Jonathan P.
Private tutor in Arlington, MA
Education
Harvard College, BA 2000
Experience
In high school, I excelled in a variety of subjects, scoring a 5 in AP U.S. History and winning a national award in German. I received a 2280 on the SAT, highlighted by a perfect score on the Verbal portion, and was chosen as a National Merit Scholar and recipient of the New York Times Corporate Scholarship. At Harvard, I dipped my toes in many subjects, but ultimately graduated with a B.A. in Government, before embarking on a career in derivatives trading. Beginning in Chicago, I learned to trade futures options in the S&P 500 pit, before transferring to New York, where I worked for boutique firms, Citibank, and myself in the NASDAQ, Gold, Crude Oil and Natural Gas options pits. As a trader, I learned how to distill and synthesize information rapidly, make decisions based on imperfect information, and divorce results from process. I discovered how to self-educate, crafting my own successful trading methods via logic and trial & error to create profitable feedback loops. This technique served me well at Citibank, where I became a Vice President in my division and was tasked with teaching classes on options theory, Black-Scholes pricing and practical trading methods to apprentice traders. Wanting to live beyond the age of 30, I left Finance to pursue interests that I would willingly engage in for free. This has been a broad spectrum, inevitably drawing me back to my alma mater to capitalize on the abundance of available resources. I got my start in tutoring working for Signet Education, a well-respected firm just a stone's throw from Harvard Yard. In under a year and a half, I rose to the top of Signet's tutor pool and accumulated more hours than anyone except their founders. I then started my own business, Powers Test Prep, in 2018. I typically tutor anywhere from 25-40 hours per week, and so have plenty of experience with many types of students. My students average over 200-point improvements on the SAT, and a similar amount on the ACT. I have had several students make improvements of more than 300 points, one by 450 points, and have helped 4 students achieve perfect scores on the ACT. I'm a former Wall Street options trader, and learned how to write from my father, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist at The Boston Globe. So I know how to teach the material from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Availability
Any day at any time
Can Meet
Up to 5 minutes away for a flat fee
Hobbies
Outside of academic pursuits, I'm drawn to active endeavors. I've never had a desk job in my entire life – probably because I can't sit still. I lettered in five sports in high school, captaining the varsity, and played competitive basketball for a short time in college as well. Always on the move, I've vagabonded about the world, making pit stops in France, Moscow, Australia, Thailand, Costa Rica, and Ireland, among others. I enjoy games without rules, inventive cuisine and “making stuff”. My wife thinks I'm a handful. She is correct.
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