Mental Health Professional offering lessons in Psychology (statistics, personality and social psychology, neurorehabilitation, abnormal psych etc)

Find out more about Alyssa

• When and why did you develop an interest in your chosen field?

  I've been interested in Psychology and human behaviour for as long as I can remember, and have always envied and admired great public speakers and teachers. Seeing the variety in speaking skills of professors at school has shown me the importance of capturing the audience's attention and explaining complex topics in a way that makes sense to learners, and is something I do my best to emulate.

• What makes you passionate about your subject?

  Since Psychology is the study of human behaviour I find many of the topics personally relevant, and incredibly interesting. Even statistics - a course that can be intimidating to many - is useful for looking at many things beyond the course. It helps us be more critical in our daily lives whenever we hear someone say "have you heard that ___ causes ___?", or "I just saw ___ reported in the news"

• What do you like about tutoring? What makes you a "Superprof"?

  In being flexible and focusing on the areas that my students want to focus on improving, I find myself learning more about those areas as well as about the students in general. Particularly for my public speaking students, it can be helpful to work with topics they're familiar with and so I end up learning about their careers and interests too!

• Do you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you? Please explain.

  I'll never forget my Third-year Statistics tutor and the way she ranted about the changes to the way census data was obtained. To this day I remember her whenever I think about inferential statistics.

• What are your keys to success?

  Adaptability. Everyone is starting from a different place and has their own individual strengths. Emphasizing the strengths and building on the areas they're less certain about.
  Promoting self-confidence. The learning process can be frustrating and difficult, and it's important to remember that it's not often someone will get 100% of the right answers on their first try. Part of the learning process is getting the wrong answer and then figuring out how to do it more accurately the next time.