Pumphrey Tutoring • Hundreds of Testimonials and Prominent Named Verifications

Private Math Tutoring • Grades 7-12

Algebra • Geometry • Trigonometry • Precalculus • Calculus

This collection of hundreds of parent and student testimonials along with prominent named endorsements is a tribute to all my tutoring students over the decades. It’s about the intellectual journeys we have taken together, your love for learning, your hard work and perseverance, and your achievement of educational excellence. Congratulations to every one of you; approbation with distinction and well done!

Dr. George
Harvard Ph.D.
MIT B.S.
Perdocere Inc.
phone: 833-MATH-833


Prominent Endorsements

✏️ From:
Marlyn E. McGrath
Director of Admissions
Harvard University

“I think George is not merely a tutor – he is a real educator. He knows that what helps students perform well on tests is the same as what makes them good students. A solid academic foundation pays dividends throughout schooling and careers, and George never loses sight of that in his work.”

Perdocere Tutoring - Prominent Named Verifications

✏️ From:
Prof. William A. Goddard III
California Institute of Technology
(Caltech)

“I have known George for decades. He has a very clear and dramatic effect enabling students to think and rise to their full potential. George’s influence on so many lives has had significant impact, and I greatly admire him for doing this.”

Perdocere Tutoring - Hundreds of Parent and Student Testimonials

Parent and Student Testimonials

✏️ “George enthusiastically provides the most positive atmosphere for thorough understanding, solid development and concrete achievement in mathematics. He teaches in the spirit of a love for learning and instills an intrinsic desire for continued learning and understanding. George holds our daughter to a higher standard of achievement which she reaches for with great pride in accomplishment.”

✏️ “Thank you for all that you do for our son!”

✏️ “This is exactly what we have discovered in George – To Teach or Instruct Thoroughly. George not only has read our son’s Advanced Algebra book, he has wrapped himself around it. He teaches with enthusiasm and a deep concern for our son. He genuinely cares that our son not only understands the many different concepts but also makes sure that our son is able to effectively apply them. Our son has 125 new problems every week and George makes sure our son fully understands each and every one. Our son’s grade has improved from a B- to an A- and we expect this trend to continue along with his growing mathematical confidence. Our son smiles broadly at the end of every session. George is the MVP of the academic playing field! Thank you George.”

✏️ “George makes sure his students believe in themselves and their abilities, thus setting the stage for academic success. He also takes the time to emphasize that it isn’t inspiration that creates success, it is perspiration. It is the mantra that is followed as he prepares students for the SAT. And there is success; both of our sons have done extremely well on both the SAT and SAT Subject Tests – and by extremely well, we mean a consistent pattern of scores at or just below 800.”

✏️ “George is the best tutor that our family has ever used. No one else is even close. He quickly identified my son’s strengths and weaknesses, and then set about in an orderly, sensible and strategic way to fix the weaknesses. There was a purpose to every problem set or test that he assigned. George customized his approach to the individual child which in turn created ‘buy-in’ from my son, who realized that he was not going to be assigned busy work, but focused problems designed to address areas that needed work. Bottom line my son got a 55 on the PSAT math and 8 months later, with George’s help, got a 770 on the SAT math.”

✏️ “George has been tutoring me since the eighth grade. Ever since we started working together, my grades have increased dramatically in math class. I like the approach George takes to tutoring. Unlike the teachers at school, George will teach you thoroughly, no matter how complicated the task. In eighth grade I was barely passing my math class. George has shown me that I am capable of getting A’s; it just depends on how well you’re taught the material. The following year I got a 93% on my Algebra I final. George’s charismatic attitude is a huge part of what makes him so special. Math class in school is generally like going to the dentist. It isn’t remotely pleasant, but you’ve got to do it. George somehow makes the experience an absolute pleasure. I look forward to our meetings. I’m confident that George has the intelligence, experience, and the overall talent to teach most anyone with excellent results. Believe it or not, not everyone is up to the task of teaching math. I can say whole-heartedly that I believe George is, and then some.”

✏️ “My son is a typical middle school boy – more interested in sports than school. George has been able to motivate him to want to learn and excel in math. His teaching approach has been tailored to my son’s learning style with good results. His enjoyment, understanding, and confidence in math has increased significantly. To realize that my son’s math foundation is solidifying for the high school years is a comfort.”

✏️ “George did an excellent job working with our daughter over the past year. He built her confidence and knowledge base so she could execute complex math problems under time pressure. We believe that one of George’s key strengths is his ability to work with strong students in advanced classes to achieve top performance. In addition, our daughter had fun working with George. We will use him in the future.”

✏️ “I missed a year and a half of school and George has been very helpful in getting me caught up in math.”

✏️ “Who you gonna call?? We have relied on George for both of our daughters in tutoring Mathematics and Chemistry. I noticed George’s ads, called him and the rest is history. For my older daughter, we began seeing George in the second half of her junior year. She needed a quick review for her upcoming SAT, after having scored in the 600’s for her PSAT. She received a 730 on her first try. In addition, my daughter was struggling in her Precalculus course, despite studying under a different tutor earlier in the year. George salvaged my daughter’s junior year math grade, and she ended the year with an A-, after a rocky first half. He takes a very methodical approach to teaching, and doesn’t believe in shortcuts. To excel, the student must understand the concepts, and not simply memorize rules. We called on George again to help my daughter through her senior year Calculus BC course, as well as to tutor her for the retest of the SATs, for the Math II exam and for her AP exam in BC Calculus. Needless to say, the results were stellar. She improved her SAT math score to a 780; received a 790 on her Math IIC exam; eeked out an A- in her BC Calculus course for the year, and topped it off with a 5 on her AP BC Calculus exam. She was thrilled particularly with the AP score, because it satisfied her Math requirement in college. But guess what? She may become a Computer Sciences major, and is probably going to have to take a lot more math. And she can approach college math with confidence, given the solid foundation George provided her. My younger daughter is a junior in high school and is taking AP Chemistry. She loves the subject, but was finding the subject matter increasingly challenging during the fall semester. We called George, he taught her for three sessions and she was thrilled to get an A on her mid-term, and an A for the fall semester. She was impressed with his thorough understanding not only of the subject matter, but of how the teacher required questions to be answered. He discerned that the teacher required responses that exactly followed the AP test… my daughter adjusted her answers accordingly. I think we are going to have to call on George again soon…the material is becoming challenging again, significantly more difficult than the questions on the Chemistry AP exam, and we take comfort in knowing he has complete mastery of the material and boy, does he know how to teach! — A happy parent.”

✏️ “George was a great teacher to have while I was preparing for the SAT. He really took the time to get to know what my strengths and weaknesses were, how I worked under test conditions, how I approached problems, etc. Just after one session he knew how to guide me and helped me set realistic but challenging goals. George made sure that I had clear and basic foundations for solving problems and then worked with me step by step until everything was clear and I was confident about how to handle similar problems. His teaching not only helped me through the SAT but has also followed through into my everyday school work. His enthusiasm and dedication is really meaningful and one thing for sure is that George knows how to teach.” (280 point SAT math increase)

✏️ “We can’t say enough about how good a teacher George has been throughout the years. We feel that our children are well grounded in fundamentals and have the confidence to take on any academic challenge in the future. George is devoted to his craft and a truly unique academic tutor.”

✏️ “During my sophomore year in high school, before I began tutoring with George, I worried constantly about the effect my math grade would have on my grade point average. George started teaching me during the beginning of my junior year, and now, having graduated from high school, I can look back and say that George’s superb skills as a tutor led me from getting B’s in Algebra II to A’s in BC Calculus. Thanks to George, math stopped being a constant source of worry for me and became a course that helped me maintain my GPA. I studied under George for two years, and my attitude towards mathematics changed immensely during that time. George’s patience and creativity make him an ideal tutor for both struggling students and those who wish to broaden their understanding of mathematical concepts.” (770 SAT Math, 770 SAT Math IIC)

✏️ “George is a wonderful tutor that has made a significant impact on my daughters learning. He discovered her weaknesses and has worked tirelessly with her to fill in the gaps in her learning and prepare her for the SAT. He cares deeply about his students and communicates weekly with me on her progress. George is like no other!!”

✏️ “This year, I am taking the most rigorous math course my school has to offer, AP Calculus BC. BC calc is extremely fast paced because of the AP test in May. Some of the topics are only covered for a fraction of a class; however, with George’s help, I am a month or two in front of the class. Because of the two month lead, George is able to show me more advanced topics that will never be covered in BC calc. The way that George teaches calculus incorporates everything that was previously learned in calc while still covering a lot of material extremely thoroughly. In class, I have done well on all of my tests. George has allowed me to obtain an understanding of calculus which seems impossible to get from the class alone. I am very thankful that I have George guiding me through BC calc.”

✏️ “George is a tutor extraordinaire. He is a born teacher who genuinely enjoys the kids he teaches and the work he does. He inspires his students to do their best and is able to establish a rapport with each of them. George has tutored my three teens for several years, responding to each one’s different abilities. He has helped them in all kinds of math, chemistry, physics, ACT, SAT – you name it, George can handle it! George has given each one a very positive learning experience, leading to greater self-confidence and enthusiasm for the subject matter. George encourages each child to take responsibility for his or her own learning. George has a wonderful ability to present concepts in a highly organized manner. All three of my kids report that George’s explanations are better than what they received at school and help them to really understand the concept as opposed to a mechanical application of ‘the rule’. None of the three ever grumbled about working with George. If they are having difficulty with a topic, they don’t panic because they know George will explain it and help them understand the issues. They all three see George as a friend as well as a tutor, as do I. When my two oldest are now home from college, they love to visit with George and bring him up to date on their academic progress.”

✏️ “I am very impressed and happy with George as a tutor for my daughter. With his extensive knowledge, he can instruct her in both math and science, both for the classroom and SAT prep. I think he is very patient as he works with the student and is able to quickly discover how best to work with them.”

✏️ “My son is a freshman in honors geometry – a really tough course!! George has been instrumental in explaining the concepts, teaching him how to solve the theorems and encouraging him throughout the year. Without this assistance – this year would have been much tougher. The insight into my son’s learning style and his clear and thorough explanations of each concept have given my son the confidence to tackle this vigorous course. He looks forward to meeting with George and doing his math.”

✏️ “I’m in honors math. However, I couldn’t handle Algebra-II as well as Honors Geometry. So my grade began to slip so my parents called George. It was the best decision. George knows everything about math and he was able to guide me through the daunting path of Algebra-II and Trigonometry. He made everything less intimidating, and within no time, my grade was back up. George is definitely going to be my tutor next year.”

✏️ “Our middle school son has a broader, deeper understanding of math concepts since working with George. He no longer memorizes formulas without knowing the why’s and how’s of problem solving. George can teach tough math concepts in an understandable way that translates into learning!! The success our son feels in mastering the math is a great boost to his self esteem. He just got an A+ for the year in eighth grade algebra.”

✏️ “We would heap praises, but facts speak better. With a ‘C’ in 8th grade math, and teachers happy with ‘the C’, which translates to just passing 8th grade MCAS at the cut-off grade, we looked to George to teach our child. The weekly two-hour session is productive and fun for our child! We would never have imagined our child sitting for two hours on High School Algebra – but it happens every week – only with George. George finds a way to teach and convey concepts in math – overcoming our child’s learning disabilities. Our child brought home a B+ in Algebra, and in one Algebra quiz, got the first time ever 100%. Our child has gained confidence which beats the frustration and ‘I hate math’ during 8th grade.”

✏️ “George, many, many thanks for all your hard work with our son. You were the only outside tutor we used that truly put your heart and soul into his success – from identifying weak areas to intensively reinforcing all areas. His results speak volumes about how you opened up his understanding of math (and helped jack his score up to a very competitive level). Personally, your commitment and steadfast resolve towards his SAT results was remarkable.” (740 SAT Math)

✏️ “George has worked with our boy for the past eighteen months. The improvement in his grades, as well as his overall approach to school work has been amazing. His own words sum it up ‘George taught me a new way of thinking. He retrained my brain to think the way he does’.”

✏️ “Whether in a group or individually George is by far the best tutor I have had. His knowledge is extensive and he teaches in a way that complex subjects are easy to understand. I’ve used other tutors and centers and none compare to George. He is such a great teacher that I kept bugging him to teach at my high school.”

✏️ “George quickly and accurately assessed our son’s needs, then put together lesson plans, exercises and study guides geared to address his specific needs. He just came home with his first A.”

✏️ “Following a couple of years with disappointing math teachers, my son was struggling in his Algebra 2 course – and then the pandemic hit, and distance learning compounded his problems. At this point we reached out to George. George took the time to work back through the older material to build up a strong foundation for future success. The first few months were triage; even so, we noticed improvements in performance almost immediately. In addition to laying a strong mathematical foundation, George has done a great job teaching my son solid study habits and test-taking strategies. My son is comfortable with the material and confident that he will perform well on his tests. I am certain that my son is now on a trajectory that will guarantee success in math through the end of high school and beyond.”

✏️ “After reviewing the yellow insert in the newspaper, I made a note to myself: Call Perdocere? I wondered: What does Perdocere mean? After my daughter’s ACT math results, I felt it was important to take action, so yes I did call Perdocere and spoke with George. After listening to our story, George met with my daughter to begin immediate math tutoring. We had limited time, six months, to accomplish a lot of learning in order to achieve a more successful math test score. Equally important, my daughter was to improve on her math for success when at college. George is a brilliant and enthusiastic teacher. He shared his plan with us and we quickly moved ahead. He had my daughter take both the SAT and ACT practice tests to see which would be best for her. He watched her to see how she worked. He prevailed upon our busy schedule for intense tutoring. George expects a lot from his student, but he gives much in return. For my daughter, she learned that math from him, and he instilled confidence. For me, he kept me in the loop and patiently worked with our schedule. At the six month point my daughter retook the test with George’s best wishes (and his calculator as her calculator shut down days before the test), and she exceeded her goal. Perdocere means to instruct thoroughly, Perdocere is George! Thank you!”

✏️ “After the first couple of math tests at the beginning of my sophomore year of high school, I knew I needed help. After just a couple of sessions with George I immediately became a standout in the classroom, consistently on the verge of a perfect test. George rebuilt the foundation of my mathematical skills, allowing me to see the ‘big’ picture and to intertwine new ideas with old concepts. His ability to aid me in understanding the undercurrents of what my teacher was lecturing on in school allowed me to excel in the classroom. I have had George as a tutor for three years and he has inspired a sense of appreciation in the workings of Mathematics that I am now considering pursuing the subject as a major in college.”

✏️ “George has an amazing amount of patience and challenges me at every turn. The truth is in the results! I am a more confident learner and that carries over to my other courses, as well. I got an A in my Honors Algebra class and look forward to working with George as I prepare for the PSAT/SAT/ACT tests.”

✏️ “George is by far the best teacher I’ve ever had! The way he teaches and presents the material is unlike anything I’ve come across. I’m not sure why I’ve never witnessed this way of teaching before, because it clearly works! The math really does become clear with George at the reins. When I look at any sort of math problem, I can truly say I understand all the pieces and how they interact. My way of thinking about math has always been a way that has irritated and frustrated my teachers because I don’t always catch on as fast as the other students would. George is able to pick up on this and teach the math at any angle to suite my learning style. I am highly confident that he will do the same for you!”

✏️ “It is with both pleasure and sadness that I write this testimonial for George who has tutored my three children over the last five years in a wide range of subjects (math, pre-calculus, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science, and a little engineering on occasion). George has been an extraordinary resource and has become an honorary family member and a dear friend to me and all my children. He has seen my children through quizzes and tests, helped with tricky homework assignments, and led them to superlative performances on their SATs, APs and ACTs. George has been a terrific mentor as well as a tutor, giving advice on school, the college application process, and the like. George keeps up to date with all assignments posted by the school and helps even disorganized kids get organized. He is terrific at reminding the kids of deadlines for projects, assignments, quizzes and standardized tests. He has always made time in his busy schedule for extra sessions when a big test or project is due, he explains why and how rather than tell a student just to apply the formula, he adjusts his method and style of tutoring to each individual child, he is reliable and efficient and always pleasant, and his range of subject matter knowledge is superb. I honestly believe that George’s tutoring has had a big and most positive impact on my children in many ways. On the most obvious level, he truly did help boost their test scores and probably did impact the level of college to which they were admitted. Beyond that, however, he really gave them a greater appreciation and understanding of subject matters that they were not as comfortable with, and gave them the tools to help them think, analyze and solve. These are tools that they will carry with them and use all their lives, whether they ever take another math course or not. That is what a real tutor does not just get you through the next exam. And even further, George honestly cares about his students not just their performance but also their minds, their interests, and their character. Whenever my two oldest are home from college, they are delighted to see George again, and I know that my youngest will miss George when he starts college this year, as will I. George has been a big part of our lives. We are better of for the experience in many, many ways. Thank you, George.”

✏️ “George plainly has a mastery of math and science that runs both broad and deep, and he is very, very good at communicating with both students and parents in clear English pitched to their level of scientific understanding, wherever that may be. He clearly cares about his students, and we feel very confident that he is happy to help any way he can.”

✏️ “800 – we thought that sort of score was something unattainable – something that only a few gifted students achieved. And now our son (who we love dearly but never considered to be a particularly gifted math student) has brought home 800s twice – once on the SAT and once on the SAT II. We attribute so much of this achievement to George. He restructured fundamentals and taught our son to enjoy math once again. George consistently challenged and pushed – but never too much. He displayed patience and a wonderful gift for explaining things. As our son told us, George not only works through problems but teaches how everything evolved and why everything is what it is. We couldn’t ask for a better teacher. We really don’t have enough adjectives to describe George’s teaching ability. He is absolutely the best teacher that we have ever seen!!! George – your job with number one son is almost done – it is now time to move to number two.” (800 Math SAT, 800 Math IIC Subject Test)

✏️ “Before I started working with George, I lacked the confidence and tools to complete my math year with a strong ending. After just three meetings with him I began to receive A’s rather than C’s. Not only does George teach with passion, but he also tailors his explanations and the presentation of the material to fit my specific needs. His commitment to my learning is exemplified by willingness and ability to describe the real content and meaning of the work rather than simply relying on the memorization of formulas. Working with George has made me believe that the key to successful learning is dependent on a great teacher – and George is a great teacher.”

✏️ “George is not an ordinary math teacher. Not only did my son receive phenomenal math tutoring, but George also boosted his confidence. I’d overhear George encouraging my son, ‘Let’s look at the problem carefully, it’s easy…’ By upping my son’s self esteem, George was able to improve his score. George also built up my son’s stamina by having him take full length practice tests so he’d be prepared for the actual SAT.”

✏️ “George is the best tutor out there. With his thorough teaching, he has increased my Math SAT score by over 200 points in the past year. Since the eighth grade, George and I have been working to increase my math grades at school, and together we have been nothing but a great success. George is extremely talented. I think that to him, Perdocere is more than a clever Latin name for his tutoring business, it’s a philosophy. George knows everything about the system, whether it be public school, the SAT, or math in general. He didn’t acquire this knowledge through tricks and memorization. He learned it through simply learning the math thoroughly. I can speak from experience. Once George and I had conquered Algebra, I had the skills to conquer problems that would have been insurmountable to me just a few months before. It’s quite simple. It all comes down to his philosophy of teaching thoroughly. George produces results.”

✏️ “George tutored my daughter in math this summer. He clearly has knowledge and patience to tutor with confidence. He took pride in making sure my daughter understood the material covered, without tests and grades, only with positive feedback and enthusiasm. Thank you.”

✏️ “This year our son attended the Perdocere Math SAT Prep Course. George’s clear, well-presented explanations and thorough review of the SAT Math was very helpful. We finally found someone with a high-level math knowledge base and also with the unique and most important quality – the skill of teaching in a manner that is understandable. George has helped our son gain knowledge, skill and confidence.”

✏️ “George is the best math tutor our daughter has ever had. He has given her the critical skills to understand, encode and recall mathematic principles to achieve her best possible classroom scores.”

✏️ “What a revelation to learn that instead of being bad in math, our daughter just wasn’t being taught in the manner in which she learns best. George identified her individual learning style and the results have been astonishing. He does a superb job of dovetailing his tutoring of math at the high school level with his preparatory course for the math portion of the SAT.”

✏️ “Over the past three years, George has become the family’s de facto math and science consiliari. He has not only guided our first son to a string of 800’s but instilled in him a sense of academic confidence and curiosity that will serve him well in college. He also started down the academic path with our second son this year – a very different learner than the first – yet he has struck the appropriate chords with him. George is a born teacher. He is enthusiastic about his subjects, explains and teaches in a clear and logical manner, and patiently drives the learning process. We can always count on George and will continue to rely on him in the future.”

✏️ “We are ecstatic about the progress George has made with our daughter’s math scores. He has instilled possibility when she knew only defeat. The experience of success in math has given her tremendous confidence. Higher math had been out of her reach, but now it is easily grasped. George’s knowledge is boundless, not only in math, but also in knowing how and when to motivate psychologically and emotionally. He is always prepared and upbeat and he keeps each session moving enthusiastically. Our hope was that George would just give our daughter the ‘jump start’ she needed, but in fact, he has become a part of our lives for years.”

✏️ “George has been a helpful, effective tutor whom I would recommend to most anyone. He quickly shows you everything there is to know about SAT math and installs it into your memory. Furthermore he is a nice guy who genuinely wants you to improve.”

✏️ “Our student’s first week of school vacation has been exciting to say the least! He’s already six chapters into his AP Chemistry book for next fall and because he respects Dr. George very much; he’s enthusiastic about hitting the books. His “A’s” in both Honors Geometry and Honors Chemistry came in the mail yesterday and the smile on his face was priceless! Thank you George!”

✏️ “George has instructed our son and now our daughter. We have found that George tailors his teachings to meet our children’s individual needs and not just the ‘text book’. George covers everything and then he covers it again making sure they understand thoroughly. It is with great confidence and pleasure that we recommend George to be the very best available!”

✏️ “George’s influence was not only on math but his success comes from the universality of his was of thinking. George has become a good friend and has really changed our boy’s life for the better.”

✏️ “Math has always been an interesting topic to me; however, I never liked math class and the ways most of my teachers taught. George has been teaching me for two months so far and I feel like he has opened a whole new door of math for me. He has taught me many new topics and new ways to think. I really enjoy learning from George and I am very thankful that I was able to meet such a great teacher.”

✏️ “Anyone who says that the SAT Mathematics section cannot be taught has not met George. After scoring a low 600 on my first practice exam, George stepped me through the process of learning how to take the test as well as the mathematical concepts behind it. After several months of training, George helped me to receive a perfect 800 on the Math section. And if that wasn’t enough, he also guided me through the SAT Mathematics IIC Subject Test, which, with his aid, I scored another perfect 800. Thanks to George, I was able to conquer the SAT’s.”

✏️ “Working with George has changed my life for the best. When I first started High School, I was still overcoming many challenges involving my health – which had been affecting my grades as well as what classes I had to take. Once I met George tough, I knew he was different than the countless other tutors that had come and gone through my life. George was able to get me to heights I’d never even believed I could reach. The passion that he has for mathematics and his endless dedication to his students is visibly seen every time he’s doing a lesson. Not only has George been a fantastic tutor but he has also been a great friend. He’s given me important input to major decisions I’ve had to make in my life whether it’s what college or even what classes I should take. There’s nobody I can credit more when it comes to the straight A’s in math classes I’ve taken these past four years and the 710 & 750 I received on the SAT and SAT Math IIC than him. I would have never believed back then that George would’ve had the impact that he has now on my life. Thanks for everything, George.”

✏️ “The patience, commitment and encouragement of the instructor have helped our son bring his grades up significantly; and as his marks improved, so did his spirits and his confidence.”

Click Here for the Complete List of Hundreds of Parent and Student Testimonials. What’s Shown Above is a Small Sampling.