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.
Find other informative and useful links through my linktree.
Teacher
Helping bright students excel at math and general problem-solving has been my vocation since 2002.
Leader
I’ve twice served as president of the Bay Area Tutoring Summit.
Competitor
In 2009, 2015, 2017, and again in 2023, my team won the MIT Mystery Hunt, the most challenging amateur puzzle competition in the world. (Ask me about intellectual success under pressure.)
Coach
From 2008 to 2013 I was Head Coach of the (SF CA) Urban School Math Competition Team. I now coach students throughout the country.
Musician
As a former professional musician, I believe in synergy between art and craft, and in the value of balancing intellect with emotion.
Yet more info
Visit my Linktree for more.
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.
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.
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!
I'd like to let you know that I was accepted into my first choice school -- Thank you for your support during my college application process.
I also really appreciate the ongoing help with Calculus from Quinn. She's also a great tutor!
That was probably the most efficient tutoring session I’ve ever witnessed.
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!
Thank [Chris] for your support. It was instrumental and he would not have gotten a B or learned deeply without you. You were stellar.
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!!
My daughter has shown significant improvement in her ability to articulate and explain her problem-solving process, which as a parent, we found very impressive and exciting to see!
A high-energy, no-nonsense force.
I'd call that the most efficient intervention I have seen!
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.
From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank you.
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.
Went from a failing grade in calculus first semester to an A second semester. Very helpful! Thank you!
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.
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.
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.
Thank you very much for all of your help, I couldn’t have done it without you.
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.
Huge thanks again! I will miss seeing you every weekend. Your students – including me – are so lucky to have you as a teacher!!
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.
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.
I wish we had connected him to Quinn earlier!
Thank you again, Wes. You truly do have a gift at connecting with teenagers!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Please introduce yourself.
Schedule an initial consultation with Wes down below, at no charge.
Learn more about...
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".