Question 1

Who is the tutor and what is his background?

Accepted Answer

My name is Ahmed Squalli Houssaini and I have been tutoring in Montreal for more than 10 years. I hold a French Baccalaureate with a mathematics specialisation, a B.Sc. in Computer Science, Finance and Mathematics from McGill University, and an M.Sc. in Applied Computer Science from Concordia University. I studied in both the French and the Quebec systems, which is why I can move between them without a student having to be translated twice.

Question 2

Do you teach in English or in French?

Accepted Answer

Either, and the student decides, not the school. Plenty of students at Lycee Marie de France or College Stanislas follow the French program all day and still think in English. We can work through a French textbook while speaking English, and the written answers stay in the language the exam will be marked in.

Question 3

Can one tutor really cover math, physics, chemistry and programming?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it matters more than it sounds. A single session can move from a calculus limit to the physics problem that needed it, because the two are the same difficulty wearing different clothes. There is no second tutor to brief and no gap between them.

Question 4

Which McGill courses do you tutor?

Accepted Answer

On the mathematics side, MATH 133 linear algebra and geometry, MATH 139, MATH 140 and MATH 141 calculus, and MATH 222 calculus 3. On the computer science side, COMP 202 Foundations of Programming, COMP 204, COMP 206 and COMP 250. In physics, PHYS 101 and PHYS 102. First-year chemistry as well.

Question 5

Which Concordia courses do you tutor?

Accepted Answer

COMP 248 and COMP 249, the two Java programming courses, plus first-year calculus and linear algebra, and the PHYS 204 and PHYS 205 physics sequence. I did my M.Sc. at Concordia, so the course structure and the marking culture are familiar ground.

Question 6

I am failing COMP 202. Is it too late?

Accepted Answer

It usually is not, because COMP 202 fails students for one of about five reasons and they are all fixable: confusing an assignment with a comparison, printing a value where a return was needed, mutating a list while looping over it, off-by-one indices, and never having learned to read a stack trace. Once the actual reason is named, the recovery is fast.

Question 7

Do you help with assignments?

Accepted Answer

I help you learn to do the assignment, which is not the same thing as doing it. We work on a problem of the same shape until the method is yours, then you write your own submission. Academic integrity rules at McGill and Concordia are strict and I will not put a student at risk.

Question 8

Do you cover the CEGEP science courses?

Accepted Answer

Yes: differential calculus 201-NYA, integral calculus 201-NYB, linear algebra and vector geometry 201-NYC, statistics 201-337, general chemistry 202-SF1-RE (formerly 202-NYA), solution chemistry 202-NYB, and the three physics courses 203-NYA mechanics, 203-NYB electricity and magnetism, and 203-NYC waves and modern physics.

Question 9

My child is at an English secondary school in Montreal. Do you follow that program?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Secondary 4 and Secondary 5 mathematics, physics and chemistry follow the Quebec program whatever the language of instruction, including the Secondary 4 ministerial examination. The vocabulary changes, the content does not.

Question 10

What is the difference between Secondary 5 and the French Terminale?

Accepted Answer

They are not the same year. Quebec Secondary 5 is the last year of high school and is followed by two years of CEGEP; the French Terminale is the last year of lycee and leads straight to university. A student arriving from France in Secondary 5 is usually a year ahead in mathematics, which is why the transition looks easy for one term and then stops being easy.

Question 11

My child goes to a French school but I do not read French. Can you still help?

Accepted Answer

That is one of the most common situations I work with. I read the French textbook, the French assignment and the French report card, and I explain to you in English what is actually being asked and where the marks are being lost. You do not need to learn the system in order to support your child inside it.

Question 12

What are specialites and why does the choice matter?

Accepted Answer

In Premiere a student picks three specialite subjects and drops one for Terminale, keeping two. Those two are the subjects examined at the Baccalaureate and they largely decide which university programs stay open. Dropping mathematics at the end of Premiere is the single most consequential choice in the French system, and it is made at sixteen.

Question 13

How do French grades out of 20 translate?

Accepted Answer

They do not translate linearly, and this is where most English-speaking parents misread a report card. In a French scientific subject, 12 out of 20 is a solid pass, 14 is good and 16 is excellent. A mark of 10 is not a failure the way 50 percent would read in a North American system, it is the passing threshold.

Question 14

In person or online?

Accepted Answer

Both. In-person sessions happen in Montreal; online sessions use a shared whiteboard and work just as well for calculus, algebra and code, which is most of what I teach. Students outside Montreal, including families at the French schools of New York, work with me online.

Question 15

What happens in a first session?

Accepted Answer

We find the real gap. A student who cannot integrate is very often a student who cannot factor, and no amount of integration practice fixes that. The first session diagnoses where the chain actually breaks, then we start there rather than where the syllabus says we should be.

Question 16

Individual or small group?

Accepted Answer

Both are available. Individual sessions move entirely at the pace of the student. A small group of two or three students at the same level lowers the cost per student and makes weekly work affordable across a full term.

Question 17

Can I ask questions between sessions?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is included. Message me the night before a midterm with the problem you are stuck on. Much of the value of a tutor is not in the scheduled hour, it is in not staying blocked for four days.

Question 18

What does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Rates depend on the level and on whether the session is individual or in a small group. Get in touch for current rates. A first session is possible before you commit to anything.

Question 19

How do I book?

Accepted Answer

WhatsApp, the contact form on this site, or email. I answer quickly, usually the same day, and we find a slot that works.

Question 20

Is the exercise bank really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every set is read directly on the site with the full worked solution on the same page. There is no download, no account, no email capture and no paywall. If a solution is worth writing it is worth showing.

Question 21

Are the exercises in English?

Accepted Answer

A growing number of sets are written entirely in English and they are listed in a section of their own at the top of the exercise index. The rest of the bank is in French, because that is the program most of it was written for. Mathematics itself does not need translating, so a French set on integration by parts is perfectly usable in an English course.

Question 22

Do I need to be your student to use them?

Accepted Answer

No. The bank exists whether or not you ever contact me. Use it, share it with a classmate, work through it alone.

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