Matthew Downhour

Director of Online Tutoring, Team Leader, Director of Client Services, Test Prep & Academic Tutor


I grew up in Helena, Montana and graduated from Helena High School. I went on to attend Seattle University, where I tutored writing and graduated summa cum laude with a BA in International Studies. As part of my undergraduate studies I also spent a year studying in Krakow, Poland. For three years after graduating I worked in my hometown school district in two capacities: as a Speech and Debate coach and as a tutor for at-risk Native American high school students. In both positions I had the privilege of helping students accomplish absolutely amazing things. I am drawn to tutoring and coaching because of the opportunity it gives to work one-on-one with students and see their progress more directly. There is really nothing more rewarding (and just generally fun) than helping students who are rapidly becoming adults realize their potential and achieve their goals! After three years in Montana, I began my career at AJ Tutoring. One of the things I’ve I’ve found most valuable at AJ Tutoring is the high quality of training offered and the wide variety of students we can help. While I started with SAT/ACT tutoring, through my time working here I have gained experience teaching several AP tests and SAT Subject tests, working with academic students in history, economics, and other subjects, and helping college students prepare for the GRE, improve their performance in college-level social science and humanities courses, and hone their interview skills. This ensures that my work at AJ is always intellectually stimulating and exciting!

After having the privilege of working with hundreds of students in person at AJ Tutoring in North Peninsula, I moved back home to the Mountain Time Zone and took on tutoring using Skype, Google Docs, and Conceptboard full time. These programs allow me to work with students on both coasts and internationally. The opportunities for using online tools to complete tutoring are different from those for in person tutoring, and I’m always finding new ways to take full advantage of the technology! I enjoy being able to use the internet to bridge geographical distance and helps students from all over the world, and being able to share screens with students allows me to incorporate activities and information from a variety of websites and to combine students’ questions and prepared material into a really unique and engaging tutoring experience, while the ability to virtually markup both scanned material and word processing documents in progress allows me to effectively combine the best elements of in person and online tutoring!

Subjects Tutored

ACT
PSAT
SAT
GRE
Academic Economics
Academic English
Academic Government
Academic US History
Academic World History
AP Art History
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
AP European History
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP U.S. Government & Politics
AP US History
AP World History

Offices Served

Online

 

Happy parents and students.

 Matt helped me tremendously in not only core math topics but also a general mindset of how to take the SAT test.  Read what others are saying

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