ESC lead tutor encourages connection for success in Purdue Engineering
Deniz Eksioglu is the lead tutor for the Engineering Success Center.
As a tutor, Deniz Eksioglu was used to an academic crisis.
But the mechanical engineering student who came to him before finals had a much more urgent plight: She needed to pass Calculus III (MA 26100) to continue in mechanical engineering. If she didn’t pass the exam, she would have to delay graduation to take the course later.
Fortunately, it was Quiet Week. So Eksioglu used his free time, every day for one week, to give the student repeated practice exams and simulate the quiet, large exam room by booking — and camping out in — empty, quiet classrooms.
It was exhausting, he said. But the student passed Calculus III, and it boosted Eksioglu’s confidence that he was making a positive impact on the Purdue University engineering community.
“Tutoring helps you not only learn the content, but learn how to study and practice for exams,” Eksioglu said. “I know in high school that I didn’t study nearly as much as I need to now, and tutoring helped me adjust to that.”
As the lead tutor for the Engineering Success Center (ESC), Eksioglu regularly helps students thrive and survive in Purdue Engineering by tutoring chemistry, biology, calculus of all levels and more.
ESC houses a collaborative learning environment through tutoring, faculty-led concept deep dives and exam preparation sessions. ESC provides a physical space for students to study, ask questions and learn together with 17 available tutors in over 40 engineering and engineering-related subjects. Located in Lambertus 2235, the area is open to students from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. for team work and individual study.
Though Eksioglu is a biomedical engineering (BME) student, most of the students he tutors are pursuing mechanical or aeronautical and astronautical engineering, much like he considered before he encountered BME.
PHYS 17200 (Modern Mechanics) was the first time he used tutoring as a first-year student.
“In high school, I gravitated to biology and chemistry. I’d never taken a physics course,” he said. “In the physics building (at Purdue), I saw a flyer with ‘get tutoring help at this number’ tear-off slips. I used one.”
Eksioglu’s tutor was so good, he said, that he didn’t need one by his sophomore year. He had academically conquered the First-Year Engineering Program and was succeeding as a sophomore when he became a paid tutor.
It was an overwhelming start.
Eksioglu began tandem tutoring five first-year students in biochemistry, calculus, chemistry, computer science and more. Working with five students at once proved to be a balancing act, but each student passed their classes and understood the concepts enough to teach others, too.
It was no surprise when Jessica Perkins, who leads ESC, asked Eksioglu to be the center's lead tutor. His weekly hours are filled with first-year students, both visiting for course help but also for the advice of a senior about anything and everything.
A top myth Eksioglu works to dispel among the students is that tutoring is only there to save failing grades.
“Anyone can use tutoring,” Eksioglu said. “It’s not just for people who are failing. The best way to use tutoring is not to start when you’re struggling, but start from the first day of your course.”
And if you’re thriving in Purdue Engineering? Eksioglu invites you to become an ESC tutor.
“If you’re doing well, especially if you have struggled before, tutoring lets you give the knowledge you’ve learned from others and pass it on.”