Peace Corps Veteran Starts Math Tutoring Business to Conquer Rampant Math Phobia

A new math tutoring business has been announced by a veteran of the Peace Corps. "Math is the future. And many people are afraid of it," says Las Vegas-based math tutor Mickey Gamonal.

Many people go far out of their way to avoid math, or they do it badly. For adults, this can result in expensive errors with their finances, avoiding projects that might lead to promotions, or even limiting career choices because of a requirement to take a math test or perform math operations as part of the job.

Kids might avoid classes and opportunities that involve math as well, to the point of having stress-related physical symptoms like stomach aches. Six of every 10 university students, regardless their field of study, present symptoms of anxiety when it comes to dealing with mathematics, according to research carried out at the University of Granada in Spain.

According to research at the University of Chicago, math anxiety is not simply about being bad at math. After using brain scans, scholars confirmed that the anticipation or the thought of solving math actually causes math anxiety. The brain scans showed the area of the brain that is triggered when someone has math anxiety overlaps the same area of the brain where bodily harm is registered.

"When I first took the ASVAB I got 60%. I knew I was in for a challenge. After 3 sessions with Mickey Gamonal I increased my score to 80%. This score made me eligible for the job I wanted. The sessions were super laid back and more fun than I expected. Mickey focused on what I needed to gain a ton of math confidence," said Jesus Robles, who was delighted to find an ASVAB tutor in Las Vegas.

The ASVAB, short for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is a timed multi-aptitude test, which is given at over 14,000 schools and Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) nationwide and is developed and maintained by the Department of Defense.

Gamonal's desire to help manifested when he took the ASVAB himself. "When I arrived there was a young man named David getting in at the same time. Since we had time to kill I asked him if he’d like to study in preparation. David waved me off, “I’ve got two degrees, and I’m not worried.” I studied for the half hour then my recruiter arrived and signed me in for the test."

He overheard that David scored in the 91st percentile. Gamonal himself scored in the 97th percentile. Naturally, he left some business cards with the receptionist.

Michael Gamonal's background, he says, makes him more interesting than the typical "math teacher." He graduated from UNLV with a bachelor's degree, is a martial arts enthusiast, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco for 27 months, visited many countries, and worked as a ski instructor at Lee Canyon. The common thread through these diverse interests is that he takes pleasure in watching comprehension dawn on the face of someone who has just achieved something they doubted they could accomplish.

Gamonal can assist adults with the PRAXIS, GED, GMAT and other professional test prep in Las Vegas or via Skype or teleconferencing. He can also create customized sessions to work through practical math situations for pharmacists, project managers and financial and purchasing professionals.

Tutoring sessions for elementary, junior high and high school students generally start with an assessment to develop a custom plan that is challenging but not frustrating. He has tutored young people to help them become more comfortable with arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and calculus, as well as story problems and fun exercises.

He offers the first tutoring session free as an evaluation to create a custom plan of action for each client.

About Gamonal Tutors

Gamonal invites people to "help yourself or your child discover how powerful, and how much fun math can be." Math tips, tricks, stories and humor are published frequently on the Facebook page and on his website GamonalTutors.com or at 702-957-3803.