Sitting on her couch, reading hundreds of emails from students, while her four children run circles around her is a typical work day for Tina Chapman. 

 

That is, when she’s not teaching her students and children about the sums of X + Y. 

 

Chapman is a “famous” Prep101 math instructor at Western University, according to multiple students who go to Western. Prep101 is a non-affiliated Western program that provides in depth prep sessions, detailed booklets and sample exam questions prior to midterm and final exams.

 

In two days, Chapman teaches Western students what a professor teaches them in an entire semester.

 

“When I walk through campus and students come up to me and tell me I’m a celebrity at Western it’s quite funny,” said Chapman. “And to my kids I’m a super mom because I’m their teacher and their mom. They also think I parent my students.”

 

Madelyn, a second year science student, said she heard about Chapman in grade 12 before she came to Western. “All my friends told me I had to go to her if I ever wanted to consider passing math.”

 

Chapman’s reputation among Western students has helped make Prep101 as popular as it is. “I feel satisfied knowing I can help so many students and that the message that I’m here gets passed on year after year,” she said.

 

Chapman specializes mostly in first year courses such as algebra and statistics. She also teaches second year statistics and calculus. During midterm and final exam season, she teaches around 15 - 20 sessions or more. Courses like math 1229 usually have three different sessions with an enrollment of over 300 students per session. 

 

Like most teachers, Chapman went to Teacher’s College, but she also has a degree in math, which is why she says math is her specialty.

 

“What many people don’t know is that there is so much more to just being a good teacher,” said Chapman. “I have to be personable, friendly and outgoing with my students. I think they like me and respect me because I make a boring math class light and fun by making jokes.”

 

“I didn’t go to any math 1229 classes at Western, I only go to Tina,” said Eden Lerman, a second year psychology student. “Even though we have to sit there all day it actually goes by pretty quickly, and I think Tina is the reason for that, not the math.”

 

A prep session typically runs for about eight hours. A much longer day than the average math class taught at Western. But every session Chapman runs is sold out. This means only the students who sign up and pay for the session weeks in advance can attend.

 

“I learn more from one day with Tina than I do the entire semester with my prof at Western,” said Lerman. “It’s stressful though because if you don’t sign up right away you may miss an opportunity to learn with her.”

 

Chapman loves her job because of the large impact she has on her students. “To have so many people so thankful for helping them finally understand math for the first time in their lives,” she said.

 

When it’s not exam season and Chapman isn’t working seven days a week, she’s still working home-schooling her children.

 

After her first year of teaching for Prep101, Chapman and her husband decided they wanted to home school their children. “I saw what students were being taught at a university level and I couldn’t imagine what was going on in elementary school,” she said.

 

Chapman said her children knew how to read when they were three, and they were years ahead in math. “Putting them in a class with kids who couldn’t even do simple math would’ve been ridiculous.” 

 

She said she often finds it hard to balance teaching her children, working on course booklets and answering students’ emails. 

 

One exam booklet takes over 40 hours to complete before sending off to printing with a compensation of $25 per hour. She didn’t disclose information on her teaching salary.

 

“My husband often has to take over teaching duties during midterms and finals,” she said. “He focuses on reading and English, while I’ll usually catch them up on math later on.”

 

Despite loving her job, Chapman always thought growing up that she wanted to be a doctor. “Then I realized I hated blood and other people’s problems so that was never going to happen,” she said. 

 

“Math was more simple to me. There was always a solution to the problem, and that’s when I realized I wanted to teach.”