Naomi, Founder
Naomi is a nationally recognized test prep expert who has mentored hundreds of tutors and helped thousands of students reach their goals on five different versions of the SAT, ACT, and other tests, succeed in school, gain entrance to top choice colleges, and build long-term skills. She started Swell Education in 2010 to meet the need for personalized, flexible tutoring for high-achieving students in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the United States. Swell’s referral network is comprised of tutors with substantial depth and breadth of experience who tailor instruction to each student with whom they are matched to help them achieve their best outcomes. Naomi is a founding member of the National Test Prep Association and the League of Exceptional Tutors. Naomi lives in Marin and is an avid reader, hiker, and pizza enthusiast.
Tutors in the Swell Network
Amanda G
A math and writing lover, Amanda attended Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA, for film and communication. After graduation, she drove to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting, eventually selling scripts to MGM and Screen Gems. Despite her creative enthusiasm, she sought a more rewarding career path that incorporated her love of math, and discovered her passion for teaching. Since 2017, she’s been tutoring all sections of the SAT and ACT. Her teaching style includes humor, patience, and enthusiastic efficiency – pairing student strengths with optimum point opportunities. She loves empowering students to play a key role in their own score improvements. In addition to test prep, Amanda teaches writing (fiction, screenwriting, essays) and math (1st grade through algebra 2 and geometry). When she’s not teaching, she dabbles in digital painting, non-expert-level sports, and contemplating the nature of reality. She teaches exclusively on zoom because she can be everywhere (and nowhere) at once.
Amanda P
Born and raised on the peninsula, Amanda has been a career tutor since 2013. She attended Reed College in Portland Oregon, but she missed the sunshine and moved back to the bay area shortly thereafter. She has helped more than 300 students improve their scores on the ACT, SAT, and SSAT, and has become highly requested among bay area parents. Her calm demeanor and indefatigable positivity make her a wonderful resource for students, especially those with anxiety. Amanda is an expert on all areas of the SAT, ACT, and also tutors Psychology, Literature, Biology, Spanish, writing, and admissions essays. Informed by her Psychology background, she has a holistic approach to education, and thoughtfully tailors her style to benefit each student. Amanda enjoys creative writing, bouldering, and spending time with her cat. Amanda tutors in San Francisco, Marin, and the East Bay, and remotely.
Ben
Over the past decade Ben has gained international recognition as a standardized test prep expert specializing in the SAT, ACT, SSAT, and ISEE. Ben spent the first few years of his career traveling throughout the United States as a "premier" tutor for one of the largest test prep companies in the world. During this time Ben's services were requested for a number of years to teach at the acclaimed international high school summer program at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. While there, Ben began to develop a reputation overseas and soon relocated to Istanbul, Turkey. While based out of Turkey, Ben traveled extensively working with students from all over the world. To date Ben has helped over 1000 students from more than 35 countries achieve their dreams of pursuing higher education. Given the diverse range of students with whom he has worked, Ben has a unique ability to quickly identify a student's individual needs and customize personalized plans to ensure maximum improvement. In his spare time Ben enjoys anything related to being out on the water, which stems from the time he won a bronze medal in the Junior Olympics for sailing when he was just a kid.
Carrie
Carrie has been working as a private academic tutor and mentor for over 15 years. She is a master SAT/ACT tutor and has also supported students with the ISEE, SSAT, and HSPT, alongside college essays, executive functioning, and a range of academic subjects. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where she earned a master’s degree and was published internationally. Carrie also earned her BA from Wake Forest University, graduating summa cum laude. Carrie is passionate about teaching and uplifting her students—motivating teens to approach school (and life!) with confidence. She has helped countless students to get into their dream college programs. Carrie’s teaching approach is rooted in the notion that one’s mindset determines one’s ability to succeed. As a tutor and mentor, she not only teaches strategies/concepts but also coaches her students on methods for handling test anxiety and other lifestyle factors that may be inhibiting progress. Her approach is individualized and holistic; each student processes information differently, and the key to success is finding a way to make learning an engaging and fun process! In her free time, Carrie enjoys writing, painting, singing, dancing, traveling, and hanging out with her nieces.
Cody
Cody grew up in Kentucky, where his lifelong interest in learning first took root. Striving to push himself academically, he attended the Gatton Academy of Math and Science, a two-year early college program that allowed him to complete high school as a full-time undergraduate student. After high school, he studied math and computer science at MIT, where he worked as a programming tutor and began working with test prep and academic subject students outside of school. After moving to San Francisco, he has spent over six years as a full-time tutor in the Bay Area and has also led instruction and curriculum development in the EdTech industry. Cody tutors for the SAT, ACT, and SSAT, all levels of math from elementary school to advanced Calculus, most scientific subjects, and anything related to programming or Computer Science. After nearly a decade of working in education, he aims to use his extensive classroom and industry experience to help his students achieve their full potential.
Douglas
Doug is a career test prep teacher who has a BS in Chemistry from Central Michigan University and worked towards a Ph.D. and an M.Ed. from Colorado State University. Doug developed his flair for communication through a lifetime of involvement in music and performance, taught underclassmen throughout his graduate study, and earned the Master Teacher Award from Front Range Community College as well as the Mentor of the Year award from Colorado State University. Doug has years of experience as a master teacher and tutor at a national test prep company, teaching ACT, SAT, GRE, MCAT (Biology, CARS, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physics), GMAT, AP and SAT Science and Math Subject Tests. In his many years of teaching and his own experience in higher education, he has seen almost everything that his students will face and enjoys helping them navigate the process. Doug maintains a high level of energy in his classroom and tutoring sessions and uses both humor and Socratic questioning to keep his students engaged. He has a reputation as a curmudgeon with a heart of gold, helping his students build self-reliance and a motivation to succeed. When he’s not teaching, Doug still plays music. He has a passion for collecting things as well, with his LEGO collection being his most prized collection.
Jacob
With 20 years of experience, Jacob has crafted a tutoring style that adjusts to individual learners and their best-suited learning styles, while also connecting with the students to meet them where they are in their educational journey. He earned a BS in Physics from Colorado Mesa University and an MSc in Analytics from Georgia Institute of Technology. He covers various STEM topics, such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics/Statistics, and Coding/Machine Learning, as well as test preparation in the SAT/PSAT, ACT, SSAT, ISEE, and HSPT. He has helped students bring their grades up in very short order for upcoming tests, implemented long-term learning plans and tutoring programs to maintain performance, and helped students reengage with learning to inspire their desire to remain curious and rekindle a sense of awe surrounding the learning process. In his free time, he enjoys staying current with new advancements in technology and medical breakthroughs. He also enjoys singing like Elvis, playing guitar and drums, and exploring new cuisine around his home and while traveling. Most recently, he has taken an interest in AI, such as ChatGPT and other Large Language Models, and is currently developing similar software for various purposes.
Jeff
Jeff hails from ten acres of pine forest in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. With keen interests in both linguistic and quantitative thinking, Jeff earned his bachelor’s in English literature from UC Berkeley and then worked for several years calculating financial projections and investment analyses in the wealth management industry. Jeff fell in love with education work while teaching high school communicative English in Seoul, South Korea in 2009. Since earning his teaching credential and master of arts in teaching degree from UC Irvine, he has worked toward improving instruction in multiple education systems. Most recently, he helped to design, found, and lead the first California diploma-granting high school in China. Jeff has privately tutored students throughout his time as a teacher, independently and with elite tutoring companies. He especially loves working 1-on-1 with students and designing customized learning experiences that fit their individual ability levels, motivations, and goals. In his free time, Jeff travels the world, writes poetry, reads about societal things, and meditates. He specializes in all sections of the SAT, ACT, and SSAT, as well as English Language and Literature, Math through Precalculus, US and World History, and college essays.
John
John received his undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature (Spanish/ French) from Middlebury College in 2016. He began teaching as a high school student and has continued to pursue education ever since. John’s pedagogical practice is centered on two core tenets: cultivating a growth mindset and employing a socratic, student-led process to help students build mastery and gain confidence. In his eight years teaching professionally, John has worked with hundreds of students on all sections of the Digital SAT, ACT, and ISEE. He is also well versed in academic areas including English, math through Precalculus, and Spanish. Outside of tutoring, John is a writer of short fiction and essays, an urban farmer, a cyclist, and a lover of nature in general. John loves to learn new things, and always has a new interest to share with students.
Kyle
A San Francisco native, Kyle attended Cathedral School for Boys and was the valedictorian of Stuart Hall High School’s founding class. He discovered his passion for tutoring – and for education in general – during his junior year of high school, which led him to seek other tutoring opportunities during high school and college. Since 2003, Kyle has helped hundreds of students do their very best on the SAT, ACT, SSAT, and a wide variety of academic subjects. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from UC Berkeley, a Master’s in History and Philosophy of Science from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UC San Diego. Kyle believes that the best tutoring involves meeting students where they are and tutors students as whole people, particularly enjoying watching them grow into themselves. Kyle specializes in all areas of the SAT and ACT, most SAT subject tests, math through calculus, all high school sciences, English, Latin, writing, and history. He has extensive experience working with students with learning differences and is also able to tutor more obscure subjects not often found in high school curricula, such as formal and informal logic and higher-level sciences such as organic chemistry.
Mary
Originally from the Bay Area, Mary is passionate about teaching math and physics. While an electrical engineering graduate student at MIT, she had the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant in an introductory engineering course and discovered that she loved to help other students master challenging concepts. Then, while working as an engineer in Silicon Valley, she had fun tutoring a technician in calculus. This passion to focus on helping students learn led Mary to pursue a Master’s Degree in Education from Stanford University. Since then, she has enjoyed teaching upper-level math (pre-calculus, calculus, differential equations, multivariable calculus) and physics courses. In particular, Mary loves to prepare students to take the AP Calculus AB/BC and AP Physics C (both Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism) exams each May. Mary has enjoyed working with students remotely using Zoom over the last two years. When not tutoring, she enjoys spending time with her family playing ping pong, gardening, and watching shows together.
Maryam
Maryam graduated with honors from Stanford University with a double major in Biology and African Studies, then earned her Master's in Education from Harvard University. Over the past 14 years, Maryam has honed her teaching and tutoring expertise - aiding over 500 students globally in achieving their academic goals. Starting in early 2023, Maryam also gained an early advantage in tutoring Canadian and other international students for the digital SAT. Specializing in SAT and ACT remote tutoring, Maryam believes in empowering students of all abilities to reach their full potential. Maryam employs a personalized yet differentiated approach to tutoring, earning appreciation from both parents and students for her patient and nurturing demeanor. Her emphasis goes beyond academic instruction, as she actively assists students in refining their study skills and building confidence in themselves. One of Maryam's most notable strengths is her enduring international mindset. She is perfectly fluent in 4 languages - English, French, Hausa and Kagome.
Nicole
Nicole is an ACT, SAT, and SSAT expert, hailing from Illinois, which leads the nation in sheer quantity of ACT test takers. She holds a bachelors degree in philosophy from DePaul University with high honors. Nicole was one of the most requested tutors at one of Chicago’s leading private tutoring firms, which described her as “the perfect amalgam of tutor, mentor, and coach.” She has tutored several hundred students for the ACT, SAT, and SSAT, and she has a range of experience developing curriculum, training test prep teachers, and mentoring students. After several years tutoring for Swell in the Bay Area while managing an organic blueberry farm, Nicole now spends her time volunteering with the Salmon River Restoration Council surveying nearby salmon nests and exploring the wilderness of the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County where she resides with her family and flock of laying hens.
Peter
After graduating from Carleton College with a degree in Cinema and Media Studies in 2014, Peter began working in the documentary field. At the same time, he began tutoring and is now a career test prep tutor, dedicating himself to helping students achieve their highest potential on ACT, SAT, GRE, and academic subjects. From the time he began his MFA in documentary media at Northwestern in 2016 until 2020, he accumulated over 4,000 hours of 1:1 tutoring. He has also teaches small groups, classes, and does livestream ACT and SAT boot camps for schools and districts. In addition to tutoring, Peter served as Director of Assessment at Mastery Prep, a national test prep company, for 3.5 years. In this role, he trained and coached teams of educators and curriculum developers, overseeing the creation of educational materials aligned with state and federal academic standards. Given his extensive experience, Peter has a unique ability to diagnose individual needs and customize personalized plans to ensure maximum improvement. Peter excels at creating supportive learning environments where students feel comfortable tackling challenging problems. Known for his energetic and engaging teaching style, he brings the same enthusiasm from the rugby fields he plays on into his tutoring sessions. He enjoys working with students from diverse backgrounds. In his spare time, Peter plays club rugby for a team in Boston and loves running, reading, and traveling.
Rich
Rich was born and raised in New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University and has a BA. Since 1999 Rich has helped thousands of students achieve their academic goals on the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, SSAT, and ISEE. Having earned 99th percentile math, verbal and writing scores on multiple standardized tests, including the GRE, Rich is an expert in all areas of these exams. He also offers academic help in writing, math, biology, English and history. Rich has taught in New Jersey, Manhattan and overseas and is currently based in Colorado. Throughout his teaching career Rich has also maintained a career as a writer not only in education but also the travel, finance and energy industries. Rich's work creating education materials and curriculum informs his teaching by helping students learn the mindset of the test maker to easily boil down questions and recognize both traps and opportunities. When not teaching, Rich enjoys cooking, playing guitar and aerial photography.
Tuyen
Tuyen is a California native from the ever diverse and vibrant Bay Area. She attended UC Berkeley where she earned her bachelor's degree in public health. Tuyen currently works at a nonprofit developing community health programming for underserved populations in San Francisco. Tuyen's passion for education stems from her experience working as an afterschool program teacher while she was in college. She discovered a love for teaching while working with students to improve their literacy and math skills through thoughtful lesson-planning and interactive exercises. Before entering her role in community health and nonprofit work, Tuyen worked as a professional test preparation tutor covering the SAT, ACT, SSAT, HSPT, and ISEE (upper and lower). Her teaching style incorporates motivational interviewing and encourages students to engage with lessons through methods such as teach-back. Tuyen especially enjoys working with students to improve their testing confidence because she believes that students learn and perform best when they're comfortable and empowered. In her free time, Tuyen enjoys hiking with her dog, cooking new noodle soup recipes, and tending to her massive indoor garden. Tuyen is an expert in exams such as the SAT and ACT, along with high school entrance exams.
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