Based in Townsville and Bundaberg, MATHSconceptions offers maths tuition for students in Years 7-12, specialising in Mathematical Methods, General Mathematics, and Essential Mathematics.
At MATHSconceptions, we help all students to improve their maths grades. We cater for students who enjoy mathematics and students who don’t enjoy mathematics. We don’t discriminate between strugglers and would be rocket scientists. We believe that all students can learn to love mathematics, or at least not hate it anymore, when we help them with their maths conceptions.
Who we are
MATHSconceptions is a maths tutoring partnership founded by Karen Ruhl and Anita Smith, who met in 2005 while obtaining their mathematics Majors at JCU. As part-time students, they balanced their studies with raising their families, eventually earning their Bachelor of Science degrees. After Graduating, they naturally progressed to establishing MATHSconceptions and have been tutoring ever since.
Australian curriculum
Karen and Anita are experienced mathematics tutors who have been involved in mathematics education since 2013. Since 2019, they have worked extensively with the Australian Curriculum and ATAR system. Their deep knowledge and understanding of core topics and recommended learning experiences make them exceptional tutors for students in Years 7-12, covering Essential Mathematics, General Mathematics, and Mathematical Methods. Prior to the introduction of ATAR, Karen and Anita successfully tutored students following the Queensland Mathematics A & B syllabi from 2013 to 2018.
Our prices
Tutorial sessions are one hour in duration. Our prices are $70 per session and are held at Karen or Anitas’ home based work places or online.
What WE DO IN our sessions
Karen and Anita offer personalized maths tutoring to help students grasp concepts and improve their Grades. They tailor their approach to each student's needs, providing both extension and remedial work as necessary. Students are encouraged to bring class work, homework, or practice tests to identify strengths and areas for improvement. We expect our students to put in the hours and work hard. We don’t do their homework or assignments for them, but we will give them hints and guidance to support their progress.
IN-Person or Online
We offer in-person tutoring sessions at either Karen's or Anita's home-based workplaces. Karen is based in Townsville and Anita is based in Bundaberg. For students who cannot attend in person or those living in other locations, online sessions are also available. These virtual sessions are conducted via Zoom, with email used for additional communication and support.
Missed sessions
We understand that students may get sick or that other priorities arise. Please inform us as soon as possible if your child cannot attend their session, so that we can avoid charging you for the missed appointment.

Karen Ruhl

Townsville

Karen Ruhl specialises in tutoring Years 9-12 in Mathematical Methods, General Mathematics and Essential mathematics . Her approach involves one-on-one support as students work through mathematical tasks. She helps students refresh past knowledge and procedures when needed and adjusts the pace of learning to ensure a deeper understanding. Karen particularly enjoys mathematical modeling and word problems. She appreciates the challenge of solving complex unfamiliar problems and teaching her students how to approach such problems, to extend her student's abilities. When Karen's not tutoring mathematics she like to do Maths Art. Karen Ruhl
Contact Karen

Anita Smith

Bundaberg

After completing her Bachelor of Science degree, Anita Smith furthered her education by earning an Honours degree and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education at James Cook University. She was a qualified and dedicated part-time mathematics teacher at Pimlico State High School for eight years before relocating to Bundaberg. Anita is particularly passionate about supporting students in Years 7-9 who find mathematics challenging, but she is also happy to tutor students at all levels from Years 7 to 12 Methods. She believes in the importance of building student confidence and strengthening foundational math skills, which are key to helping students improve their grades, turning E’s and D’s into C’s, B’s, or even A’s. Anita Marie Smith
Contact Anita

Past Students Reviews (2024)

Karen Ruhl was my mathematical methods tutor for three years and from the very first session she demonstrated her deep understanding of mathematical concepts and ability to explain them in ways that were clear and easy to grasp. Her approach is patient, personalised, and encouraging which helped me build both confidence and skill in this subject. What I appreciated the most was Karen's ability to adapt to my learning style, offering moral support and guidance. Her teaching methods were not only effective but also engaging, making even the most challenging topics more manageable. Thanks to Karen, I gained a much better understanding of math methods and received a desirable result for my external assessment. I will forever be grateful to her and wholeheartedly recommend Karen if you're looking for a tutor who genuinely cares about your success. (Graduated 2024)
SYLVIA (Atar) 2024
With Anita Smith's tutoring, Thomas has increased in confidence and strengthened his mathematics understanding and skill, increasing a grade in year 9 mathematics this term.
Adam (DAD) 2024
Best tutoring experience I've ever received. I looked forward to every lesson I attended with Anita as my maths tutor because she made it a fun, learning experience that would ensure success throughout my highschool studies. Highly recommend! from Jaymee Bryant year 12 Essential
Jaymee (ATAR) 2024
Over the past two years, Karen Ruhl's tutoring has been instrumental in my improvement in mathematical methods. Whether it was through providing additional resources, or explaining challenging concepts, Karen always went above and beyond. The flexibility of online lessons was especially accommodating allowing me to maintain steady progress despite my schedule. Most of all, Karens positive and encouraging attitude helped me stay motivated, and she equipped me with the strategies I needed to obtain strong results. (Graduated 2024)
LILA ( Atar) 2024
Thanks to Anita Smith's maths tutoring with Marc, who is undertaking mathematics at TECHNQ. This semester was the best report he's ever had and he has been excepted into electrical.
Leah (MUM) 2024
Karen Ruhl was our math tutor from the start of Grade 10 to the end of Grade 12 helping us in Mathematical Methods. Although we had both always done well in Math we found that with Karen’s tutoring we gained a greater understanding of the purpose and reasoning behind mathematical concepts opposed to just memorising formulas and calculations. Karen is a great teacher and a lovely person who went out of her way to ensure we were fully prepared for assessments, providing feedback, practice exams and offering extra sessions leading up to exams. We felt very confident going into our external exam at the end of Grade 12 thanks to Karen’s thorough preparation and guidance. We both achieved highly in maths during our time with Karen and are immensely grateful for all her help and dedication to our studies. We would strongly recommend Karen to any student studying math in their senior years of high school.(graduated 2024)
Sarah and Jessica (ATAR) 2024
The confidence Anita Smiths tutoring gave Gwen this year in grade seven maths was invaluable .Gwen got a VHA for maths and an overall academic award! Most importantly she was not stressed going into her exams.
Natasha (MUM) 2024
Karens Maths Products
In her spare time Karen likes to do Maths Art, involving maths formulas, definitions and problem solving. She makes maths posters, coffee mugs and stickers. Yes! She is a Maths nerd. If you like her work, all her products are available at REDBUBBLE and can be purchased using the links below.
The Ambiguous Case of the Swinging Shorter Side
The Ambiguous Case of the Swinging Shorter Side provides a simple solution to a Tricky Trig problem, and is available as a Coffee Mug or a Double Sticker
The Double Sticker is best ordered in the Large Size, so you can enjoy the artwork and read it too. Having two, means you can keep one and give the other to a friend or your teacher.
Karen's Maths Methods Poster was too big to fit on a mug. This is part 1 of 2 parts
Maths methods part 1
Maths Methods Part 2

More Past Students Reviews

Before being tutored by Karen Ruhl I really struggled with General Maths and had trouble grasping certain concepts surrounding the subject. However, during the time Karen tutored me I was able to increase my marks greatly and there was never a time she failed to help me understand the math we were working on. I found Karen to be a great tutor who was always able to come up with new ways to explain things and help me to further understand topics and apply my new understanding in assignments and exams. (Graduated 2020)
CHLOE (Atar)
As a student of Karen Ruhl for three years, I am able to say with certainty that during this time, my grades on Mathematical Methods improved as a result of her tuition. I was a high achiever in other subjects, but like many, maths was what I found most challenging and I struggled to pass each exam. With Karen’s guidance, I was equipped with the strategies and knowledge to solve numerous questions and develop a method to attack the more complex familiar and unfamiliar problems. She understands that each person learns differently and caters to their needs, while also empowering students to complete questions independently. (Graduated 2020)
CARLY (ATAR) years 10-12
I would like to thank Anita so much for helping My daughter for the past 2 years. She is now heading into grade 11 doing maths B & will continue with Anita because she loves studying with her. Anita has the most amazing way of engaging my daughter & making her think & understand what she is studying. I don’t know what we would have done had we not found these amazing women. I recommend these women and their amazing ability to teach maths. Thank you so much ladies.
Jo Gulson
Karen was my math tutor through grade 10 to when I completed grade 12 and she helped me immensely with both specialist mathematics and mathematical methods. Karen always answered all of my questions from my assignments and homework. She always would go above and beyond to ensure that I got all the help I needed to complete my assessments. Whether it would be the late email replies or stopping back in our tutoring session, Karen always supported and explained concepts to me throughly.
Hannah (ATAR)
Both of my children have been seeing Anita Smith for some time now...she is amazing! She is so patient, supportive and helpful...both kids are now way more confident with their maths and their results are proof it’s worth it. (ATAR )
Kym
Karen Ruhl at MathsConceptions was my Mathematical Methods tutor for Term 4 in year 11 and all of year 12. Throughout my school life, I had always excelled at maths and loved solving math problems. But with the introduction of the new syllabus and the ATAR system in 2019, I struggled with Math Methods and I lost all confidence in my mathematical ability. I also thought I had destroyed any opportunity of going to university due to failing some assessments in year 11. Thankfully, Karen agreed to tutor me and gave me the skills, knowledge and confidence in Math again, which I had lost. By the end of year 11, I had achieved a B for Methods and A’s for every term throughout year 12. Karen goes above and beyond for all her students, I could contact her at any time if I was struggling with math problems and she would always assist. She is also a compassionate and caring teacher and provided me with all the resources and study skills I needed to once again succeed in math. She taught me to learn to love math again, so much so that I may even tutor math school students while attending university in Brisbane. I can’t thank her enough. – (graduated 2020)
Galen (Atar)
Anita Smith has tutored both of my girls throughout junior and secondary senior – both have achieved very highly in maths due to the support they received. They have appreciated her ability to clarify challenging concepts, her reassurance that has helped build their confidence to take on tricky Maths and her above and beyond commitment to their academic achievement in being flexible with their access to her when in busy assessment times.
Karen Smith (ATAR) 2020