As we continue to highlight our exceptional tutors at Piqosity, we would like you to meet Charlie Ly. Charlie is committed to fostering academic excellence by being experienced and open-minded for his students. Discover his unique tutoring style, his approach to personalized sessions, and his passions beyond the classroom.

What subjects and classes do you help our students with?

I help students with all levels of high school math and science. I occasionally help younger students with math and science, but I usually just help with ISEE prep when I am not working with high schoolers. I work with students on other types of test prep as well, like the SAT or AP exams.

What is your educational background?

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a minor in Chemistry from University of Houston. After graduating, I became a research assistant for MD Anderson Cancer Center as well as UTHealth Science Center of Houston. I started tutoring for General Academic around the same time, and have been working as one ever since. Currently I am also teaching math as a public school teacher with HISD, which I have been doing for almost 7 years.

What is your favorite subject to tutor?

Though my degree is in science, I prefer to tutor students in math. To me, it is because Biology is just applied Chemistry, Chemistry is applied Physics, and Physics is just applied math that happens to fit our understanding of the world. Helping students develop their problem solving skills, why specific formulas work, and how math can be used to model nearly every situation is extremely rewarding.

For the younger students taking IPC and Algebra, I like to question them on where they have seen a parabola. Since many of my students play sports or play video games, they’re able to make the connection pretty quickly. Having students recognize the value of education as more than busywork is one of the reasons I originally started teaching.

What does a typical test tutoring session with you look like?

  • The initial 5-10 minutes of the session is generally used to review practice problems or concepts the student may still have trouble with.
  • After reviewing lingering questions, we then move into working through practice test sections.
  • For the SAT math sections, I try to have my students list out relevant concepts that may be used in the solving process before describing the actual steps that need to be taken. Having students understand the relationship between different topics allows them to recognize patterns in how the SAT presents specific test questions, and determine different methods of solving.
  • One common question type that appears on the SAT asks students to determine the value of a constant that would result in a quadratic with exactly one solution. From this description, I have students describe what a solution of a quadratic means. If they are able to recognize that a solution is an x intercept, this may allow them to realize that graphing using desmos is a viable way to solve.
  • From there, we are able to cover the manual method needed to find the constant along with a method to solve using Desmos.
  • For later questions involving roots/zeros/solutions, the student now has a general idea of how to approach the problem. I then try to select questions related to what we worked to gauge whether my student has been able to apply the solving process to a related topic. We then repeat the process for the next topics.
  • Near the end of the session, we give a brief summary of content covered before assigning practice problems for our next meeting.

What does a typical subject prep tutoring session with you look like?

Because it is identical to my process for test prep, let me give an example of a subject prep session I recently had:

A student of mine needed to cover logarithmic properties and solving exponential and log equations. Their biggest difficulty in class was that they “understand the materials but the questions that appear on are test are always application based.” Since my student was in an honors class, I operated under the assumption that application of current topics along with ANY prior knowledge are fair game for testing. I was able to prepare additional examples which required factoring a log expression that incorporated concepts we had covered earlier in the year. To my student’s surprise, these exact questions appeared on their test.

Depending on the student’s needs, I always cater the tools and understanding they need to succeed. Many times even if a student is confident in their abilities up to a certain point, remediation is always key to holistic understanding. Just like with test prep, circling back to previous topics can benefit a student with their later struggles.

What’s your typical approach with working on executive functioning with students?

I work with several younger students on organizational skills. This applies to time management, keeping track of assignments, and proper note taking skills.

For note taking, I try to demonstrate how the process shouldn’t just be viewed as busywork. I model the notetaking process, how to summarize key points while avoiding a wall of text, how proper organization of sections can allow for easier recall, and how to study for application based questions.

In one session, we are basically able to predict all of the review questions after the notetaking process and before looking at the review questions.

How do you view your role as a tutor?

I view myself as both a teacher and a mentor, though I have more experience on the teaching side. Most of the sessions tend to focus on solidifying my students’ understanding of test topics/current class materials, or pre-teaching an upcoming concept.

However, being a good teacher means fostering growth with your students beyond academics. Helping each student grow with the confidence of a well-rounded and prepared individual is equally rewarding to everyone involved. So it is in this way that I act as a mentor, due to it being a necessary part of my success as a tutor in general.

Tell me about one of your favorite sessions you’ve had.

I have an elementary school student working his way through an extracurricular math program at the moment. Recently he had an assignment that included solving absolute value equations involving 1 or more absolute values within the equation.

After working through some of the problems, he would continuously ask “why” we solve equations using a particular process, being curious about the connective process rather than just how to get the end result. He was also able to discover what an extraneous solution was without ever hearing the explanation.

It was very surprising to see that level of number sense and math proficiency at his age, and we were able to build upon his quick understanding very well.

What is your favorite part of being a tutor?

Supporting students in the learning process has always motivated me in my teachings. I understand that all students learn in different ways, and being able to personally cater to the most successful paths for each is very rewarding for me, and beneficial to them.

It is especially cool to experience students reaching “AHA” moments, where a concept clicks. Fostering a love of learning drives me to do what I do, and these moments are just glimpses of the rewarding emotions that anyone can experience through a pursuit of higher learning!

Outside of tutoring for us, what do you like to do for fun?

I tend to play team based competitive games like DotA2, League of Legends, or Monster Hunter. Being able to coordinate with a team to outplay your opponents, or win because of individual skill is incredibly satisfying. Just be sure to mute all chats in the settings to have the best, uninterrupted time.

I also play RPG titles like Baldur’s Gate, Pathfinder series, or The Witcher for their stories and to appreciate the unique art & animation styles.

If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?

My 6th grade science teacher, Ms. Simmons. She helped foster my interest in Biology and education, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. She was a wonderful teacher whose passions inspired me through earning my degree in college.

Online Tutoring with Piqosity

Piqosity’s subject and test prep tutors provide the structured support to accommodate your student wherever they need to be. We help our students with a wide range of materials, ranging from 1st through 12th grade subject prep, and standardized exams like the ISEE and SAT. To get the ball rolling, give us a call at +1-888-484-3141 or schedule a free consultation.