Academic Services

BUGS tutoring sessions are designed to help you feel comfortable with the course material that you’re learning. What’s covered in a BUGS session depends on the needs of the student, and can range from diving deep into the material from one class to broadly reviewing material from multiple units. While BUGS tutors cannot answer specific questions for you on a homework assignment or test, they can work with you to understand the concepts behind an assessment and walk you through practice problems.

For the Fall 2020 semester, BUGS tutoring will take place virtually. You can find where your tutor meets by looking at the BUGS schedule.

If you are attending your tutor’s office hours, your tutoring session can last as long as their office hours do. If you feel that this is not enough time to understand the material, you can always show up for your tutor’s future office hours, or book a separate appointment with them by emailing your tutor directly.

Your BUGS session will be most helpful if you have prepared ahead of time and have an idea of what material you would like to review or questions you would like to ask. To get the most out of your time, try to do as much as possible of the following prior to your BUGS session:

• Do your homework, including attempting parts that appear most difficult.
• Review all related material in your textbook(s) and class notes.
• Make a list of questions — try to be specific.
• Prioritize your questions in case you are not able to get to everything in one session.
• Think about how you study for this class so you can talk over additional strategies with your BUGS leader.

In the case that there is no listed BUGS tutor for the subject area you need help in, there are other available resources at Brandeis which can give you academic support. If you’re struggling in a course, a good first step is to reach out to your Professor and TAs. They may be able to walk you through the material during their office hours or over email, and provide supplementary materials to help you understand the subject area further. Additional resources include:

English Language Program
Physics Resource Center
Quantitative Resource Center
Scientific Communication Lab
World Languages and Cultures
Writing Center

BUGS tutors have either successfully completed the courses they are tutoring for, or have otherwise demonstrated mastery of the subject material (for example, a language tutor may be a native speaker of that language, or a subject tutor may have earned a high score on an AP examination of that subject).

All BUGS tutors have some availability to meet outside of their scheduled hours. If a tutor has scheduled hours which you cannot attend, simply email them and inquire about the possibility of scheduling an alternate time to meet.

You can apply to be a BUGS tutor through Workday. Available listings can be found by navigating to the “Career” page, clicking on the “Find Jobs for Students” button, then searching “BUGS” in the search bar at the top of the page.

If you’re having an issue with tutoring, you can contact the Lead BUGS tutor, Rachel Sussman. You can also contact the BUGS program administrators from Academic Services, Julia Mani, LaKiyah Russell, or Lily Pineiro.