Tutoring Physics

Just fine as long as it is not advanced

Curiously enough, these days I find myself tutoring Physics sometimes.
Three students I previously tutored in Calculus, as well as one I am currently tutoring for the GRE, all of them have recently asked me to help them with Physics.
The first time it was a surprise for me because my student called me over the phone and all she said was she wanted to schedule an appointment. I just assumed she was taking another calculus class. When we started the session I looked at her book and said, “This is Physics”! Her only reply was a monosyllable: “Yeah,” along with a completely natural, matter-of-fact look on her face. I realized she expected me to know Physics so I went ahead and helped her with the problems she had to study for her exam, and we got all of them right! It was a very nice surprise for me. I thought it funny that it was not a surprise for her because all along she simply had assumed I knew Physics. Fortunately I did not disappoint her.
So far I have been able to successfully help these four students except for the last session with one of them, who is taking a Static Mechanics class at UCSD for his engineering major. Most college courses are packed full with topics to cover, and professors typically move very fast through the material. I had no problem helping this student with the first few topics, including up to finding momentums of forces in three dimensions but when we got to the chapter on force couples and reactions in systems at equilibrium I realized it is going to take me a while to figure it out.
The reason is at first any new subject seems esoteric to me until I find the meaning of its concepts, and the reasons for each step in its particular problem-solving processes.
Most likely I wont be able to go any further right now with this student but chances are I will soon find time to do some research, and I will be better prepared on this Static Mechanics Physics subject the next time around.