The Cambridge School teaches literature and history together as humanities, and its humanities exams are written essays and oral questions, never multiple choice. Our tutors are UC San Diego students who took many of the same courses not long ago, from biology to calculus.
Tell us about your student, and we’ll match them with a UC San Diego tutor who fits.
We help Cambridge students keep up in their classes, prepare for the SAT and ACT and work on their college essays. Sessions are one-on-one, at your home in Rancho Peñasquitos, Carmel Valley or Rancho Bernardo, or online.
Meet our tutors.
Five-page humanities essays
Cambridge students write five-page humanities essays often. A long essay is a different problem from a short one: the thesis has to hold up across several pages, and each section has to add something instead of restating the last. A tutor goes over the plan with your student before the drafting starts, asks what each section will prove and helps find the passages in the reading that carry the argument. Learn more about our English and writing tutoring.
Oral exams
Answering exam questions out loud, with a teacher listening, is hard in a way a written test isn’t: there’s no time to reread or revise. Cambridge students start practicing early, with novice debate in freshman year. A tutor asks practice questions on the current reading and pushes back on each answer the way the exam will, so your student gets used to defending a point in their own words.
Our tutors, in parents’ own words
All reviewsFind a math tutor“Our tutor is truly amazing! He is so patient, explains things well, asks great questions, and checks for understanding. Owen really enjoyed working with him and they accomplished so much. This is really a game changer for us! I had high hopes and he exceeded them.”
Find a Tutor“You connected Leo with a great tutor and made the process seamless.”
Find a coding tutor“I have been absolutely impressed by her lessons over the past few months. Lily also loves working with her. She has been making great progress with her programming and writing.”
“I find your tutor quality to be excellent and a perfect fit!”
Find a math tutor“The subsequent long term tutor that we had for pre calc and for ACT tutoring was amazing. She was completely professional, organized, thorough and easy to work with.”
Find a math tutor“You have been a wonderful inspiration for Eli and we are very grateful for having you in the past half-year!”
Find a math tutor“We used Cardinal Tutors and were happy with the level of professionalism and responsiveness we received. The math tutor selected for our son was a good match for him.”
Find a reading tutor“The girls have loved their time with her, and it showed: Clara's CAASPP score was excellent and Ruby has done tremendous improvement in her reading from below grade level to at grade level!”
“Thanks for your tremendous partnership over many years!”
Find a math tutor“My son had a wonderful experience with Cardinal Tutors when he needed help with his High School math and science classes. It turns out my son also needed help staying organized with all his assignments, something that the tutor helped with as well.”
Find a math tutor“Your program really helped us. Henry pulled up his English last year to an A, and his next tutor helped him pull up his math and bio.”
“Everyone is looking for tutors and I said you're the best.”
Find a math tutor“She found a perfect match for my son… He is stellar. My son has grown leaps and bounds in math. Our tutor is not only a subject matter expert but teaches very well, highly prompt, flexible when needed.”
Find a math tutor“Perfect fit to jumpstart my son's new habits and attitudes towards math.”
Find a coding tutor“The program has been awesome for us. Theo loves working with our tutor and has learned so much.”
“Our tutor is just outstanding — great with Theo and very communicative with me. Super helpful!”
Find a math tutor“My daughter went from a C in Algebra II to an A- in one semester. The tutor was great, she really related to my daughter and made learning fun for her.”
Find a reading tutor“We had an incredible experience with our daughter's previous tutor from Cardinal for a couple of years!… She is doing really well with her reading and comprehension and I think our tutor put her at two grade levels ahead.”
Find a Tutor“I reached out to Cardinal Tutors and was lucky enough to find the most amazing tutor. I wish I had found him earlier.”
Find a math tutor“We used Cardinal Tutoring again in the Spring 2018 for precalculus. Once again, she had a great tutor she really liked and who really helped her this year. My daughter is a senior so we won't need Cardinal Tutoring again, but I highly recommend them!”
Find a math tutor“I wanted to thank you for finding our tutor who tremendously helped Sam with his math.”
Find a Tutor“We have had an excellent experience with Cardinal Tutors for the past two years. Neil was very responsive whenever we had any questions. We definitely strongly recommend them and plan on using them again in the near future.”
Find a math tutor“Nora enjoys her sessions with her tutor and it's already helping her confidence with math.”
Find a Tutor“CT is awesome-- they found a great tutor for us. Only wish they could find more!”
Find a Tutor“She is doing great at school, on top of her stuff… We loved working with you and will recommend to friends.”
Find a math tutor“My son looked forward to his time with his tutor and felt good about his efforts and progress.”
Find a Tutor“You and your team are doing an amazing job. Thanks for all the help!”
Find a math tutor“It was great to find a couple of really smart young women who helped not only with the subject matter, but became great role models.”
Find a Tutor“Iris loved working with her tutor!! … Also, I have another student for you — a friend of Iris's that needs help.”
Find a Tutor“Your matchmaking service is very clever and provides great options.”
Find a Tutor“She's a great tutor who has helped June progress.”
Find a Tutor“Thank you for selecting an excellent tutor for her.”
Find a Tutor“We love our tutor! A great start, she is excellent and has jumped right in.”
Find a Tutor“Our tutor is great! We are very happy with the service.”
Find a Tutor“It's been a great experience for our daughter with her tutor.”
Find an online tutor“Their response time is outstanding. Neil responded quickly to my tutoring request for my 15-year-old. Love knowing that I have access to these high-quality services for my children. And, we use them via Zoom since we live in Tennessee. I cannot say enough great things about this business:)”
Find a Tutor“Very professional service with excellent teachers. My son loved his teacher, called him the best he ever had! I can very highly recommend it.”
Find a Tutor“We had our first tutoring session yesterday and it was fantastic!”
Find a Tutor“I am usually not one to write a review, but I wanted to communicate how great Cardinal Tutors was for my child. They had a very flexible plan which helped accommodate my child's needs and I saw a tremendous return (grade-wise) from their services. Could not recommend more highly.”
Lab reports that argue
Cambridge science classes ask for lab reports written as scientific arguments: a claim, the evidence for it and why the evidence supports it. It’s the humanities essay applied to data. Before the writing starts, a tutor goes over the results with your student, so the argument rests on what the data actually shows. Learn more about our science tutoring.
Math that starts high
Cambridge freshmen start in Honors Algebra II, and by junior year they’re taking calculus. A course that starts that early moves fast, and the tests reward clean, complete work. Your student solves problems out loud with a tutor watching for the step that gets skipped, because on a test, the skipped step is where points go. Learn more about our math tutoring.
Tell us about your student, and we’ll match them with a UC San Diego tutor who fits.






