View All Subjects »Biological Sciences
Given our proximity to Harvard, MIT, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), we have the luxury of hand selecting our tutors for the wide range of biological sciences from a highly selective pool of overly qualified individuals. While our tutors may think that biology is the most important and most fun subject offered to students, we realize that not every student loves their biology class. With this in mind, our tutors strive to make biology relevant to their students by drawing from examples from daily life, rather than from the textbooks. While biology classes are often focused around memorizing formulas and anatomical systems, our tutoring never is. Memorization is a necessary skill that our tutors can help students master, however, learning how to think about biology is a much more important skill that will make memorization of secondary importance. Our tutors are very familiar with common standardized subject tests such as Advanced Placement AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and the SAT II’s as well as premedical requirements and help their students learn how to master not only their subjects and their classes but also these often tricky exams that can determine college course placement and credit.
High school level courses: Anatomy and Physiology, Biology I, Biology II, Biological chemistry
College level courses: Anatomy and Physiology, Biochemistry, Biology I, Biology II, Cell Biology, Environmental Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Organic Chemistry, Neurobiology, Zoology
Standardized tests: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, IB Biology SL/HL, IB Chemistry SL/HL, SAT II Biology E/M, SAT II Chemistry, MCAT, ACT Science
Tutors Available for Biological Sciences:
Vanessa O.
Vanessa graduated Alpha Omega Alpha and Valedictorian with her MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2007. She is currently a resident in Anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital and finished a General Surgery internship in 2007-2008. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and 4th in her class from Cornell University in 2003 with a BA and distinction in all subjects in Biology and Spanish. She completed a College Scholar thesis her senior year. She has taken the MCATs and scored a 37S. She has also taken all 3 steps of the USMLE scoring a 250, 262, and 232 on the 3 steps, respectively (99 2 digit score on all 3). Vanessa has been tutoring students since middle school. She was a formal teaching assistant for Organic Chemistry and Biology at Cornell University and served as a tutor and mentor at Johns Hopkins during medical school.
- Graduated Alpha Omega Alpha and Valedictorian from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2007)
- Graduated Phi Beta Kappa and 4th in her class from Cornell University with a BA in Biology and Spanish (2003)
- Fluent in French and Spanish
- MCAT score 37S; USMLE scores 250, 262, 232
Irit R.
Irit graduated with two degrees from MIT (S.B. in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and S.B. in Linguistics), with a minor in Spanish and a Concentration in Japanese, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She earned her Ph.D. from the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard in May 2009, with research focusing on Parkinson's disease. Irit loves to learn, though not by memorization; she always wants to understand how and why things work, and her tutoring style reflects this enthusiasm.
- Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard
- Loves to teach
- Patient, creative, clear communicator
- Raised in bilingual household (Hebrew and English)
Jessie M.
Jessie graduated from Swarthmore College in 2005 with a major in biology and a minor in education. While at Swarthmore, she also picked up a teaching certificate in secondary school biology. She has taught high school science in environments which range from the Philadelphia public school system to a private boarding school to a sailboat on the Hudson River. Jessie enjoys tutoring both teenagers and adults.
- Graduated from Swarthmore College '05
- Teacher certified in secondary school biology
- Has taught high school biology, chemistry and physics
- Makes difficult ideas intelligible and meaningful