Math & Physics Tutors Who Know San Francisco Schools
Your student isn’t “bad at math”—they’ve been held back by past frustration. We’ve been tutoring San Francisco families for more than 15 years, and our method rebuilds confidence from the ground up.
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Everything changes when math empowers students
It’s not tutoring. It’s becoming. Behind every “I’m bad at math” is a student who stopped believing they could figure it out. That belief is the real problem — and it’s the one we solve.
Rating | 270+ reviews on Google & Yelp
Families trust us because we deliver real, lasting change — not quick fixes.
First-Time A's to Ivy League
Our students have been accepted to Stanford, UC Berkeley, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Cornell.
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When Am I Ever Going to Use Math?
It’s a great question. Here’s our answer.
In 3 minutes, see why we believe math and physics aren’t just school subjects — they’re the keys to everything your student dreams about.
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Passion + Purpose = Empowered
When math serves your student’s passion, it has purpose. When it has purpose, something remarkable happens — they become empowered to use education to achieve their dreams.
1. Personalized Matching = Student Passion
We start by learning what lights your student up — music, sports, art, science, anything. Then we match them with a tutor who shares that passion and shows them how math is the hidden engine behind the things they already love. When math serves something they care about, it stops being a chore.
“With twin high school students at high academic private schools in San Francisco, finding good tutors in math and science has been critical to my kids’ sanity. Sean runs a tight ship and hires terrifically talented tutors that know their stuff and ‘get’ the kids.”
— Alison W., San Francisco parent
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2. Deep Understanding = Purpose
Most students survive math by memorizing formulas — until one curveball on the test sinks them. We teach the why behind every equation, deriving formulas and connecting them to the real world. When your student truly understands the math, they can solve anything a teacher throws at them.
“Alexander Tutoring came highly recommended by the learning specialist at my son’s high school. They are not just brainiacs with Science and Math degrees — they use a specific method to teach the students that is the key to opening up the mystery of solving a Physics problem.”
— Amalia A., parent of a San Francisco private high school junior
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3. Confidence First = Empowers Students
There’s no such thing as being ‘bad at math’ — only bad math experiences. A harsh teacher, embarrassment in class, one bad test — and suddenly your student decides they can’t do it. We rewrite that story. With a supportive tutor who believes in them, ‘I can’t’ becomes ‘I’ve got this.’
“After SF public schools ended their honors math programs, I was looking for a way for my 8th grader to qualify for high school honors math. Tyler helped my son test into Algebra 2 honors, and his math grade went up to an A. Then when we told him he could stop tutoring, he didn’t want to — he enjoyed what he was learning.”
— Alexandra N., San Francisco parent
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This is what happens when everything changes
“I have four kids in age ranges between 10 and 20, so we’ve had a lot of need for math and science tutors — physics tutoring, and my son who’s in college has also had help with college statistics. Across the board, every tutor has been really wonderful.”
What Parents Say
How to get started
Getting support is simple and risk-free. We focus on understanding your student first, then building confidence and momentum step by step.
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1. Book Your Risk-Free Lesson
No credit card. No commitment. No catch. Just a conversation about your student — who they are, what they love, and where they’re stuck. After the session, you’ll receive a complimentary skills assessment that pinpoints the foundational gaps holding them back — yours to keep no matter what.
2. Find the Perfect Mentor
The #1 factor in your student’s success isn’t the curriculum — it’s the chemistry. We match based on personality, passions, and learning style. Not the right fit? Try another session at no cost. You get as many trials as it takes. You’ll know when it clicks — you’ll see the fire in their eyes.
3. Watch Everything Change
Your student gets weekly one-on-one mentoring plus nightly office hours for homework help — all backed by our Full Semester Guarantee. No contract. Cancel anytime. Confidence builds. Grades follow.
The San Francisco schools we know best
These aren’t schools we found in a directory — they’re where our San Francisco students actually sit in class. We’ve been working here since long before we started tracking it properly. In just the few years we have, that’s 291 students across 40 schools, listed below in order of how many we’ve taught.
High school — where most of our San Francisco work happens
St. Ignatius College Preparatory · Lowell High School · San Francisco University High School · Jewish Community High School of the Bay · Lick-Wilmerding · French American International · Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory · Archbishop Riordan · The Urban School · George Washington · The Drew School · The Bay School · Ruth Asawa School of the Arts · Abraham Lincoln · Galileo Academy · Balboa · Gateway
Middle school
Convent & Stuart Hall · San Francisco Friends School · Presidio Middle · Roosevelt Middle · Claire Lilienthal · Stratford · Synergy
Elementary
Live Oak School · The Hamlin School · San Francisco Waldorf · Saint Vincent de Paul · Katherine Delmar Burke · Cathedral School for Boys · Presidio Knolls · Chinese American International
College
University of San Francisco · San Francisco State · City College of San Francisco
If your student’s school isn’t on this list, that isn’t a problem — but there’s a good chance we’ve already worked inside their exact course sequence.
What actually changes
Most tutoring gets a student through Friday’s test. That’s not what we’re for.
Your student learns where every formula comes from — so a problem they’ve never seen stops being a threat. They stop asking whether something will be on the test and start asking why it works.
The grade follows. It always does, but it’s the second thing that happens, not the first.
What makes your math and physics tutors different?
Your student works with a practicing mathematician, physicist, or engineer — someone who uses this material professionally, not a college student a chapter ahead in the textbook. We recruit nationally because that’s the only way to find them.
San Francisco sets a high bar. Whether your student is testing into Lowell, sitting for the SSAT or the HSPT, or keeping pace in an accelerated track at an independent school, the math expectations here are unforgiving.
What that means in practice:
- Tutors with graduate-level training and professional research experience
- A derivation-first method — nothing gets memorized that could be understood instead
- Nightly office hours, so homework help doesn’t wait for the next session
How do you match a student with the right tutor?
Nobody’s first session is really about math. It’s about finding out whether this person is going to make them feel stupid again.
Our tutors are matched on personality and interest before subject — a physicist who races bikes, a mathematician who plays in a band. When the match is right, a student stops bracing and starts asking questions. That’s the moment the tutoring actually begins.
If it isn’t right, you get another match at no cost, as many times as it takes. About 80% of our students click on the first try, 95% by the second.
What math and physics subjects do you tutor?
Every level of math and physics, from foundational arithmetic through university coursework, plus chemistry at the high school and AP level:
- Pre-Algebra and Algebra I & II
- Geometry and Trigonometry
- Precalculus and Calculus (including AP Calculus AB & BC)
- Statistics and AP Statistics
- Physics, AP Physics 1, 2, and C
- Chemistry and AP Chemistry
- SAT and ACT Math
- College-level math and physics
Sessions are one-on-one and built around your student, not a fixed curriculum. We start by finding out where the gaps actually are, then work forward from there.
“My daughter attends a very rigorous high school in SF and has worked with Tyler to solve problems in Physics, Chemistry and Algebra 2. He explains tough concepts through relatable and fun examples and she truly looks forward to their weekly sessions.”
— Grace B., San Francisco parent
Do you tutor elementary school math in San Francisco?
Yes, though it’s a smaller part of our San Francisco work. Our young learners come from Live Oak School, The Hamlin School, San Francisco Waldorf, Katherine Delmar Burke, Cathedral School for Boys and San Francisco Friends School.
At this age the math itself is rarely the problem. What we see instead is a story a student has started telling themselves — “I’m bad at math” — and it almost always traces back to a single moment: being called to the board without the answer, a placement in the wrong group, a school change mid-year, an illness that interrupted a unit.
We change that by matching your student with a real mathematician or physicist — someone who can explain a concept five different ways until one lands. Addition through fractions, reinforced with low-pressure drills that build retention without building dread.
Do you tutor middle school math?
Yes. Our San Francisco middle schoolers come from Convent & Stuart Hall, San Francisco Friends School, Presidio Middle, Roosevelt Middle, Claire Lilienthal and others.
Middle school math in San Francisco has been unsettled for over a decade. SFUSD removed Algebra 1 from eighth grade in 2014, and for years the only route into an advanced high school track was to test in from outside — which is how a lot of families first found us. In March 2026 the board voted to bring Algebra 1 back for all eighth graders.
That is the right call, and it arrives with a real problem attached. The district’s own eighth grade teachers have not taught algebra in over a decade. During the pilot years, more students ended up repeating Algebra 1 in ninth grade than before. When SFUSD surveyed educators, 41 of 50 said they did not believe students were ready for Algebra 1 as their only eighth-grade math course.
So the door is open, and the preparation underneath it is uneven. That gap is where we work.
“If you don’t learn Algebra 1, it’s a hot mess as you don’t have the necessary foundation and once in calculus, if you make it that far, most mistakes are algebraic.”
— Nettie A., San Francisco public school parent
Grades 6 through 8 are where the foundation gets set — equations and integers, order of operations, proportions and percentages, substitution, measures of central tendency. These have to be solid before high school. Miss them and the gap compounds for years.
Most students are taught to memorize steps in place of understanding them. We derive every equation we use, because a student who understands the derivation isn’t memorizing anymore. They’re reasoning.
This is also the window when San Francisco families are preparing for high school placement — the SSAT for independent schools, the HSPT for St. Ignatius, Sacred Heart Cathedral and Riordan, or testing into Lowell and Ruth Asawa SOTA. Strong middle school math makes all of it far less stressful.
“My 8th grade son needed help with the math sections in the SSAT/ISEE exams — the exams required of San Francisco’s private and parochial high school applicants. My son made big gains, did great on the actual exams, and got into his top high schools.”
— Sabrina G., San Francisco parent
Which San Francisco high school math and physics courses do you cover?
This is the bulk of our San Francisco work — roughly 120 of our current students are in high school right now, at St. Ignatius, Lowell, San Francisco University High School, Lick-Wilmerding, Jewish Community High School of the Bay, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Archbishop Riordan, The Urban School and more.
Courses we cover:
- Algebra I & II, Geometry, Trigonometry
- Precalculus and Calculus, including AP Calculus AB & BC
- Physics, AP Physics 1, 2 and C
- SAT & ACT Math
- College-level math prep
We go well beyond test prep. We teach students to derive what they’re learning, so they understand the why rather than the how — which is what holds up when a problem doesn’t look like the homework.
“My daughter took AP Physics 1/2 at Lowell this past year and needed a tutor. Rather than lecturing, Olivia was able to teach by discussing concepts with my daughter. As a result, my daughter really gained an understanding of physics and did very well in the class.”
— Ann-Marie Z., San Francisco parent
Our SAT and ACT Masterclasses are especially popular with San Francisco families aiming for Stanford, UC Berkeley, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, USC and the Ivies.
Do you tutor college math?
Yes — at the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State and City College of San Francisco.
College math moves fast and forgives nothing. Lecture halls are large, office hours are crowded, and a single missed week is enough to fall behind for a term. We cover college algebra, geometry and trigonometry, finite math, statistics, calculus and physics.
Every one of our tutors is a working scientist or mathematician with advanced degrees in their field. They’ve taken these courses, and in many cases they’ve taught them.
“He tutored my college sophomore son in Physics a few years ago with great success. Where is the proof? My son graduated with a double major in Physics and Econ-Finance, Magna cum Laude, at the University of San Francisco.”
— Ken M., San Francisco parent
We also know some students are reluctant to admit they’re struggling. Our tutors rebuild from the last point of solid ground, one step at a time — which produces a better grade, and understanding that survives into the next course.
Do you tutor adults returning to math?
Yes. San Francisco professionals come to us to pivot into tech, re-enter school, or sit for a qualifying exam. If you haven’t taken a math course in a decade or more, that can feel daunting. It shouldn’t.
In this city specifically, we see a steady stream of adults working toward:
- Data science, machine learning and quantitative finance roles
- Graduate program prerequisites and the GRE Quantitative section
- Actuarial and engineering licensure exams
- Finishing an undergraduate degree
We build the program around your actual timeline and target — from basic algebra through thermodynamics and nuclear physics.
We answer your questions directly and we don’t pretend a topic is simpler than it is. That’s what makes it stick.
We scour the country for educators like Rebecca.
We recruit nationally to find the best — not just the most credentialed, but the most passionate.
Rebecca M. | Math & Physics Mentor
Rebecca triple-majored in Physics, Theatre, and Secondary Education — and that was just the beginning. She’s since earned a Master’s in STEAM Curriculum Design and a Master’s in Chemistry. She fell in love with physics watching Star Trek as a kid, and she brings that same sense of wonder to every session. Whether your student is an artist, a performer, or a future engineer, Rebecca meets them where they are.
Credentials
- B.A. Physics, Theatre & Secondary Education (triple major)
- M.Ed. Curriculum Design, STEAM Integration
- M.S. Chemistry
- Specializes in AP Physics, Calculus, and students who “hate math”
If it doesn’t work, you don’t pay. Period.
We’re so confident in our method that we guarantee your results for the entire semester. If you’re not satisfied at the end of the term, we’ll refund every penny. No fine print. No partial credits. A full refund.
No other tutoring company in the country offers this — because no other tutoring company gets results like ours.
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- Full Semester Guarantee
The Universe Is Speaking
We give your student the support, confidence, and guidance they need to thrive. It starts with one risk-free lesson, backed by our full-semester guarantee.