About Expert Tutor

[The following is taken from an email dated 12/2/10; the parent of one of my clients sent this email
to another parent about my work with her daughter. The student in this email raised her grade from
a D- on her last exam to an 80% on the mid-term. I tutored her sister as well. Eventually, E. no
longer needed my help since she was able to read the book herself. I will help her next year if need
be.

Frank Russo: References

Dear Mr. W:
Frank asked me to write you about our experience with his tutoring. My daughter E. is a junior
at Lowell High School. She is very bright and motivated as well as being a dedicated student. In
spite of this, she was struggling in her Advanced Algebra class. Frank has been working with
her for a couple of months now and it has made a huge difference. She is now ahead of the
class, and is stress-free about math.
I highly recommend Frank as a tutor. We have tried a few different tutors prior to this, but
were never able to find someone who was both reliable and able to relate on a personal level.
Frank is reliable, punctual and gets along very well with E. He reviews the material to spend
time figuring out what to cover. He encourages E. to think about how the concepts are used in
real life and shows her how to use the textbook to teach herself at those times when the class
lecture has been unclear. In short, Frank is an amazing tutor!
I hope this is helpful to you. I know from personal experience as a parent how difficult it can be
to find the right tutor but it is certainly a great relief to us to have Frank helping out. Please
feel free to call if you would like more information. A. N.

[The following is a recommendation email from one of my students attending City College of San
Francisco. He had just started college and was taking a very difficult version of an entry-level
Astronomy course. He was afraid of failing after getting a D on the first exam, so we met once per
week for most of the course. He got an A on the final and an A for the course and sent me this letter
of recommendation dated 1/6/11.]

Frank is an extremely useful tutor, because he has such a strong background in math and
science. I took an introductory astronomy course, that required knowledge from various
disciplines of math and science. Frank was able to explain these complicated concepts in a clear
and concise manner. He was actually more useful than my own teacher! What makes Frank a
great tutor is his love for these subjects. He makes them manageable, and less intimidating.
Frank has flexible hours, is committed to you and your progress, and provides great suggestions
for any obstacles you are facing. He is well worth the cost!! G.T.

I've had great results with my students. Teaching may not be a quantifiable
art, nonetheless, excellent teachers typically get excellent results. I love to
teach and see my students excel. My enthusiasm helps them to appreciate
the wonder of math and science. You don't have to be miserable while
learning tough subjects. You may speak with the people below who made
the recommendations; I have many more references if needed.

I highly recommend Frank as a tutor and an educator because he gets results in addition to
being a great teacher. My son, M. scored in the 14th percentile on the Math portion of the SSAT.
After working with Frank for about 6 weeks, with one intensive week before the exam, M.'s score
jumped to the 30th percentile enabling us to have a strong overall SSAT score for the ABC
program. He now has a better opportunity to attend great high schools. In addition, M.'s
negative attitude about Math has gradually improved, and his work in Algebra at school has
significantly improved. Glad we found Frank before M.'s last SSAT exam. It's great to have a
consistent and reliable educator for my son. L.G.

[One of my adult students, Eric, just passed the Math portion of the TEAS exam for nursing. He
hadn't done Math in many years and was struggling when preparing for the exam. We only met about
8 times, but it made a big difference. Eric would be happy to talk to a prospective student who is
considering my services. Here is what he wrote me as a recommendation on 9/15/11:]

What makes Frank such a successful tutor is his ability to quickly identify your weak areas and
focus in on ways of improving your critical thinking to help better analyze problems. He's
patient, professional and caters to all ages and styles of students. I would not have succeeded in
getting to where I am today in my nursing program without his fantastic services. Anyone can
hire a tutor but not every tutor is the same. Frank's broad depth of knowledge in Math and
Science allows him to easily integrate important material related to the subject and bring it into
a new light for the student to easily comprehend. Eric M.

[The mother of one of my 8th grade students sent me this email after her son had just scored well enough on
the SSAT to qualify for the ABC program. My student went on to attend an excellent private school (Bay). Here
is the recommendation she wrote on 2/23/11:]

I am writing to acknowledge Mr. Frank Russo is a great tutor in Math, English and many more
subjects. My daughter had attended Math tutoring classes since she was a third grader. She
had never had any problems in Math until she was in the middle of sixth grade. She had
problems doing homework and exams. I decided to get another Math tutor. Mr. Russo gave me
an impression that he is a very polite and well-educated person.
I can see a huge difference between her previous tutor and Mr. Russo. When she went to her
previous tutoring classes, she just learned and kept memorizing the math equations. She didn't
understand completely why she needed to do it this way. Mr. Russo always asks her why she
needs to do this or that and makes sure she completely understands how to do and solve the
math problems. He also tells her there are different ways to solve Math problems which my
daughter never learned from her previous tutoring classes and school. It requires a lot of
critical thinking and my daughter starts understanding so that she can solve the Math problems
not just in one way. Mr. Russo also teaches my daughter how to read and take the Math exams.
My daughter's first quarter Math grade is 99%. She just missed 1 point due to her carelessness;
otherwise, she would get 100%. When time is available he also gives some SSAT exams to my
daughter to practice. He really spends time to teach my daughter and makes sure she
completely understands. W. K.

[The father of one of my 7th grade students writes about his daughter in Oct. 2011. Emily had just received an A
in Math at a private school. I've been teaching Emily since July of 2011. At the end of Dec. in her 2nd quarter at
school, she received A's in all her subjects. We spend a lot of time building her vocabulary for the SSAT.]

[One of my pre-med students, Esther, wrote this reference on 1/2/12:]

I hightly recommend Frank, because: 1) I enjoyed working with him and learned a great deal; 2)
I did well on my exams; 3) He charged a very fair price; 4) He was flexible because he allowed
me to change my schedule and ask last-minute questions when needed; and 5) He made learning
the material bearable which sometimes can be the most important aspect of having a tutor.
I am a student at a large university in San Francisco; I am in the process of completing my
pre-med requirements. Frank helped me with Statistics and Physics in the fall semester of 2011.
We worked together through every homework and chapter assigned by my teachers. I had a
very difficult first semester course load and was concerned that my grades in Statistics and
Physics would pull down my GPA. I was also taking a challenging Biology course. With Frank's
help I got a B in Physics and a B+ in Statistics. I also learned strategies for studying and reading
the text that helped me become a better student in science.
I enjoyed working with Frank because he genuinely enjoys the subject matter (which I find hard
to believe sometimes!), and he also has a sense of humor about the material. I felt like Frank was
"in my corner". He helped me keep a positive outlook while commiserating on the reality of
preparing for medical school in the US. He was results-oriented and tried to direct the review of
subject matter toward answering questions on the exam, but at the same time he really cared
about me understanding the concepts...not just trying to apply formulas by memory. He
encouraged me to work on my own, and was not interested in making a lot of money from my
studies. During test reviews he lowered his rate so that we would have enough time to do very
long concept and problem reviews. He reviewed test-taking strategies that helped me improve
my scores. Frank was great. Sincerely, Esther

[ On 9/14/12, the father of a 7th grade student diagnosed with ADHD, whom I had home-schooled from
September 2011 to May 2012, wrote this unedited email regarding his son's Math STAR score for 2012:

Hi Frank: We received the STAR scores today. T. scored proficient in math. We are thrilled. In
one year, he went from Below Basic to Proficient. The categories are Far Below Basic, Below
Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Congratulations, M. S.

[On 11/8/12, the parent of a child who I had tutored for one evening (1-1/4 hrs) in preparation for a
re-take of the Math SAT, wrote me about his daughter's recent SAT Math score after we had worked
together that one evening. She had scored in the upper 500s before our review; her most recent score
was in the mid-600s. Please note that the parent is himself a teacher in the San Francisco Unified
School District. Here is his unedited email:]

Just wanted to thank you for your one hour working on SAT prep in geometry with my daughter
A. Her math score improved by 70 points!!! Feel free to use this for marketing purposes. Again,
thanks, I.