AP Computer Science A Tutor — Java Programming Online

Most online tutors stay with a student for 6–8 weeks. Tae's longest-running students are in year 5.

Palo Alto Mentor is the online private practice of Tae Hyun Nam — a long-term STEM mentor for high-achieving high schoolers. Two families have been with him since 2021, working through middle-school math, AP coursework, and college admissions with the same mentor. Not the rotating cast of tutors that Wyzant, Preply, and Varsity rely on.

What Tae covers in AP Computer Science A

  • Java fundamentals: primitive types, casting, control flow, methods, scope
  • Object-oriented programming: classes, constructors, instance methods, instance variables, static vs. instance
  • Inheritance and polymorphism: super, override, abstract classes, interfaces
  • Arrays and ArrayList: traversal, mutation, common operations, the difference between primitive arrays and ArrayList
  • 2D arrays: row-major vs column-major traversal, nested loops, common 2D-array FRQ patterns
  • Recursion: base cases, recursive cases, common patterns (factorial, fibonacci, list traversal, recursive search)
  • Sorting and searching: selection sort, insertion sort, merge sort, binary search
  • FRQ strategy: reading method signatures, sketching pseudocode, the 4-point rubric pattern
  • The 4 AP CS A FRQ types: methods and control structures, classes, array/ArrayList, 2D array

Who AP CS A tutoring at Palo Alto Mentor is for

Best fit: high schoolers at any grade level taking AP CS A, students who want to learn real programming (not just concepts), and students considering computer science in college. No prior programming experience required — Tae teaches Java from scratch.

How sessions work

  • 100% online via Zoom plus a shared digital whiteboard
  • Weekly cadence — 1-hour standard, 90-minute during exam season
  • Personalized progress tracking: Tae logs weak topics across the year
  • Mock exams in the spring with detailed scoring breakdown
  • Direct text and email access between sessions for time-sensitive questions

Related subjects

About Tae

Tae Hyun Nam is the sole tutor at Palo Alto Mentor. Based in South Pasadena, California; teaching online to students nationwide. Reviews from five-year families specifically mention his ability to work across “algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, and computer science” with the same student — the breadth and continuity that make the multi-year mentorship model work.

Book a 20-minute intro call

The intro call is free and runs about 20 minutes. Contact us to schedule.