of Vanessa in words were not enough, maybe my grade progress throughout the quarters will prove how much I improved with Vanessa's tutoring help: 1st quarter: C+ without Vanessa, 2nd quarter: B with Vanessa, and 3rd quarter: A- with Vanessa. I would have definitely not been able to improve so much without her very helpful tutoring. To conclude, Vanessa is hands down one of the best and most supportive tutors you could ever have. I highly recommend her for private tutoring in any subject she offers to tutor in, especially in organic chemistry. Best of luck in all of your future endeavors, Vanessa!
Janice R. from Saratoga, CA Vanessa is obviously very knowledgeable. She has a really positive attitude which is important with a teenage girl. She has been very friendly and flexible - but she does get down to work and keeps my daughter focused and on task. Vanessa has a very interactive style. A good role model.
Lily B. from San Jose, CA Vanessa has been working with our 3rd grader for two months now on a special program to address and mostly correct a learning disability. She has quite literally changed the life of our daughter and, by extension, the lives of our whole family. Her tutoring entails consecutive sessions, five days a week, for 2-4 hours a day. It's intense, and it was understandably difficult to keep my 8 year-old engaged initially. But Vanessa, through her intelligence, creativity, and energy, found ways to keep my daughter's interest and energy up through the sessions and it wasn't long before she was urging Vanessa into the classroom we set up, and whining on the days when Vanessa wasn't coming to do sessions with her. I chose Vanessa because the program I had found through extensive research that looked to be the most promising and potentially effective was also the most complex and complicated. I was sold on her being the one for the job since she is a Ph.D at such a young age and in such a complex field. I knew I needed someone high-energy, but also someone who could quickly ramp up to learn this program. Vanessa has proven to be all that and more. She's built my daughter's confidence, writing, listening, and higher order thinking skills, and we've seen her school work improve dramatically. Most importantly to us, our family life is happier because we all have tools and skills to support our daughter's new development and skills and we just don't have the difficulties we've had in the past because she was unable to listen to us. In addition to all this, Vanessa is a joy to work with for our daughter and our family. We have all grown fond of her because she's fun, sweet-natured, and helpful in many ways big and small. Even our 3 year-old adores her and comes running to greet her when she arrives! I truly can't recommend Vanessa highly enough. She's had a huge positive impact on my daughter's development and our family's happiness.
Kevin P. from Palo Alto, CA Vanessa tutored our daughter in Chemistry last year. She was amazing. She was able to work around our daughter's schedule and spent as much time with her as needed listening carefully and making sure she understood the material. She was able to explain the material she had missed in class (our daughter missed classes due to a serious accident she was involved in) and our daughter felt well prepared for all the quizzes and exams. She also helped her complete lab reports and made sure she understood the requirements. She made such amazing progress (had started out with C's and improved to A's) in Chemistry that she was one of a few students in her class to receive a special science award at her high school. We had used a Chemistry tutor (NOT associated with WyzAnt) with our oldest daughter and she did not make near the progress our daughter did with Vanessa. We highly recommend Vanessa for Chemistry.
Preeti P. from Saratoga, CA Vanessa was a godsend to my daughter. She had an Organic Chemistry teacher that did not teach. Vanessa was patient, understanding and methodical in teaching this very difficult subject to my daughter. Her in depth knowledge of the subject and mastery of its intricacies increased the understanding my daughter had of this subject. My daughter earned an A in this class. What we loved most about Vanessa was that she tailors her tutoring to appeal to the learning style of her student. She supplemented the tutoring sessions with problems from various other textbooks and gave mock tests prior to the actual tests. I have never met a tutor who is as thorough and vested in teaching her student. The reason I picked Vanessa as a tutor for my daughter was because she is a teacher who currently teaches Organic Chemistry and therefore is current in how the subject is taught at universities. I highly recommend Vanessa as she is the best tutor my daughter has ever had.
Mike B. from Santa Clara, CA I wholeheartedly recommend Vanessa P. as a science tutor! Our daughter is a university student who was struggling with Organic Chemistry in her junior year. Our daughter connected with Vanessa at the very first session saying she was easy to learn from, professional, cared so much about her success, quickly assessed her needs and followed her progress weekly throughout the entire quarter. Being a teacher herself, she has unique insight into other professor's teaching styles and requirements and provided our daughter with specific tips and advice that helped her in her approach to studying and learning O Chem. Vanessa was punctual, sincere in her efforts and truly cared for her success. She went above and beyond by meeting more than once a week for tutoring during midterms and finals. She wrote weekly summaries of our daughter's progress as well as suggestions and additional practice problems for her to prepare before each exam. I highly recommend Vanessa P as does our daughter. You will be lucky to get her!
Sarah M. from Santa Clara, CA I just finished my last quarter of organic chemistry at Santa Clara University and I struggled through Chem 31 & 32. I got in contact with Vanessa before my first midterm in Chem 33 and it was a huge help. I saw her weekly for the rest of the quarter and I think I understand more organic chemistry this quarter just from meeting with her than I had in 31 & 32 combined. She is always super patient even if I think I'm asking a dumb question and explains everything clearly and connected a lot of dots for me. Also very flexible and easy to contact!
Rohini A. from San Jose, CA Vanessa was a really helpful tutor. She helped me through the second portion of organic chemistry and I saw a steady increase in my grades. Not only did she explain the concepts in a way that made sense, she also went over test-taking strategies and went over commonly asked exam questions. I would highly recommend Vanessa to anyone who is struggling in organic chemistry!
Lauren D. from Saratoga, CA Vanessa P. is very knowledgeable and explains tough concepts with patience. Moreover, she is easy to reach and responds quickly.
Gurjot S. from San Jose, CA I actually had the pleasure of being in one of Vanessa P.'s General Chemistry courses when she was a professor at De Anza College, and I absolutely loved her way of teaching! After this course, I went into Chemistry 1B and was struggling a bit because I was not learning the material well enough via the method of teaching my professor used. Therefore, I sought a tutor to help me with Chemistry 1B material and I was really glad when I came across Vanessa's profile on WyzAnt! I contacted her immediately because I knew I would benefit from her style of teaching/tutoring, and I was not disappointed. She met with me after my classes at De Anza and we went over lecture material from that day. Whenever a midterm approached, she would go over practice exams and questions with me until I felt confident. She also supplemented me with more material and resources to practice more apart from what was given by my professor. My grades improved in Chem 1B and I was definitely more prepared for Chemistry 1C the following quarter. A few months later I transferred to UCSD and began Organic Chemistry. I struggled a lot with Organic Chemistry and in Organic Chemistry 1C realized I once again should get the help of a tutor to get a better understanding of the subject. When I went on WyzAnt to search for tutors in San Diego, my first search result showed Vanessa's P.'s account once again! I was SO delighted to find out that Vanessa had also relocated to San Diego! I immediately got in contact with her again and we began meeting for Organic Chemistry tutoring asap. I am so thankful that she was in San Diego because my grades in Organic Chemistry went from C's to a B+ in just a few weeks of meeting. I would review organic chemistry lectures and meet Vanessa at times that were always so convenient for me. We would go over any questions I had on the material I had covered in my course lecture. I took this course in the summer so it went by extremely fast (5 weeks) and it seemed like I always had a midterm around the corner, but Vanessa was always prepared to help me do my best on each midterm. We went over practice exams and specific material until I felt confident. She also, once again, provided me with several practice questions based on my professor's style of exam questions that served as more mock questions. She was always willing to help me in any way she could at any time during the day before my exam if I had any last minute questions. I really appreciated all her efforts in tutoring me and I definitely saw a positive outcome after meeting her for both of the classes I was tutored in. I cannot stress enough how AMAZING of an Organic Chemistry/General Chemistry tutor she is! I would definitely recommend Vanessa P.!