Active high school teacher · San Francisco Bay Area

Math and CS tutoring from someone who teaches it daily.

I teach high school math and computer science full time, and I tutor a few students outside of that. Sessions are on Zoom or in person. You get notes after every one.

Schedule a free consultation How it works

15 minutes, over Zoom, no obligation.

  • 01
    Still in the classroomNot a former teacher. A current one.
  • 02
    AP and IB coursesCS A, IB CS, Calculus, Statistics.
  • 03
    Zoom, or in personIn-person works in parts of the Bay Area.
  • 04
    Notes every weekEmailed after each session, marked up as a PDF.

The approach

More than tonight’s homework.

Most tutoring is triage. Finish the assignment, cram for the quiz, repeat. That holds up until the material starts building on itself, which in math and CS it always does.

So we work the other way around. Find the gap, fix the gap, then use it on whatever’s actually due. Once a student gets why a loop stops or why a proof holds, they don’t need to memorize the next fifty problems.

The other half of it is just being organized. Every week runs the same way — the student sends me what they’re stuck on before we meet, we work through it, and I email notes afterward. Nobody has to guess what happened in the session or what’s next.

Thien Chau, math and computer science tutor

Meet your instructor

Hi, I’m Mr. Chau.

Thien Chau on paper, but students have called me Mr. Chau for years, so that’s what I answer to. I teach high school math and computer science full time at an independent school in San Francisco, and I tutor a small number of students outside of that.

What I’m best at is the abstract stuff — recursion, proofs, algorithmic thinking. That’s usually where students decide they’re “not a math person.” Usually it just went by too fast the first time.

I keep the roster small so I have time to prep between sessions. B.S. in Computer Science, M.A. in Instructional Design.

  • M.A. Instructional Design
  • B.S. Computer Science
  • AP Certified Educator

Subjects

What I tutor

Secondary and early college-level courses.

Computer Science

  • AP Computer Science A
  • IB Computer Science (SL & HL)
  • Java programming & OOP
  • Python fundamentals
  • Data structures & algorithms

Advanced Mathematics

  • AP Calculus AB
  • AP Statistics
  • Precalculus
  • Algebra 2 & Trigonometry
  • SAT Math

Foundational Mathematics

  • Geometry & proof writing
  • Algebra 1
  • Probability
  • Data analysis
  • Study & problem-solving skills

How it works

What a week looks like

Same rhythm every week, so there’s no guesswork on either end.

Getting started: a free 15-minute call, then a first session to find out where things actually stand. After that we settle into the weekly cycle below.

  1. Before

    The student sends notes

    Sometime before we meet, they email me what they’re stuck on — the problem set, a photo of their work, a confusing slide, whatever it is.

    That way I prep the session in advance instead of spending the first fifteen minutes figuring out what we’re doing.

  2. During

    We meet, online or in person

    Most sessions are on Zoom, where I screen-share as we work — code, diagrams, worked problems, proofs.

    In-person sessions run the same way, but with paper, and are available in parts of the Bay Area.

  3. After

    Notes go out by email

    I send a short recap of what we covered, what to practice, and what to watch for on the next assessment.

    For Zoom sessions, everything I write and mark up lives in Notability, so I export those annotated pages as a PDF and send them along too. The student keeps the actual worked examples — not just their memory of them.

Then it repeats the following week. Or not, depending on your schedule!

Families

Worked with me before?

Notes from families will live here.

Questions

Before you book

What do you charge?

It depends on the course and how often we’re meeting, so I’d rather give you a straight answer than a range that doesn’t fit. Bring it up on the 15-minute call and I’ll tell you exactly what it would cost.

How do payment and scheduling work?

Sessions are booked through the calendar below. I invoice by email, and Zelle or Venmo both work.

Cancellations with 24 hours’ notice get rescheduled at no charge.

Are sessions online or in person?

Both. Most families choose Zoom — screen sharing genuinely works well for this — and in-person sessions are available in parts of the Bay Area depending on where you are and when. Either way you get a recap by email afterward, and for Zoom sessions that includes my marked-up notes as a PDF. Just ask on the call.

How often should we meet?

Once a week is the sweet spot for ongoing coursework. For one specific exam or a single rough unit, two or three sessions is often enough.

Do you help with homework directly?

We use the homework as the material, but I won’t just hand over answers. If something’s due in an hour and nothing makes sense yet, that’s a conversation about planning, not a tutoring session.

My student isn’t struggling — they want to go further.

Great, those are some of my favorite students. Finished your school’s CS sequence and want to build something real, prep for a competition, or go deeper into algorithms? That works.

Get started

Let’s chat

Pick a 15-minute window and we’ll talk about what your student needs. No pressure — it’s just a chance to see if I can help.

Calendar not loading, or prefer email? Write to thienchau010@gmail.com and I’ll reply within a day.