Home / Physics Tutoring · La Grange
One-on-one AP Physics 1, AP Physics C, and honors physics with a Golden Apple-winning teacher — plus math from algebra through pre-calculus. In-person across the western Chicago suburbs and online for students anywhere in the U.S.
Physics at every level, plus the math underneath it — from the first free-body diagram to the night before the AP exam.
Algebra-based physics covering kinematics, dynamics, energy, momentum, rotational motion, simple harmonic motion, and waves. Heavy emphasis on the kind of multi-step reasoning the free-response section demands.
Level · High School · College PrepCalculus-based physics for students serious about engineering, physics, or hard sciences in college. Mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and the underlying mathematical reasoning that holds it all together.
Level · Advanced High School · Early CollegeFor students moving fast through honors-level material — stronger problem sets, deeper conceptual demands, less time to fall behind. Sessions are tuned to whatever unit is in front of you this week.
Level · High School · HonorsStandard high school physics and introductory college physics. Whether the goal is just to pass, or to build a foundation strong enough to choose a STEM major later, the approach is the same: actual understanding, not memorized templates.
Level · High School · Intro CollegeAlgebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2, trigonometry, and pre-calculus. Some students come for the math course they are in right now; others come because the algebra and trig are the real reason physics feels impossible. Either way, the goal is fluency — the point where the math stops being the obstacle and becomes a tool.
Level · Middle School · High SchoolBuilt around the student in front of me — not a fixed curriculum.
Most students don't struggle with physics because they're not capable. They struggle because the explanation never quite landed.— Aaron Podolner
Whether that's "I have a test Friday and I'm lost" or "I want a head start on AP Physics C this summer." No assumptions, no cookie-cutter starting point.
Every formula has a story behind it — what it's modeling, why it works, when it breaks. We work that story until the equation is the obvious thing rather than the mysterious thing.
For AP and final-exam prep, we drill the kind of free-response problems where memorized templates fail. The goal is a student who can think, not a student who can recognize.
Between sessions, students can keep working the same way for free at Mistake Master — my practice site for AP and SAT courses. Instead of marking an answer wrong and moving on, it names the misconception behind the mistake, which is exactly how a session starts. No account and no email required.
Western Chicago suburbs in person — anywhere in the U.S. online.
I'm based in La Grange, Illinois and tutor in person across the surrounding western Chicago suburbs. For families farther out — or anyone who'd rather skip the drive — online sessions work just as well, and that's how I work with students across the United States.
If your town isn't on the list and you're somewhere nearby, ask. The list is conservative, not exclusive.
If yours isn't here, email and ask.
AP Physics 1, AP Physics C (Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism), honors physics, and standard high school physics. I also work with students taking introductory college physics courses.
Yes — math from algebra through pre-calculus: Algebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2, trigonometry, and pre-calculus. That can be the math course a student is taking right now, or the groundwork that makes a physics class finally make sense.
Both. In-person sessions are available across the western Chicago suburbs — La Grange, La Grange Park, Western Springs, Brookfield, Riverside, Oak Park, Hinsdale, and the surrounding area. Online sessions are available to students anywhere in the United States.
Sessions are one-on-one and built around what the student actually needs that week — whether that's current homework, a unit they're stuck on, exam prep, or filling in foundational gaps from earlier in the course. Every session prioritizes understanding the underlying physics over template-matching, because templates fail the moment a problem is worded slightly differently.
Yes. AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C exam prep is a significant part of what I do. My classroom students achieved an 80% pass rate on AP exams, and my tutoring approach uses the same emphasis on real reasoning and free-response problem solving that drove those results.
Primarily high school students taking physics for the first time through AP-level seniors, plus early college students in introductory physics courses. On the math side, I work with students from Algebra 1 through pre-calculus. The approach scales to whatever level a student is working at.
Yes, and it's free. I built Mistake Master for exactly that: practice for AP Physics 1, 2, and C, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Precalculus, AP Calculus AB and BC, AP Statistics, and SAT Math, where every wrong answer is tied to the specific misconception behind it. Students can use it on their own with no account, and when a student brings me what tripped them up there, we start the session already knowing what to fix.
Email MrPodoPhysicsTutoring@gmail.com with the student's grade level, the course they're taking, and rough availability. I reply with open times and we go from there.
Whether it's a single session before a test or ongoing weekly tutoring through the school year, the first step is the same: send an email to MrPodoPhysicsTutoring@gmail.com and we'll find a time.