Expectations and Advice

Sign in at the Front Desk when you enter the Mathematics Tutorial Laboratory.
Raise your hand when you want help.
Be courteous to those around you.
Turn cell phones to silent. If you choose to take a call, hold your conversation outside the Math Lab.
Remember that the tutors will not give answers to homework. They will help you learn the techniques that will enable you to do your homework.
When the Math Lab is busy, try to ask only one or two questions at a time and be patient when waiting. The tutors on duty are not your personal tutors, and they need to help others as well.

Attend class. Remember, the Mathematics Tutorial Lab serves as an adjunct to math courses and is not a replacement for the material presented by your instructors. It is important that you also attend lectures and discussions regularly!
Come with specific questions or topics.
Come in more than 48 hours before your test. The Math Lab gets very busy before tests, and you will have to wait much longer to get help.
Come in on a regular basis. A tutor cannot teach you everything your professor covered in the previous 4 weeks of class in one hour.

Give students with questions in the Math Lab priority over any other activity. You may bring your own course material to study, but keep an eye on the people around you, and stop working on it as soon as you see a student that needs help; students may feel very reluctant to interrupt you.
Always look for students who need help. Walk around the lab and stop to ask if a person has a question.
Respect the dignity of each person with whom you work.
Do not just work a problem yourself and give students the answer – instead, guide the students as they work through the problem themselves. Ask questions whose answers lead to a method of solving the problem. If it is necessary for you to do the problem, explain your thought process and then give a similar problem to the student.
Try to spread your time evenly among students who have questions. Be sure that you offer help to everyone who requests it.
When a student asks for help, use the method presented in the text and/or the method presented by their instructor. If the students are having trouble understanding these methods, then you may want to suggest an alternate method. Be aware of the curriculum level. (i.e. there are no derivatives in precalculus classes).
If students ask questions about testing or other procedures and you do not know the answer, refer them to their instructors in the course.

When the lab is crowded, try to group students who are on the same topic and help them at the same time.
Investigate the other texts, supplementary materials, computer-assisted lessons and other materials that we use in the Lab. Then you can recommend to your students those materials that you feel will benefit them. They won't know it's there if you don't tell or show them.