Why I do this

Gifted and engaged students generally don’t have appropriate support for developing their love of math, and using it to succeed.

I believe that the world needs these students operating at their best.

– – –

You are: In middle or high school, undergrad, or applying to grad school.

You’re interested in: 

What I do

Others change the contents of students’ minds. I aim to change their architecture.

To my students, this means tackling fun problems and challenging puzzles that they’d never see in a classroom. To their parents, it’s about authentic engagement, permanent advancement, and self-management under pressure.

How it matters

Gifted students often flip from learning to coasting, and no one notices.

And yet, these are the kids with the most power to change the world.

So I challenge bright kids in order to turn complacency into determination, disinterest into engagement, and frustration into delight.

Get to know me

I’m a real person. If I don’t pick up right when you call, I’ll get back to you fast.
Check out my views on the AMC, my puzzle podcast, my rants with Ted, my personal Twitter, my coach, the professional development organization for which I’m president for ’21-’22… I’m an open book. (Oh, speaking of which, here’s my book. 😉 )

Teacher

Helping bright students excel at math and general problem-solving has been my vocation since 2002.

Leader

I’m president of the Bay Area Tutoring Summit through 2022.

Competitor

In 2009, 2015, and again in 2017, my team won the MIT Mystery Hunt, arguably the most challenging amateur puzzle competition in the world. (This taught me more than I expected, about intellectual success under pressure.)

Coach

From 2008 to 2013 I was Head Coach of the (San Francisco CA) Urban School Math Competition Team. I currently coach students throughout the country.

Musician

As a (former) professional musician, I believe in a strong relationship between art and craft, and in the value of balancing intellect with emotion.

MIT grad

Wes Carroll’s Blog & Puzzler Podcast

Below you'll find my most recent posts and episodes. Click the posts to access my blog and podcast.

The AMC vs The Usual Tests and Grades

This blog, also hosted on Substack, is where I share what I’ve been discussing, writing, and reading in the realms of academic and cognitive development for gifted high schoolers...

Recent AMC changes

...and how some ambitious students can reap huge benefits There have been some major shifts in the college admissions landscape over the last few years. These shifts have changed...

A few thoughts about the ACT/SAT

If you’re heading to college, you’re almost certainly going to take the ACT or SAT at least once. I’d like to set the record straight on a few things so that we can all minimize...

The AMC 10 and 12 Exams: What You Need to Know

They say that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but today would be the second best. That’s how I feel about writing about the American Math Competition (AMC): I...

Why Wes Carroll Coaches the ACT

Short answer: Because the way I do it, the students gain skills they'll actually use throughout their adult lives.My buddy Tutor Amie and I were discussing this recently: Check...

22: Split the check

Last week, two of my friends and I went to a restaurant and had a lovely meal. We decided to evenly split the check, so we asked the waiter to just combine the totals. However, ...

Podcast – 21: The faulty odometer

A faulty car odometer proceeds from digit 3 to digit 5, always skipping the digit 4, regardless of position. For example, after traveling one mile the odometer changed from...

Podcast – 20: The middle digit

How many three-digit numbers satisfy the property that the middle digit is the average of the first and the last digits? // Spiciness: ** out of ****

Podcast – 19: The token tax

A game is played with tokens according to the following rule. In each round, the player with the most tokens gives one token to each of the other players and also places one...

Podcast – 18: The circular track

Brenda and Sally run in opposite directions on a circular track, starting at diametrically opposite points. They first meet after Brenda has run 100 meters. They next meet after...

Testimonials

Focused families like yours get the most out of our work together.

I wanted to let you know that I got a 5 on my AP Environmental Science test.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work with me. You taught me a lot, and I will use the knowledge throughout my life.

Carolyn

Student

I would like to notify you guys that I have received a 5 on my AP Physics 1 exam!

I appreciate all the help you guys have provided and can't thank you enough!

Dev

Student

I cannot say enough great things about Wes Carroll. ... Thanks to Wes' wonderful teaching skills, my son did exceedingly well on his tests and is an incoming freshman this fall at his first college choice.

Candice Y.

Parent

That was probably the most efficient tutoring session I’ve ever witnessed.

Debbie S.

Director of Admissions, Epsilon Camp

[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.

Parent

I got a 5 on the AP calc BC test!

Thank you so much for all of your support over the past years.

You have helped me arrive at a place where I feel both confident in my mathematical abilities and excited to continue learning. Thank you!!

Lindsay

Student

A high-energy, no-nonsense force.

Denise Flagg

Parent

Thank you again for the 'emergency help' for Helena in May! She just got back her AP results & received a score of 5.

I'd call that the most efficient intervention I have seen!

Yvonne

Parent

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

Parent

I wish everyone could learn with Wes, they could really expand their minds.

Ronin Hermann

Student

Without you and T Lin’s help, I do not know where I would be. T. Lin still gave me many strategies and advice that have helped me to deal with these problems.

From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank you.

Krishna Bhatt

Student

5 on physics 1, 5 on calculus AB. Thank you!
Elizabeth L.

Student

Thanks again for all your help! I think you struck a really authentic balance between offering up your interpretations and wisdom and also letting me learn on my own and be curious.

Nate C.

Student

I want to thank you both sincerely for the confidence that has grown inside of Hudson since working with you. Since working with you, Hudson’s test scores across the board have improved and his Computer Science grade has gone up 20 percentage points.

I am happy with the success Hudson has been showing. He is much calmer, more confident, and visibly feels better about himself. It’s been awesome to watch, and I only wish I had sought your team out sooner.

I cannot speak highly enough about you and I sincerely appreciate your working with Hudson.

Anna

Parent

Huge thank you for all of your invaluable help with Nate. We are so grateful!
Laura C.

Parent

Working with Wes was an all-around great experience. He was flexible, prepared, extremely knowledgeable, and able to form a connection via a computer screen. His website is super easy to navigate which helps immensely. I would recommend Wes to anyone in need of tutoring for ACT or SAT. He takes a different approach than other tutors through strategies that help distress and prepare you mentally and physically before you even have to think about the questions on the test. Thank you Wes for all your help!!

Bella F.

SAT / ACT Student

Wes Carroll tutoring provides support for high-level math classes that in our experience is difficult to find. Wes and James helped my daughter through the more challenging areas of calculus. They helped her feel prepared and confident going into the AP exam. I would highly recommend their services.

Claire B.

Parent

Simply put, there is no better private teacher of mathematics and SAT prep for students of exceptional ability in the entire San Francisco Bay Area than Wes Carroll.

Chris Borland

Academic Coach, Borland Educational

Wes has worked his magic with me and all of my siblings over the past 10+ years. Wes has helped my siblings and me prepare at various times for the SAT, GRE, and GMAT. Wes knows math and can help teach math – beyond that Wes is wonderful at helping his students change how they think through problems. Wes won’t just show you how to solve problems, he’ll let you delve into problems, let you get overwhelmed and help you when you run into roadblocks. He’ll make sure that you go into whatever you are studying for with a well thought out and practiced strategy that is tailored to the way your mind works – in other words, working with Wes helps you improve not only your knowledge but your self-confidence.

Alex M

GMAT / GRE Student

Wes Carroll was phenomenal. … It truly was a life-changing conversation. My self-awareness and general insightfulness have noticeably improved since. For me, Wes Carroll was the most helpful Mathcamp visitor ever, by a long shot.

Attendee

Canada/USA Mathcamp

Wes is an excellent tutor. If you use his courses or private sessions, you will only see results. Using Wes, I was able to raise my SAT II MATH 2 score from a 660 to an 800 and my SAT Physics from a 630 to a 750.

Christopher R.

SAT Subject Test Student

Went from a failing grade in calculus first semester to an A second semester. Very helpful! Thank you!

Stefan M.

Calculus Student

Wes has the ironclad content knowledge vital to being a professional tutor/teacher/instructor, but he also has the (rarer) ability to understand how you understand something. Sit with that for a second…make sure that makes sense, because it’s absolutely essential to high-value tutoring. Wes knows if you understand something or if you don’t. If you don’t, he will (instantaneously) devise another way of explaining it to you, via metaphor, via comparison, via personal experience…whatever method that will resonate with you. Guess what happens next? Yep: you understand it.

Ted Dorsey

Tutor, Tutor Ted

He received an 800 on the Math 2 Subject Test and then applied your study methodology to study on his own for the Physics Subject Test and also earned an 800.

Teresa M.

Parent

I’ve been a teacher for over thirty years and Wes does some things–many things–better than any other tutor I’ve witnessed. He doesn’t just explain, he really teaches, helping students to learn how to solve problems as puzzle rather as rote exercises. He’s patient and respectful but also appropriately demanding.

Michael S.

Teacher

(It was) the best I’ve done in a UCLA math class to date!

Thank you very much for all of your help, I couldn’t have done it without you.

Summer K.

Student

I was ready to take the class again next year, I’m so glad I don’t have to! 

Sophie C.

Student

We were getting help elsewhere, but her ACT scores were not improving. After getting help from Wes’s team, her scores improved to a desired level. So after ACT, we continued getting help from WCTC, and she scored 5 in that AP exam that year.

The next year, we were getting help from various other tutors, but I realized Wes’s team was what we needed, so I enrolled her with three of Wes’s tutors for AP Biology, AP Literature, and AP Physics. Long story short:  I wish I had gotten her started earlier with Wes’s team.

L. Kanta

Parent

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.

Parent

Working with (the team) was really encouraging and fun… It was especially helpful to learn how to approach free response questions, even when my knowledge is imperfect.

N. Z

Student

The Math 2 SAT Subject test help was great. But I especially appreciated the life advice. I know I can apply these new tools to boost my confidence and my success in any aspect of my academic life. Maybe even beyond.

C. Leung

Student

She is stunned that she did so well. You were simply awesome in working with her, and I can’t thank you enough!

David B.

Parent

You are incredible to have brought me so far in APES. I remember how much I learned from you from just the first session, and you continued to teach me so much. Thank you so much for teaching me and always being so flexible. My family and I can’t thank you enough.

Huge thanks again! I will miss seeing you every weekend. Your students – including me – are so lucky to have you as a teacher!!

Carolyn

Student

You explain things clearly, but if I don’t understand the explanation, you explain it in a different way. And a different way again—and again. You’ll explain something five different ways if that’s what it takes for me to understand.

R. Hooper

Student

Not only is Wes Carroll an insightful, brilliant math tutor par excellence, but he is hands down the best long-distance teacher I know. I don’t know how he does it, but his enthusiasm and stage presence are even more infectious on screen than in person.

Justin Sigars

Tutor and co-founder, Bodsat Prep

When it comes to virtual teaching, Wes Carroll is brilliant. In fact, he is so helpful that even other educators continue to benefit from his tutelage. As a teacher, Wes knows his audience and is always enthusiastic about the subject matter.

In addition, he not only offers well-organized online courses but also video-conference tutoring. As one who has witnessed one of Wes’s virtual sessions, I have seen how his expertise with technology can reach multiple students and help them remotely.

Enrico B.

Parent

With Wes, [my daughter] learned not only the SAT, she learned to have confidence to do her best. I have never used any other service with my two other children ( be it SAT or math tutoring) except his English counterpart Justin. He is worth every penny and he teaches kids responsibility and goal setting. Wes thank you for your passion and expertise!

Claire S.

Parent

Wes was a math tutor for both of our sons for about 5 years. He worked with them when they had problems and he worked with them when they did not, using that time to push them ahead into new material. What can you say about a math tutor who increases your children’s aptitude, achievement and enjoyment of math? I guess, sensational. Wes is an extremely knowledgeable and gifted teacher who is able to pass on the love of his subject to his students. Our boys actually enjoyed and looked forward to their sessions with Wes, and he was extremely helpful in all aspects of their math life, from school work to testing to new areas of inquiry. We could not recommend Wes more highly…he is truly a gentleman and a scholar.

Allen D.

Parent

Working with Wes was an all-around great experience. He was flexible, prepared, extremely knowledgeable, and able to form a connection via a computer screen. His website is super easy to navigate which helps immensely. I would recommend Wes to anyone in need of tutoring for ACT or SAT. He takes a different approach than other tutors through strategies that help distress and prepare you mentally and physically before you even have to think about the questions on the test. Thank you Wes for all your help!!

Bella F.

SAT / ACT Student

Wes helped my son in prepare for the SAT Math Subject II test. My son didn’t have much experience preparing and studying for tests. Wes taught him important test taking strategies and helped him come up with a plan to prepare for the test that minimized the natural stress involved with taking these types of tests. Not only did my son score fantastic on the test, but he came away with the knowledge of how to better prepare for tests in the future.

Vickie R.

Parent

We appreciate our long and productive relationship.

J. Davidson

Parent of multiple WCTC grads

Nate said (Wes’s teammate) Quinn has been extremely helpful and has explained concepts that he hasn’t been able to understand since the start.

I wish we had connected him to Quinn earlier! 

L. Ching

Parent

Sophie is very thankful to have you!

Laura C.

Parent

Colly was jazzed and actually seemed confident about all this. Much appreciated.

Thank you again, Wes. You truly do have a gift at connecting with teenagers!

Mary Hossfeld

Parent

Wes has the ironclad content knowledge vital to being a professional tutor/teacher/instructor, but he also has the (rarer) ability to understand how you understand something. Sit with that for a second…make sure that makes sense, because it’s absolutely essential to high-value tutoring. Wes knows if you understand something or if you don’t. If you don’t, he will (instantaneously) devise another way of explaining it to you, via metaphor, via comparison, via personal experience…whatever method that will resonate with you. Guess what happens next? Yep: you understand it.

Ted Dorsey

Tutor, Tutor Ted

(Yours) was the highest rating this summer among our visiting teachers.

M. Debowsky

Program Director, Canada/USA Mathcamp

…working with Wes, students rocket-launch their math scores and even increase their eagerness to excel at highest altitudes. Wes’s enthusiasm is infectious, his efficiency in teaching enormously productive, and his service as a role model for what an ambitious student can achieve priceless. I count on him to help make dreams come true for my brightest academic stars.

Scott Cowan

Tutor, founder, SF Learns

My son takes his exam next Saturday, but I wanted to write my review before then because I sincerely feel that the benefits of his time with Wes go beyond the score on any one test. (But I would also like to point out that my son’s first practice test was a 590 and now he is testing at a 790. So, nice job, Wes!)

Parent from Sebastopol

Parent

Wes has been an excellent guide in this regard in a number of ways. He’s been working with our daughter for about nine months, helping her with self-study for acceleration in her school curriculum as well as exposing her to more advanced concepts and problems.

Narciso J.

Parent

In my opinion, the foremost quality of [Wes’s] teaching is his attentiveness to details and to the needs of the student, which result in a tutoring performance catering perfectly to the latter’s ability. I had the chance to witness first-hand his much-lauded ability to teach at long-distance and was amazed by how he seamlessly engaged with me as if or even better than if he were sitting right next to me. Finally, his management of time is splendid; he will never waste a single minute. Overall this experience has really helped me get the scores I hoped for. I am most grateful for his time.

Tancrède F.

GRE Student

Wes is a great tutor and a great friend. I’m also a fan of his podcast, The Puzzler!. When you’ve got Wes’ brainpower, a terrific puzzle podcast is just the sort of thing you can crank out for fun, in your spare time.

Nathan Fox

Tutor, founder, Fox LSAT

Wes Carroll has a laser-sharp focus, a quick wit, and connects directly with what a student needs. If you want to increase your understanding and scores while you decrease your stress, work with Wes.

Ben Bernstein, PhD

Tutor, author of Test Success! How to Be Calm, Confident and Focused on Any Test, Test Success

Wes works with your child’s direct needs— zero’s in on what the issues are, and corrects and helps them to succeed. As a parent, you sit in on the first session and pretty soon your kid and Wes are off into a math world all their own.

Liz F.

Parent

Wes helped my granddaughter Bella in Ohio by using [Zoom] with her over a mere 18 days to prep for the ACT. Bella increased her score from a 32 to a 34 which made the difference in how much college scholarship money she was offered. Wes knows all the techniques and is so encouraging; Bella loved working with him.

Mary R.

Grandparent

Wes’s impressive and efficient approach includes quickly and clearly assessing individual needs and building rapport during intake, filling gaps in skills and underlying understanding, teaching strategies tailored to student needs, and building the confidence necessary for success in students with test anxiety. The resulting scores are testament to his effective teaching.

Julia D.

Parent

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.

Parent

Please introduce yourself.

I’ll send you an invitation to schedule a video call with me, at no charge.

Learn more about...

Wes Carroll

Math, Physics & AMC Tutor

(415) 937-1729 / [email protected]

Available worldwide via videoconference

Math Competition Coaching

Experience the joys of elegant solutions and personal expertise even before you learn to drive.

(Math competitions also provide students with unique avenues for entrance into some of the best schools in the country.)

Online Video Courses

Get in-depth preparation, everywhere and anytime (SAT Math 2 only, for the moment).

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”.