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Tour Guide Exam Prep
I love teaching science, but it has been becoming increasingly difficult to have regularly scheduled teaching class. So, private tutoring, which can be easily rescheduled, is only a feasible option for me. Email taka.suzuki.jp@gmail.com or call 080-6053-4729 to inquire about my available time and fee. You can find my CV here.
Science tutoring I provide here is primarily for resident aliens (high school - college students) in Japan whose first language is English, but also suitable for Japanese high school or college students who want to prepare for colleges abroad.
I owe most of my scientific knowledge to the education at Dalhousie in Canada. I first studied life science in general and majored chemistry, and then changed to physics major and finally graduated with physics and math. At the end of my second year, I passed the medical school entrance exam (the first round) in Japan, but did not take the second round exam and interview, as I chose to pursue my interest in physics and math. Although I am a physics and math major, I think I have a reasonably strong background in biology and chemistry as well, because of my educational path.
Experiment, Postulate and Law:
Physical laws must be based on experimental fact. We cannot expect a priori that the gravitational attraction between two bodies must vary exactly as the inverse square of the distance between them. But experiment indicates that this is so. Once a set of experimental data has been correlated and a postulate has been formulated regarding the phoenomena to which the data refer, then various implications can be worked out. If these implications are all verified by experiment, we may believe that the posutulate is generally true. The postulate then assumes the status of a physical law. If some experiments disagree with the predictions of the law, the theory must be modified to be consistent with the facts. (Thornton & Marion, "Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems", pp. 48)
If you are a resident alien (college - ) in Japan preparing to take the MCAT, I can help you prepare for the MCAT - especially, the biological and physical science sections.
This course intends to provide just enough knowledge to pass the tour guide licensing exam in Japan. It covers the history, geography, and some general knowledge of Japan.
Since the exam is given in a multiple-choice format (written in Japanese), all you need to know (or to recognize) is relevant names of important historic events, tourist spots, etc. in Japanese. You will NOT be asked to explain the concept in Japanese (you will have a short easy interview in English at the interview if you pass the multiple-choice exam).
I will go over as many old exams as possible, and explain everything in English, indicating important words in Japanese, so that you will be able to understand concept in English with important words in Japanese. I assume that you have basic Japanese knowledge and understand a problem statement or instruction, such as ”次の設問(1)~(5)を読んで、正解をそれぞれの語群①~⑤からひとつ選んで、解答欄にマークしなさい". If not, don't worry too much, because the problem instructions are given mostly in the same style, or a similar format - you will get used to them soon.
You are expected to be able to identify famous art (paintings, Buddhist sculptures, etc.), architecture, and landscape by photos. I will provide you with various photos for practice.
Here is the list of textbooks which I used in Dalhousie University (except Computational Science and Engineering by Gilbert Strang and The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol I/II/III). If you are having difficulty in understanding these materials, I can help you with my science tutoring service.
Mathematics
Gilbert Strang, Computational Science and Engineering
Riley et al., Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering, 3rd Ed.
Boas, Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences, 3rd Ed.
Burden, Numerical Analysis, 7th Ed.
Poole, Linear Algebra - a Modern Introduction, 2nd Ed.
Lay, Linear Algebra and its Applications, 3rd Ed.
Lipschutz, Outline Linear Algebra, 3rd Ed.
Nagle et al., Fundamentals of Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems, 4th Ed.
James Stewart, Multivariable Calculus, 2nd Ed.
James Stewart, Single Variable Calculus, 2nd Ed.
Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis, 2nd Ed.
Moore, Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, 4th Ed.
Computer Science
Savitch, An Introduction to Computer Science & Programming, 3rd Ed.
Physics
Dunlap, An Introducton to the Physics of Nuclei and Particles
Townsend, A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics
Thornton, Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, 5th Ed.
Calkin, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics
Simpson, Introductory Electronics for Scientists and Engineers, 2nd Ed.
Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd Ed.
Richard Feynman et al., The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol I/II/III
Serway, Modern Physics, 3rd Ed.
Walker, Physics, 2nd Ed.
Chemistry
White, Properties of Materials
Laidler et al., Physical Chemistry, 4th Ed.
Miessler, Inorganic Chemistry, 3rd Ed.
Paula Yurkanis Bruice, Organic Chemistry, 4th Ed.
Hill & Petrucci, General Chemistry, 3rd Ed.
Biology
Albert et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th Ed. （『細胞の分子生物学』 ニュートンプレス 原著）
Lodish et al., Molecular Cell Biology, 5th Ed. （『分子細胞生物学』 東京化学同人 原著）
Russell, i Genetics
Campbell & Reece, Biology, 6th Ed.
Publication
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Ed. （『APA論文作成マニュアル』 医学書院 原著）
Pechenik, A Short Guide to Writing about Biology, 5th Ed.