ThatMathTutorGuy -

Aileen Tang

Questionable understanding of college level proof-based mathematics/very defensive.

I'm sure he's great for K-12 math, or college math classes where you are judged on getting the correct answer rather than proving concepts and math communication skills. Seems like most of his happy clients fall in this category. He's also patient and nice, as long as you don't provide him any honest feedback or criticism.

Had a class covering linear algebra, here were some yellow flags:
- Didn't know the term "shear" regarding linear maps/transformations, had to Google it during class
- Preached communication skills for mathematicians, but immediately got defensive and started criticizing my professor when I told him I got marked down for poor communication on my math writing
- Could not accurately gauge what I understood and what I didn't. Pasted, and started explaining the quadratic formula on the board (which was a waste of time). We are going over linear algebra -- how would I have made it this far without knowing the quadratic formula? He could not gauge my conceptual understanding and respond accordingly. A quick "do you know this?" or check for understanding question would have been more effective than going on a long aside about the quadratic formula which I cut off because it was wasting our time.
- Had a very obvious math error on my assignment— I graphed (0,1) instead of (1,0) — and he blamed my professor for being "unreasonable" in his feedback of the expectations when it was a pretty obvious error. This defensive response was not a good look.

"The grading is overly critical" is what he said about my professor's feedback and then didn't respond when I pointed out that the I literally graphed the wrong point.

I told him he took too long to come up with conceptual explanations, which to me reflected that he hasn't thought about the concept deeply in recent memory. I told him this, and he got super defensive and went on this long tangent about how "high level mathematicians who publish high level papers are user-unfriendly" and how "mathematicians have an excellent understanding but can't communicate their ideas" which was kind of weird to rant about being that he did not help me communicate my ideas better.

He did not provide me feedback that helped me communicate my ideas better — he said my writing was great and then when my professor had a higher standard than him (I got marked down for poor writing) and I told him that he got upset.

So here are my key takeaways.
Zachary does not have a growth mindset and is defensive — I told him his guidance was not enough to meet the bar in the class, and he immediately got defensive.

He also has poor client-facing skills. I gave him a chance to respond to the very obvious math error and apologize, and he ignored me. He was very defensive and rather than viewing my feedback as an opportunity to grow and figure out how to provide better service, he dismissed it.

Gomo Kim

My 8th grade twins have been tutored virtually by Dr. Zach in geometry. After their first tutoring session with him, my kids asked me to schedule more tutoring sessions with him. And my kids told me that they learn more in their tutoring sessions with Dr. Zach than they do in their geometry class at school! What was also impressive is that Dr. Zach is able to keep our kids engaged in geometry for over 2 hours. I would highly recommend him.

Fauzzie Stevens

As a direct result of being tutored by Professor Zachary Mitchell, who is a highly competent tutor with a deep understanding of the subject matter, and excellent communication skills, our son Joseph (10th grade) excels in both geometry and algebra.  If your child needs a math tutor, I'd highly recommend Professor Zachery Mitchell.

Joseph's review
"I started working with Professor Zach through google meet when my parents saw I was struggling to move forward in grade 9 Algebra, and I am grateful for the way he helped me to get through every topic of 9th grade math in only a short time of three months.
His simple and patient approach to teaching helped me to understand tougher subjects like systems of equations and functions, and also have fun with topics such as factoring and quadratics.
His lessons have also helped me feel at slight advantage now as I am going through 10th grade geometry. I scored 91 in Q1, 89 in Q2 and 92 in Q3.”

Jaime Nguyen

I just graduated as a Mathematics major and I can confidently say that a large part of my success was due to Zach's help. I used his services over a span of 6 months and he tutored me for 4 upper division math courses with topics including Linear Algebra and Complex Analysis. He was always very punctual and prepared for all our sessions and was accommodating with scheduling. Zach would reference the textbooks and explain concepts in such a way that I could understand how to do the problem and pick up on how to better find information for myself in the future. He is extremely knowledgeable and in the cases where he wasn't familiar with a specific concept, he was able to find it and teach it promptly. I went from nearly flunking out of my major to not getting below a B in any of the classes that Zach tutored me in. I'd give this tutoring service a 6 out of 5 stars if I could.