Frequently Asked Questions
What is the price for tutoring?
The base price for tutoring ranges between $35.00-$55.00 per hour depending on the course level. In general, Highschool level and under is $35.00 per hour, 1st Year College is $40.00 per hour, 2nd Year College is $45.00 per hour, 3rd Year College is $50.00 per hour, and 4th Year College and up is $55.00 per hour. Discounts are available from that base price by booking lessons ahead of time and booking more than once per week.
Can you explain the discounts you offer?
Discounts are available by: more frequent lessons, booking ahead of time, and through referring another student. The philosophy behind offering discounts is to reward students for their dedication towards learning the concept, being organized, and through endorsing the PHYSiMATICS experience.
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Students who sometimes need once a week and sometimes more frequently, will receive a discount for only the weeks where more frequent tutoring occurs. Students who plan tutorial date and time for 4 weeks or greater in period qualify for the Monthly Planner package. Students who schedule tutorial dates and times 8 weeks or greater in advance qualify for the Term Planner discount package. In order to receive the Promoter package, student signing up must state the referring student's name on the registration form or in the consultation. The referring student must have completed a minimum of three hours in tutorial to qualify and student signing up must complete a minimum of one hours in tutorial. Students can combine discount packages Bi-Weeker/Tri-Weeker with Monthly Planner/ Term Planner to receive maximum discount percentage.
Can I apply more than one discount to my price?
You not only can, but are encouraged! To recieve a maximum discount, you need to sign up for three or more lessons per week, and book ahead for the next 8 weeks. Then, inbox all of your friends' about PHYSiMATICS Tutoring Service. Make sure they know to refer your name when they sign up!
How do I pay you?
At this time, I am only accepting the following payment methods:​
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E-transfer through online banking (physimaticstutoring@gmail.com)
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Payment is made upon receiving an invoice. Invoicing is done every Friday for onLine tutoring. Receipt will be sent by email after the payment has been received. An invoice and receipt is sent automatically if you make an offLine purchase. Make all payments to Bret Klein, C.E.O and Head Instructor, PHYSiMATICS International Academy.
What if my payment takes longer than a week?
Interest will be charged to any payments which are not received 7 days (or earlier) after the invoice has been sent. Charges accumulate at 2% for each full day after the deadline. The added charge of interest will be added to the next invoice. If there is a good reason for you to not make a payment, please let me know BEFORE the deadline and we may be able to extend the due date.
What is your refund policy?
Refunds will only be returned for payment period if the instructor must cancel the appointment. Every effort will be made to reschedule a missed appointment by the instructor. If student must miss an appointment, they are responsible to reschedule a minimum of 24 hours before the scheduled lesson. Otherwise students who miss appointments or give less than 24 hour notice will be responsible to pay the full amount.
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However, if you are feeling too sick to take the lesson, please show up to the lesson and tell me so. As long as this does not become a pattern, I will most often reschedule the appointment free of charge.
How will I know how much I owe you?
For onLine tutoring, the cut off for each week is Friday evening. Invoices will be sent by email then on Friday evenings. Payments are expected to be in within a week of sending date of invoice.
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For worksheets, practice tests, etc… invoice and receipt will be sent to your email immediately.
Can I get a receipt for my payment?
Each payment is entitled to an receipt. The receipt will include name, number of hours, discount, owed, interest charge, and payment history. Receipts will be sent within 24 hours after each payment is confirmed.
Price + Payment
How do I book a lesson with you?
First Contact Booking:
The first thing you need to do is have a look at my calendar, which is located on my website. There you will be able to see what spots are open for booking. You will be looking for a free 30 min. on the calendar. Once you have chosen a date and time which we are mutually available, promptly send me an email requesting a 15 min. consultation. I will reply either accepting or requesting another time. Once we have agreed on a time, I will send you a link to the online meeting space. Then when the time comes for the consultation, go into your email, download the link, and I will join you there.
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Not First Contact Booking:
The first thing you need to do is have a look at my calendar, which is located on my website. There you will be able to see what spots are open for booking. Once you have chosen a date and time which we are mutually available, promptly send me an email requesting a lesson including the date, start-time, and end-time. I will reply either accepting or requesting another time. Once we have agreed on a time, I will send you a link to the online meeting space. Then when the time comes for the tutorial, go into your email, download the link, and I will join you there.
What is your availability?
Generally, PHYSiMATICS is available for scheduling at 7am-12pm & 9pm-1am. Times are quoted for pacific daylight time (GMT-7). To see my calendar for specific bookings, other timezones, days off, or to see what space is free please click (here).
How long is a tutorial?
Tutorials tend to be an hour to an hour and a half. However, tutorials can be as long as 3 hours in a row. It depends on your attention span and how much material we need to cover. Through experience, I have found that we can cover one isolated concept or 3-4 questions in detail per hour on average.
Overall the length of each tutorial is up to you. As long as there is space in my schedule and you book ahead of time, you can schedule anywhere from 1-3 hours per tutorial.
Can I just try one tutorial to see how I learn from you?
Most students choose to schedule an hour (or two) to see if they properly learn from my teaching styles. The student then goes home, looks at their calendar, and figures out approximately how many tutorials they are going to want for the semester. Once they do, they contact me and we decide the amount of appointments to be scheduled and what discount package best fits your needs.
Scheduling + Availability
What should I bring to tutorial?
When preparing for an online tutorial, it is important to review your notes and assignments for any difficulties you encountered. It is also important to communicate these difficulties to me ahead of time in as much detail as possible. This may include taking a screenshot or photo of the problem or concept and attach it to an email. Be sure to give me a day or two to review your email and prepare your next lesson.
Note: If you are also enrolled in offLine tutoring, please attach snapshot of completed worksheet(s) ideally 48 hours before scheduled tutorial so I can grade and summarize your work.
What style of tutoring do you offer?
In the Lesson Style of tutoring, students get to treat tutorials like a discussion, which is a free environment for the tutor to introduce and review concepts and the student to provide immediate feedback. Students will get a more complete story of the content in the course as well as chronological notes on each concept. This style is recommended for students who need to take similar courses to the current in the future and if the student has signed up with substantial time until the end of the course. Students who are self teaching themselves and need support in learning topics would benefit from this approach as well. Lesson Style is not recommended for students who mainly struggle in either setting up problems or test writing.
The Workshop Style tutorials are structured so that the students get a familiarity with putting pen to paper. We focus on solving problems similar to previous assignments, tests, as well as typical problems of the course. The student will provide their previous assignments, tests, and notes and we will provide typical problems that are commonly used to test students. This synthesis, combined with a disciplined study routine works well to prepare students for midterms and final exams. Therefore tutorials will provide more directed information on the content of the course and have step-by-step explained written examples for reference. This style is recommended for students who want a less conceptual understanding of the material, searching for an extraction of the details.
Here, students get a more relaxed environment allowing for ideas to flow. Conversation Style works perfectly for students enrolled in graduate studies looking for guidance with their research, individuals looking for consultation on a specific application of mathematics/physics, or students enrolled in a project/laboratory based course seeking help. Tutorial topics are highly dependent on the information presented by student as well as the perceived outcome of the project. This style is not recommended for students looking for support with a traditional course, where you are evaluated by assignments and tests. Although review is always necessary, Conversation Style is designed for applications of taught subjects, not the teaching of the subjects.
The Guide Style is structured specifically for students who are working through online coursework and have specific difficulty understanding the teacher and/or their instructions. Students will receive more of a walk through of the course itself. Homework assignments from the course are the main focus in tutorials. Our goal is to make progress in areas such as establishing a disciplined study routine, creating relevant timelines and checklists, making and seeing progress in the course, understanding how to properly learn from the primary course of information (teacher, textbook, online module, etc..), how to build personal confidence and momentum, and how to properly organize your learning to achieve your goal in mind.
Are tutorials in person or online?
I offer tutorials through a virtual meeting space, called Zoom. Tutorials are online so that you will always have a recorded copy of the lesson and will always be learning at the place and time you are most comfortable! If you are skeptical of the online format, please contact me to sign-up for a free 20-30 minute consultation to get an idea of what tutorials are like.
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a very popular application used for business conferencing and education purposes all over the world. I like to use it because of its screen sharing versatility, student annotation capabilities, and its ease of downloading pictures and video recorded from the meeting. To use it you don’t need to sign up for an account or anything, you just download a link I attach in an email sent before the meeting. I think most students are impressed when they use Zoom and how much better of an application it is compared to Skype!
How do I log into my Zoom meeting?
Once you have confirmed a date and time via email, I will send a link to the Zoom meeting space prior to the lesson. When you click the link:
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What courses do you offer tutoring in?
Currently I offer tutoring for the following subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Statistics, and Biophysics. I have experience teaching the following courses: Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Matrix Algebra, Differential Equations, Introduction Physics, Classical Mechanics, Biomechanics, Statics, Dynamics, Electrodynamics, Electronics, Vibrations, Optics, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Solid-State Physics, Physical Imaging, Mathematical Physics, Experimental Physics, Statistics, Independent Teacher Entrepreneurship.
What is included in a “tutorial”?
Inside tutorial, students will receive explanations, diagrams, and example problems structured in a way that effectively teaches the student the concepts needed for the course and in a way which the student likes to learn. Unlike learning in a classroom, we ensure that the environment of the tutorial is one that allows you (the student) to fully interact with me (the teacher) in way that is judgement-free and easy. During the tutorial, students are encouraged to freely ask questions and suggest material which is misunderstood. All tutorials also include a video recording of the lesson, and a PDF of all notes attached in an email sent within 24 hours of the lesson.
Outside of the tutorial setting, students are also offered diagnostic testing, worksheets after each lesson, practice testing (problems+solutions), as well as daily free online support (by email or Zoom video-chat) with any course suggestions, questions, assignments, test preparation, and follow up from tutorial. Online support includes help with course registration, exam preparation and study tips, review and advice on notes, assignments, lab reports, and answering any impromptu questions you get!
Tutorial Information
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A pop-up should open with a blue button. Click the blue button labelled “Open Zoom”.
If I am not yet in the meeting space (or in another tutorial), this screen will appear.
Once I am also in the meeting space, this window will open. Our tutorial takes place here.
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When finished with the lesson, you can click the “x” to close the window. This screen will appear.
Can you tell me a bit about yourself?
My name is Bret Klein and I am the CEO and Head Instructor at PHYSiMATICS Tutoring Service. Established in 2017, PHYSiMATICS is my little business project here and it’s become a bit like my baby haha. I love learning, teaching, and thinking about science and its applications in the real world. Trust me, as soon as we get talking about MATH or PHYS you will feel it! Personally, I have been tutoring students one-on-one at the college level in MATH and PHYS since 2014. I was trained and certified to tutor through UBCO and previously worked in the Math and Science Center. Also during my studies I had the chance to work for the university as a Lab Instructor, teaching 8 rounds of students throughout my time there. It was also in 2017 that I convocated from UBCO with a Bachelor of Science, with Honours Physics designation. Since then we have had huge success with PHYSiMATICS, and so have numerous other students in multiple courses and levels!
If you are looking for a teacher to relate with, then I think you've found what you're looking for. As a student I went through every struggle, and every grade level, that someone could go through. When I entered university (in 2013) I actually had no idea how to learn. In high school I managed to get good enough grades for university entrance, but realized quickly that I was not properly prepared by the school system to be able to handle the leap in education. When I was in first and second year, I focused very hard on figuring out how I could learn challenging concepts in a short amount of time. Once I did this, I pulled off better and better grades and at the same time having a very good memory of the concepts, even after the courses were long gone. Through establishing my own rhythm in learning, and analyzing it, I found that I was able to teach my peers and new students the concepts of the courses very fast, sometimes faster than the professor! Since then, my project in educating people is in my effort to demonstrate that I can transfer such methods to others. I keep on getting better and better and hope that I can share my perspective on MATH and PHYS with you!
WHY do you choose to tutor?
The mission of PHYSiMATICS Tutoring is to effectively spread and share Math and Physics education to as many people as possible. Our morals in this vision are upheld as crucial pillars in the foundation of PHYSiMATICS Tutoring Service. To get an idea of why I do this, please read the 10 pillars of PHYSiMATICS. As a representative of PHYSiMATICS, I promise to always:
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Give students the highest quality of education I can offer.
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Provide consistent education throughout the entire process to suit the student’s unique interests and needs.
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Teach as many students who I can who are interested in learning.
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Keep the education accessible to all who want to learn.
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Instill a certain responsibility in learning the concepts through emphasizing retention and application.
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To allow the learning process to be a two way street. Learning is most effective when it is an exchange. Student input shall always be added to the PHYSiMATICS methods and structures.
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To respect all of the students I encounter as well as their wants and needs in education.
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To be a role model in the community of Physics and Math education in Kelowna, BC, Canada, and all over the world.
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To help teachers of Physics and Math to grow in their effectiveness in representing the concepts they teach.
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To be transparent and accountable for everything representing PHYSiMATICS. I will never withhold ‘trade secrets’ to those who are interested.