A: Dr. Xue’s goal is not to provide lessons with the lowest hourly rates, but instead provide affordable, high quality, high efficiency instruction to motivate students’ interest in mathematics and help them master the math concepts and methods. This essentially saves students time and reduces the tuition they pay in the long term.

Dr. Xue doesn’t simply follow the explanations in the chosen textbooks (AoPS, BA, or others), but instead she improves the textbook materials in numerous places and supplement with her own materials whenever necessary. She makes connections with advanced mathematics and real-world applications whenever possible, to broaden students’ scope of knowledge. These improvements and connections come from her deep understanding of the math involved, her extensive experience in research and education as a first-class university professor in applied mathematics, and her recent experience in teaching hundreds of K-12 students.

A: Dr. Xue’s group courses start at the level of PreAlgebra. The tuition rate for pre-AP math, AMC 8 and AMC 10 is $30/hour. The tuition rate for AMC 12, AP Calculus and AP Statistics is $37.5/hour. The tuition rate for AIME and above-AP math is $45/hour. The tuition rate for USA(J)MO is $60/hour. The tuition covers live lectures, course notes, course recordings, homework assignments and unit tests. It also covers one 15-minute parent-teacher meeting for every 9 weeks. There are two optional final exams for Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 and PreCalculus after lectures 18 and 36, $50 each. Each exam package includes a PDF final exam, and written and video solutions to all the exam problems.

We encourage students to take the live lessons whenever possible. However, if the course schedule does not work, or the live session is full, then students can purchase the recordings instead. The tuition can be found in the Course Recording Price List. Usually these students schedule private lessons with Dr. Xue every 2-3 recordings for further explanations and homework questions. We can also arrange recitation sessions if there is enough interest.

The minimum enrollment is 6 live students or equivalent. Courses with fewer than 6 students will be either canceled or subject to a modified tuition rate: 2 students, multiply by 2; 3 students, multiply by 1.6; 4 students, multiply by 1.4; 5 students, multiply by 1.2. Courses under tuition adjustments are not refundable.

If your student can only attend part of a course, please contact us before you register to get a prorated tuition. No proration will be done after registration.

Video Solutions for Challenge Problems: We have video solutions for all challenge problems on the AoPS textbooks for PreAlgebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 and PreCalculus. Students who are interested in math competitions are recommended to register for this add-on. Detailed pricing can be found in the Course Recording Price List. Challenge problems for competition math courses are included in the lessons.

A: We accept no more than 12 live students for each class.

A: Dr. Xue’s rate is as follows: $80/hour for pre-AP math; $100/hour for AP math and AMC 10 problems; $120/hour for math above AP, AMC 12 and AIME problems; $160/hour for USA(J)MO and research problems; $120 for advice on undergraduate studies and K-12 teacher training; $160 for advice on graduate studies, career development, and school operation questions.

We reserve the right to reschedule or cancel your meeting if we do not receive your payment 24 hours before the start time. There is a $30 late fee if you fail to pay before a lesson. Regular lessons should be paid monthly before the first lesson of each month.

The main goal for Dr. Xue’s private lessons for pre-AP math is to help students make feasible and financially affordable study plans, give them a jumpstart for group lessons, or address their questions from home study using our recordings. If your student needs regular homework help instead, we can recommend one of our advanced students as a private tutor.

A: We accept cash, checks, Zelle, Venmo and PayPal. Please note student name and purpose of payment when you make a payment.

Check payments should be made to Chuan Xue. Front and back images of your check should be emailed to xuemath.plymouth@gmail.com. Please note that there is a $30 returned check fee if the transaction cannot go through.

Our Zelle account is xuemath.plymouth@gmail.com.

Our Venmo business account is “XueMath”. Please include the right amount of transaction fee when you pay (2% or calculated by the Venmo fee calculator here).

Our PayPal business account is paypal.me/xuemathorg. Please include the right amount of transaction fee when you pay (3.5% domestic, 6% international, or calculated by the PayPal fee calculator here). This method is mainly for students from outside the US.

Please contact Dr. Xue directly if you have any questions, e.g., if you reside in China and none of the above methods work.

A: Registration and application fees are not refundable.

Refunds for group courses, 1-1 meetings, camps and summer research programs can be requested either in the form of school credits in full or via the original payment method minus a $30 processing fee and possible transaction fees (Venmo and PayPal).

For group courses, you have the option of canceling the course before the start of the third lesson. The tuition for the remaining lessons will be refunded to you subject to the aforementioned fees. No refund will be granted after the third lesson starts. Students are encouraged to take trial lessons before making decisions to ensure good fits and avoid unnecessary procedures. No refund will be granted for courses under tuition adjustments. No refund will be granted for course recordings.

For 1-1 meetings, no refund will be granted for cancellations after the meeting starts. Earlier cancellations will be refunded subject to the aforementioned fees.

For camps and summer research programs, no refund will be granted after the program starts. If there is a deposit, then the deposit is non-refundable.

Students must obey School Rules. No refund will be granted for terminated activities due to violations of school rules.

For donations, no refund will be granted if the gift has already been spent as the donor intended. A processing fee will be charged for refunds of gifts that have not been spent. The amount of the processing fee will depend on the specific situation, which may involve complications such as personnel and program restructuring. We appreciate your understanding.

A: In most cases students spend 1-3 hours on homework for each lesson.

A: We use Google Classroom to share all course materials, including handwritten course notes, recordings, homework assignments, unit tests, and final exams. Every student needs a Gmail account to access these materials. Students are expected to upload all their work to Google Classroom for review before the next lecture.

A: You can take images of your work and upload the images to Google Classroom. You can also upload files to Google Classroom. Please check the support page of Google Classroom for more information.

A: If you miss a lesson, you can watch the recording afterwards and finish the assigned homework. All materials are available in Google Classroom. Normally recordings expire four weeks after the lesson time, but if you need extra time, you can always ask for it.

A: We use Dropbox to share all materials for private lessons. Dropbox is very popular among collaborators. If you haven’t done so, please register for a free Dropbox account (2G) using this referral link. After you register, please finish the following two steps to receive automatic updates on new lesson materials and get 500M of additional storage space.

1. Download and install the Dropbox App on your computer. Once you have the Dropbox App installed, it will work just like a local hard drive, and you can share different folders in it with different collaborators. Any collaborator can upload new files to the shared folder by dragging and dropping or copying and pasting. All the other collaborators will receive updates of the folder automatically. You may also install the app on your iPad and/or cell phone, up to 3 devices for free.

2. Log in and verify your email address with Dropbox.com following the instructions here.

Should you have any questions on how to use Dropbox, you can refer to this webpage.

A: Please talk with your math teacher at school. Most likely your school is already planning to offer these tests. If not, you may offer to pay the exam fee and talk them into doing it. This is always the best option because your school would know your strengths better. You may also check with the Math Departments of nearby universities and other schools in your area. A list of nearby schools that registered for these tests can be found here. MAA does not allow teachers to offer tests online.

A: AMC 10 is for students in 10th grade and below. AMC 12 is for students in 12th grade and below. If a student has finished PreCalculus, then he/she is encouraged to take AMC 12 directly. For more details, please read this note. You may use ChatGTP for a translation.

A: We observe Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Memorial Day and July 4th.