Problem solving with curiosity, creativity, and confidence.

About Mark

I'm always impressed by the creativity and resilience students show when they have a great problem to work on. Competition physics is full of great problems, and it's where I've spent most of my career.

From 2016 to 2021 I coached the US Physics Team, including as team leader at the International Physics Olympiad. I've helped write the F=ma and USAPhO exams and graded USAPhO. I bring that experience to preparing my students.

Since 2018 I've been a professional physics curriculum developer. I designed a well-known online olympiad training course, and I now lead a team writing physics courses that run from middle school through olympiad preparation.

My PhD at the University of Maryland was in physics education research. My thesis was about how students learn to use math to make sense of physical phenomena: when an equation means something to them, and when they're only moving symbols around. While I was there, I taught and helped design the introductory physics course for life-science majors.

I've been teaching physics since I was an undergraduate at Caltech. I've designed and taught physics and astronomy courses at Bucknell University, Johns Hopkins CTY, and the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes, and I've tutored private students from middle schoolers to adults.

I was also active for years answering physics questions online. You can read my answers on my Physics Stack Exchange profile and my Quora profile.

What I offer

I can work with you on school material, but for most students I provide a complete learning environment: readings, assignments, and mock exams that closely mimic the real tests. I also write a report summarizing our plan and recent progress every ten sessions. Our one-on-one video sessions are spent actively solving problems together. I'll answer your questions and make sure you understand the logistics of physics tests like the F=ma and USAPhO exams.

Who I work with

• Olympiad students from a first F=ma exam through USAPhO and IPhO
• Research students who want a physicist to talk to about a project
• Students ahead of their classes self-studying AP Physics C, college-level mechanics and E&M, or the math physics needs
• Exam prep for AP Physics, the MCAT, and other standardized tests
• Graduate students studying for PhD qualifying exams
• Self-learners of any age working through a topic on their own

How I teach

1. Physical meaning first

   Even when a student has the math to do a problem, I start as close to the real phenomenon as I can, so physics doesn't turn into manipulating formulas. We look at extreme cases and check units before the heavy math, and we check the answer against our intuition after.

2. You do the reasoning

   Most of a session is me asking questions and you figuring out the answers. When you're stuck, I give the smallest hint that gets you moving again. One of the best signs of progress is when you start catching your own mistakes.

3. Judgment, not only technique

   Hard problems take judgment: what belongs in the model, how long to stay on a problem, and whether there's a shorter way than bashing through. When you get a problem right but it took a long time, we go back and find the shortcut together.

4. Every problem connects

   Each problem we do is saved and tagged. When a technique shows up again in a new setting, we pull up the old problem and see how they're related.

5. Honest about difficulty

   I won't tell you something is easy. Physics is hard, and when something that made sense in the textbook gets confusing on a hard problem, that's okay. It means you're learning.

6. A plan with dates on it

   Each student has a written plan with goals tied to the calendar, like the F=ma exam in February. We measure what we've covered against it, I tell you if we start falling behind, and I change it as I learn what you need.