Andy Riffel

Andy is an exemplary math tutor. He is impeccably professional, kind, and skilled. He has a deep understanding of the subject matter, but also maintains a relationship with the classroom teacher in order to be up to date on classwork, expectations, and assessments. His support made a huge difference in my child's math trajectory.

We had a great experience working with Andy! He was always punctual and always prepared. He seemed to engage well with our son and his small group of 8th grade boys. We especially appreciated his timely communication confirming tutoring sessions and offering detailed feedback on our son's strengths and weaknesses following each session, with tailored recommendations for what our kid should be working on to increase math fluency. We also found it helpful that he adapted teaching strategies to facilitate learning given the challenges of instructing a group of middle school boys.

Andy has been our kids' math tutor since elementary school. What started as tutoring became something more valuable: their confidence skyrocketed, their grades improved, and we stopped fighting about math homework. What sets Andy apart is his genuine investment in outcomes — he doesn't just teach, he coordinates with us and their teachers, prepares thoughtfully for each session, and somehow makes kids feel safe asking the questions they won't ask in class. If your kid is struggling with math (or the math struggle is creating conflict at home), Andy is the person to call.

Andy was amazing with our 8th grader! He was patient and by the end of the school year, had helped bring our son's grade up from a B to an A+! Definitely recommend to anyone looking for math tutoring.

Andy is an exceptional tutor! He is able to teach the materials using multiple approaches and is able to adapt to my son's learning style seamlessly. He is calm and patient and truly cares about his students. He is also reliable and flexible. Andy was able to improve our son's self-confidence as a math learner, which is priceless, and we are grateful for this. My son has worked with multiple tutors over the years and Andy is the best by far. I would highly recommend him!

Andy stepped in to supplement a not-great middle school math teacher for my daughter and a group of friends. He was fantastic at understanding where each student was, identifying knowledge gaps and teaching where the school teacher hadn't. He brought a mix of fun and technique to the group, was super easy to work with and provided clear recaps of sessions including what was worked on, and where the students struggled.

We have been working with Andy for 8 years now. We moved to Europe 6 years ago and have continued to schedule remote learning and tutoring every week. Andy is a consistent expert that has made a unique individual approach to each of my sons' learning and journey. His ability to grow, learn, adapt and be a global teacher has been a gift to our family.

Andy creates excellent, well-designed problems on the fly and organizes everything clearly, making learning both effective and enjoyable.

I worked with Andy almost every other day of the week during my second and part of my first semester of Precalculus. He is an amazing tutor but also he's essentially a teacher — if you don't understand a concept he's able to explain it in many different ways. He's very good at scheduling appointments and helps you with all sorts of things. Highly recommend him if you are struggling in math or just need extra help.

Andy was very helpful in helping me understand concepts better for my precalculus class. He explained things thoroughly and helped strengthen my basic math skills, allowing me to build on them with more confidence.

Andy is the best! Normally I hate doing tutoring but Andy is able to teach me in a way that the concept feels more simple, easy and fun. My grades went from concerning to exceptional.

Grade 1 – Grade 5

Young students benefit from concrete examples and multiple perspectives as they build connections between counting, addition, and multiplication. Rather than rushing to fast facts, I aim to support students in seeing different ways of making ten and “getting a feel” for different facts and groupings, referencing Common Core Standards to guide a variety of framings. Building strategic thinking is essential at this stage, so I often incorporate dice games, math crosswords, and puzzles like sudoku — making math enjoyable and helping kids build positive associations with the subject.

Grade 6 – Grade 8

Proportional reasoning is the big goal at this stage, along with working with unknown quantities and making sense of relationships. We typically spend a lot of time on decimals, percents, and fractions, and I use games to build intuition for negative quantities where needed. Middle school is often where students start losing confidence in math; I avoid mnemonics and tricks as much as possible, and instead ground strategies in understanding — even if it takes a while — so kids build a web of understanding rather than a collection of disconnected formulas.

Grade 9 – Grade 12

I feel most comfortable working with students in these courses, especially if I've gotten to know them in prior years. I spent nine years as a high school teacher, teaching most math subjects at both standard and honors levels, and I've advised students through the course forecasting process. Since course descriptions vary widely between schools (particularly for Geometry, Precalculus, and non-AP Calculus), it's especially helpful when students share course materials in advance so I can align with a school's specific style and philosophy.

College Level Math

I've completed college math courses across several programs and enjoy revisiting them with students. Since goals vary widely between institutions and instructors, it's especially important to share course materials in preparation for our time together. I've taken every course below and have textbooks for each; courses marked with an asterisk (*) I've also taught.

• Calculus 1*
• Calculus 2
• Calculus 3
• Vector Calculus
• Linear Algebra
• Set Theory / Logic and Sets
• Abstract Algebra
• Real Analysis
• Discrete Mathematics
• Graph Theory
• Number Theory*
• Numerical Analysis
• History of Mathematics
• Euclidean & Non-Euclidean Geometry
• Statistics
• Math for Elementary Teachers*

How to Get Started

Send an email to riffeltutoring@gmail.com so we can get connected. Share information about grade level/course, goals, and a little about the student to help us get started — I may also wish to speak on the phone before the first session.

Tutor Reports

For younger children, I like to give parents a report sharing what went well and what areas of growth look like for their kid — ranging from brief to extensive, particularly after the first few sessions or anything noteworthy. For older students, I tend to share session debriefs instead, and may assign Khan Academy or DeltaMath for outside practice.

Individual Rates

• Sessions longer than an hour are welcome, particularly for older students preparing for exams. Household visits require a minimum of one hour.
• An in-person first lesson is recommended for students Grade 8 and younger; remote lessons go more smoothly once some rapport is established.
• For children Grade 3 and younger, 30-minute sessions are recommended (ideally paired with a sibling), or a full hour with some physical play mixed in.

Group Rates

• No extra charge for meeting with two, three, or four students at once — families can split the cost.
• Up to two students can be hosted at Andy's home; larger groups need another location.
• For five or more students in person, add $30 per student.