Wes
Carroll
Founder & Tutor at Wes Carroll Tutoring & Coaching
Wes Carroll, an MIT-educated math, science, test-prep, and problem-solving coach, helps gifted students operate at their best through personalized coaching and creative challenges.
Gifted and engaged students generally don’t get the appropriate support to succeed. They often flip from learning to coasting, and no one notices. And yet, Wes believes, these are the kids with the most power to change the world.
While others seek to change the contents of these students’ minds, Wes focuses on changing their architecture. This means tackling fun problems and challenging puzzles they’d never see in a classroom. The result? Authentic engagement, permanent advancement, and self-management under pressure.
Wes’ biography
Teaching Philosophy
Wes believes in changing how students think, not just what they know. His focus is on creative problem-solving, that is, identifying the smallest knowledge or skill set needed to succeed—not because it’s easy, but because Wes understands that, with the proper support, students can dive deep into multiple areas of interest without burning out.
He leans on his ability to develop students’ passions while keeping the pace of their busy lives in mind. Wes is an expert at diagnosing the key features of a student’s relationship to their academic environment because he knows every student is their own person. Each has a fresh set of strengths to leverage as well as challenges to overcome. It’s always about the student, not the materials. That’s how he can give each student exactly what they need most.
Also, his ability to help normalize failure as a part of the learning process is a key component of ensuring that his students have a strong, healthy relationship with their education.
Personal Approach
Wes specializes in helping students who are roughly 2-3 standard deviations above the mean for those parts of intelligence we can measure. So, his approach centers primarily around meeting them where they are in two respects: they are more capable than their environment expects them to be, and they are alone in their environment in this respect.
With this approach, Wes challenges bright kids in order to turn complacency into determination, disinterest into engagement, and frustration into delight.
Areas of Expertise
Math competitions, such as AMC 8, AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME, and advanced STEM academics, such as AP Calculus AB and BC and AP Physics 1, 2, and C.
Academic Achievements
Wes earned his SB in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT, where he studied under engineering legend Vanu Bose (son of the even more famous Amar Gopal Bose). His thesis explored electroporation, a futuristic vaccination process inspired by Star Trek.
As a world-class puzzle solver, Wes’s team has won the MIT Mystery Hunt (the most challenging amateur puzzle competition in the world) four times. He’s also served as Head Coach for the SF CA Urban School Math Competition Team and twice as President of the Bay Area Tutoring Summit, which he co-founded. He also co-founded bodsat.com.
Your pathway to success with Wes involves
Building Mental Resilience
Learn how to manage failure, turn challenges into strengths, and develop independence in learning.
Mastering Complex Subjects
Grasp advanced concepts in math and science while building a foundation
for future success.
Engaging with Creative Challenges
Solve problems that go beyond the classroom, preparing for the real-world demands of top-tier universities and careers.
Current Projects
Wes is passionate about creating learning environments where gifted students thrive. He co-founded Bodsat Prep and the Bay Area Tutoring Summit, initiatives designed to support high-achieving students and their families.
What Students and Parents Say About Wes
“Wes did a great job in walking my daughter through a series of problems to understand exactly where she was having difficulty, and he figured out a way to point out the issue that sidestepped any resistance or defensiveness. His one session with my daughter solved the problem! She is documenting her work more thoroughly and is doing better on tests – partly because she makes fewer mistakes, and partly because when she does make a mistake she gets more partial credit due to having shown her work. She got an A in honors math last semester!”
David B.
“Wes is absolutely fantastic! He figures out how your kid learns and teaches him or her the way they need to reach their goals…With Wes, she learned not only the SAT, she learned to have confidence to do her best.”
Claire Serrato.
“Wes is a profoundly gifted teacher. Aside from having the requisite brilliant understanding of math, Wes is able to explain complicated and often abstract concepts in a way that respects each student’s specific learning style. What makes Wes so talented is his ability to speak many languages when it comes to math. My daughter found her meetings with Wes so inspiring and exciting that she is contemplating majoring in math in college!”
Jennifer M.
Wes Carroll
Cognitive coach and STEM tutor
(415) 937-1729
[email protected]
Available worldwide via videoconference
Math Competition Coaching
Experience the joys of elegant solutions and personal expertise before you even learn to drive.
(Math competitions also provide students with unique avenues for entrance into some of the best schools in the world.)
Academic Assistance
Get more out of of tough homework and exams, even in advanced courses like APs and IBs.
AP STEM Support
Work ahead of the rest of the class. Learn for life. Earn your "5".