Residential Life Offers Multiple Services for Academic Support.
As a resident, you have access to tutoring, peer advising, and study spaces in the comfort of your home at no additional charge — all of these services are available to you as part of your residence hall fees.
Residential Tutoring Program
Residential Life provides free drop-in tutoring and exam review sessions to students who live in the residence halls. Tutoring subjects include Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Writing. All tutors are current undergraduate students who have an A- or higher in the courses they tutor and complete a Level 1 International Tutor Training Program Certification. The Residential Tutoring Program (RTP) offer support Mondays-Thursdays, 8PM-10PM. Work with tutors in-person in the Unit 2: Academic Center or online via Zoom. For the full list of courses RTP tutors can support, drop-in schedule, sign-in form and more, go to tinyurl.com/UCBRTP.
Academic Centers
Academic Centers offer flexible study spaces. You can study alone or comfortably with a group of friends. The centers provide tables, chairs, whiteboards, and bulletin boards to make it easier to study through late-night sessions. Centers are located in Units 1, 2, 3, Clark Kerr, Martinez Commons, and Hillside Building 7, but each center is open to all students living in the residence halls.Most centers are open daily, 8am-10pm. Check the specific Academic Center for their hours.
For more details about our academic support services, see below:
Residential Life provides online and in-person tutoring support and exam review sessions throughout the units for some of the more popular lower-division courses. The Residential Tutoring Program is a great academic support service provided by trained tutors, who are all undergraduate Berkeley students and have earned at least an A- grade or higher in the subject they tutor.
For optimal academic achievement, we encourage students to build relationships with their instructors/professors during office hours, utilize the services of the Student Learning Center (SLC), and, in the evenings when studying at home in the halls, Residential Tutoring is there to further support learning and academic success.
Courses
Tutoring support is available for the following courses. Check the online schedule (to the right) for daily and weekly schedules.
Chemistry: 1A, 3A, 3B
Math: 1, 1A, 1B, 10A, 10B, 16A, 16B, 32, 53, 54
Physics: 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B
Writing: all undergraduate writing courses
How The Residential Tutoring Program Works
There are 3 layers of academic support that tutors provide:
1. Drop-In Tutoring
Drop-In tutoring is offered online and in-person, Sundays through Thursdays 8:00pm-10:00pm beginning the first weekend of the semester through the last day of classes. Students who live in the residence halls can access in-person tutoring in the Unit 2 and Unit 3 academic centers and online through the RTP Drop-In Form. Residents can also access the tutoring schedule in their weekly newsletters.
When attending drop-in tutoring, it’s really important students come with their course materials, like syllabi, problem sets, or a writing assignment. Tutors support students from the course materials students bring with them.
2. Midterm/Exam Review Sessions
Midterm/exam review sessions are offered in Chemistry, Math, and Physics throughout the semester, and are scheduled based on when exams are scheduled. Typically, review sessions are offered 1-2 nights before the day of an exam. To know if a review session is being offered, residents can access those announcements in their weekly newsletters.
3. RRR Week: Extended Online Support and Final Exam Review Sessions
During RRR week, Residential Tutoring offers extended online support in selected subjects and review sessions for final exams in Chemistry, Math, and Physics. These supports are typically finalized during the last week of classes each semester, and posted in the weekly newsletters to residents.
We partner with the L&S Academic Advising staff to provide in-house peer advising for students living in the residence halls. the L&S Peer Advisors are generally juniors and seniors from a wide variety of backgrounds and academic interests, who enjoy helping other students find their path to success.
The L&S Peers have recently experienced what you are going through, understand the Berkeley culture, and have achieved academic success. L&S Peers can help you pave your way to success by focusing on your academic plans through informed decision making about issues that affect your academic progress, and by directing you to intellectual and mentoring resources that support your interests.
And you don’t have to venture outside your home to benefit from peer advisors. The L&S Peers provide support throughout the residential system! Check your weekly newsletter for their drop-in schedule.
Students can contact Student Technology Services for technical support. Student Technology Consultants (STC) are ready to answer questions, provide technical support, and give computing advice free of charge.