Award-Winning Calculus Tutors

Varsity Tutors pairs you or your student with the best Calculus tutor that can help with course material or Calculus exam preparation. Since you likely found us while looking for a calculus tutor, it is likely that you already understand how difficult calculus can be when you're attempting to struggle through your homework and study guides alone. Taking advantage of personal calculus tutoring can be the tool you need to stop struggling and even help you begin to enjoy your coursework. If you're interested, stop searching for "calculus tutors near me" and continue reading for more information about how calculus tutors can help you.

What's it like to work with a Calculus tutor?

As nice as the idea of local "calculus tutors near me" might be, it is simply a reality that not all cities will have an instructor nearby who is qualified to teach you the subject. If you live in a smaller community or you have limited availability, it might make sense to look further to find the help you need. Luckily, Varsity Tutors has you covered. We can connect you with an online tutor who suits your particular academic and scheduling needs. Our online learning platform allows you to meet with your tutor after school or in between classes at your university. If weekends are filled with extracurricular activities such as clubs or sports, we'll find a tutor who can meet with you during weekday evenings. If you are busy during the week, your tutor can plan your tutoring sessions for the weekend. Since you'll be meeting online, you get flexibility too. You just need an Internet connection to meet with your tutor from anywhere. This allows you to receive face-to-face tutoring in the school library, while hanging out at your favorite coffee shop, or even at home in your favorite pajamas. Using our Live Learning Platform, there is no reason why you can't get started today. Give the Educational Consultants at Varsity Tutors a call and let us help you connect to a calculus tutor today.

How can working with a knowledgeable calculus tutor help me?

Even in schools with a great reputation and small class sizes, it is difficult for you to get the kind of one-on-one instruction that comes from working with a private calculus tutor. During calculus tutoring sessions, your instructor has an opportunity to get to know your personality and learning tendencies. This allows the instructor to clearly assess your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to your calculus skills and coursework. Calculus tutors are also able to identify what your dominant learning style might be, which allows your calculus tutoring sessions to be tailored to meet your exact needs. If you are typically an auditory learner, calculus tutors may choose to structure your sessions around a lecture format. If you learn best by seeing examples and working through problems, calculus tutoring sessions can consist of lots of hands-on practice so you are able to see the relevant skills in action and then repeat them. This kind of personalized instruction allows your calculus tutor to simplify information in a way that can best benefit you and can help you retain the knowledge and skills you've been working on. Utilizing calculus tutoring also allows for immediate feedback, which can help you gain confidence as you practice the different types of topics covered in a Calculus course.

What exactly is calculus?

Calculus is the mathematical study of change and motion, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. It combines algebra, geometry, and trigonometry and continues further. It has two major branches: differential calculus and integral calculus. Differential calculus deals with instantaneous rates of change and slopes of curves. Integral calculus focuses on the accumulation of quantities and the areas under and between curves. Working with a calculus tutor can help you understand how these two branches are related to each other. Modern calculus has been used since it was developed in the late 17th century by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, but elements of it appeared in ancient Greece, then in China and the Middle East, and still later again in medieval Europe and in India. Today, calculus has applications in science, engineering, and economics.

If any of what you just read was confusing or if the subject of calculus is something you enjoy and want to understand better, working with a calculus tutor will likely be of great benefit to you.

At what age do people generally take calculus?

Some students take a Calculus course in high school. If you're facing this course, it is unlikely that you'll take it until junior or senior year. If you don't take it in high school, you'll probably take it over the course of your college career if it is a required subject in your degree program. The following list shows various degree programs that will normally require you to take calculus:

College Degree Programs That Typically Require Calculus Courses

• 
  Math
• 
  Engineering
• 
  Computer Science
• 
  Economics
• 
  Business
• 
  Accounting
• 
  Biology
• 
  Physics
• 
  Chemistry
• 
  Statistics

As you can see, calculus is a pretty common degree requirement in STEM and financial disciplines, so working with a calculus tutor may be the best tool to help you pursue mastery of the skills learned in your Calculus courses.

What topics and skill can I expect to study with a calculus tutor?

As briefly described above, differential calculus includes computations involving velocity and acceleration, the slope of a curve, and optimization. Integral calculus includes computations involving volume, area, arc length, center of mass, work, and pressure. Calculus is also used to gain a more precise understanding of the nature of space, time, and motion. The following list has a more in-depth list of topics you might study during your calculus tutoring sessions

Calculus Topics (non-comprehensive)

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  Limits
• 
  Indeterminate form
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  Orders of approximation
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  Derivatives
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  Newton
• 
  Leibniz
• 
  Power rule
• 
  Quotient rule
• 
  Chain rule
• 
  Differential equations
• 
  Mean value theorem
• 
  Rolle's theorem
• 
  Related rates
• 
  Antiderivatives
• 
  Linearity of integration
• 
  Trigonometric substitution
• 
  Inverse chain rule method
• 
  Arc length

A significant benefit of studying with a private Calculus tutor is the ability to focus on the areas you need the most help in understanding. If you've mastered limits or orders of approximation, you can quickly review these skills and move on to other topics that may interest you or are giving you trouble, such as differential equations, Rolle's theorem, or antiderivatives. This adaptability results in study sessions that are more efficient, effective, and enjoyable. By building on your own strengths, you may go on to actually develop a love of mathematics and calculus in particular.

Can calculus tutoring also help me with calculus test prep?

Yes! Working with a tutor can benefit you beyond learning calculus. When you work with a private instructor, they can assist you in preparing to face any exam where the concepts of calculus are a factor. Whether you're facing a unit test, midterm, or final in a Calculus course or you need to take a standardized exam that includes calculus questions, your private instructor can help you drill on relevant topics and provide the practice you need to feel ready for exam day.

Administering a practice exam is a great way for a tutor to evaluate your strengths and areas of need. Your instructor can use follow-up practice questions to evaluate your progress through your sessions and adjust your study plan accordingly. This can help ensure that you don't waste valuable study time working on calculus concepts that you have already mastered. After you complete practice problems, you can spend time reviewing any questions that you answered incorrectly with your instructor and work together to reach the correct solution.

Practice questions can also provide you with a better understanding of the test format and what you can expect when taking a calculus exam. Familiarizing yourself with the types of questions you will be faced with on test day helps you avoid some of the surprises that show up on some tests. Additionally, practice exams are a great way to improve your time-management skills. Working through a variety of question types could help you identify which methods to use when solving problems to ensure you finish your tests within the proper amount of time.

Some students may find themselves struggling with test day jitters. If you often feel overwhelmed with stress during the days or weeks leading up to your scheduled exam because of a mounting pressure to perform well, your calculus tutor can make sure to teach you tips and tricks to reduce anxiety and stay calm. This is yet another instance where practice exams can prove useful because they can alleviate negative feelings associated with a lack of preparation.

It is never too late to learn proper study techniques and test-taking strategies that can benefit you throughout your educational years. Whether you are a junior in high school preparing to take a final exam in your first Calculus course or a student hoping to earn college credits by proving which skills you have already learned through a standardized final at the end of an AP course, working with a private instructor could help you improve your ability to demonstrate your calculus skills when it counts.

Some standardized exams that will evaluate your proficiency in Calculus include:

• AP Calculus AB - AP exams can allow you to skip introductory college Calculus courses while earning college credits. This version of the AP exam includes techniques of the derivative, the definite integral, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
  
• AP Calculus BC - Varies from the AB exam by covering a broader scope of calculus. This test includes all of the topics covered on the AB version, plus additional content like parametric, polar, and vector functions.
  
• CLEP Calculus - This year-round exam is available to all students and allows them to earn college credits for calculus skills developed through high school classes, internships, and individual studies.

What can I do with a Calculus degree?

Many students need to take Calculus to fill a mathematical credit for their degree. For some degrees, a single Calculus class and a basic understanding of Calculus will check that box. For others, a more detailed mathematical education will be required.

Since the study of calculus involves determining how objects or processes will change over time, many careers use calculus to figure out information. Examples of this might be traveling in space, how medications will interact with the human body, or how to build structures that are safe. Students who major in applied mathematics can find entry-level work in several career fields, although those who know what jobs they'd like to pursue may wish to choose specific career-based majors that include calculus coursework.

The following list shows a few examples of jobs that use calculus every day:

Careers That Use Calculus

• 
  Actuary
• 
  Chemical Engineer
• 
  Electrical Engineer
• 
  Software Developer
• 
  Video Game Programmer
• 
  Nuclear Engineer
• 
  Quantitative Trader
• 
  Civil Engineer
• 
  Biomedical Engineer
• 
  Meteorologist
• 
  Mathematician
• 
  Math Teacher