Could you introduce yourself? Your major, interests, anything you’d like to share?
My name is Zaid, and I’m a junior in the College majoring in Mathematical Economics, which sounds like a fake major. I’m a rising senior, which is sad to say out loud, but yeah, that’s about it.
Do you want to share a little bit about your experience at Penn and the clubs or roles you’ve been involved in?
My experience has been a bit like that law student stereotype where you’re crammed up in the library all day, sort of like a hermit who doesn’t go outside. Thankfully, I touched grass this past year. Outside of tutoring, I joined TEDx Penn, which was really fun and where I met a lot of cool people. I also write for the student newspaper. I have no idea why any of them took me in, but it’s been a blast, and I’ve learned a lot from being more involved in the community.
Which courses are you tutoring right now? And do you have any study tips?
I’m tutoring quite a bit right now: all of the Calculus classes except 1400, plus STAT 4300, STAT 4310, ECON 100, and ECON 2100. So, a lot of stuff.
In terms of study tips, I have three. The first is that practice doesn’t make perfect, so prioritize quality over quantity. I tested this myself in a math class this term. The professor gave us 50 practice problems per exam. For the first exam, I did about 10 problems and performed better than expected. For the second, I tried to get through all 50 and performed a lot worse. I hope that’s a lesson to people.
The second tip is: don’t use AI to solve problems. It’s great for understanding concepts, but I’ve noticed people are so quick to use it to get solutions when they’re frustrated. In the moment, you think you’ll remember it and that you know what you’re doing, but much like glancing at an answer key the day of the exam, you sit down and think, “wait, what was that problem even asking?”
The third is that I’d push back on the idea that someone is naturally good or bad at math. I don’t think that’s true, especially at Penn. No one ever says, “I’m particularly gifted at reading novels.” Reading is treated more like a hobby or a skill. Math is the same. It’s a skill you practice, not something you’re born with. People should keep that in mind.
Do you have any experiences you’d like to share about tutoring?
One that comes to mind: I was tutoring a student in ECON 100, which is intro microeconomics, and we were going over opportunity cost and demand curves. Like in a lot of intro math classes, students get used to the mechanics, the “use this equation here” approach. What I like to do is draw things out. I was an art kid back in the day and was never particularly gifted at math, so I leaned into that. When you press students on the intuition, you notice they get lost, and I think it’s because they don’t have an understanding beyond the mechanical. I asked her, “How do you get this demand curve?” She said it was a good question. So I asked, “Okay, what does opportunity cost actually mean?” Those simple questions are the ones we never stop to consider. We just internalize them without thinking. So I gave her an example: imagine one guy sells hot dogs and another guy sells carpets. Are you more of a hot dog person or a carpet person?” It’s a strange thing to ask someone, I’ve noticed. She said, “I’m more of a hot dog person.” I said, “Okay, so you’d be willing to pay more for hot dogs than carpets?” She said yes. I said, “That’s basically what demand is.” And she got it. It wasn’t some novel approach. It was just, for once, instead of focusing on solving a problem through the mechanics taught in class, using logic and a little bit of fun to figure out what we’re supposed to know.
Any advice for new tutors?
Two big pieces. First, be patient. Especially when you’re new to the game, a student not getting something immediately can be frustrating. Recognize that you were once in that spot, too. Even if you were a genius kid who cruised through the class, in which case I applaud you because that wasn’t me, you’re providing a public service, and that comes with a responsibility to be humble about it. Second, let your students take over more. When I first started, I was very quick to jump in: “Oh, I know how to solve this,” and then I’d just solve it for them. But that’s not really what students are coming to sessions for. TAs and professors already do that. Students are coming to you as an additional resource for intuition and the more basic concepts they can’t really ask about in office hours. Let them take over and direct the conversation more.
Do you have any career plans you’d like to share?
If all goes well, and hopefully I don’t touch too much grass, I’ll be pursuing a PhD in economics. Fingers crossed. I might be tutoring in graduate school, too.
Do you have any advice for first-year students?
A lot of people have a lot of different pieces of advice, but the one thing I’d say is universal: take it easy on yourself. I wasn’t the most social person when I started. Between academics and social pressure, everyone has this idea that they have to make the most of it. You’re not perfect. You’re going to mess up whether you want to or not, and academics and people at Penn will humble you. No matter how low you get, there are always people here who will support you, whether at Weingarten or the many centers across campus. It’s just a matter of finding the right people and giving yourself grace.