But an undergraduate’s ability to relate to students can also be problematic, says Yannis K. Valtis ’12, who begins his fourth semester as Math 21a’s head CA this fall.

“Some students will take advantage of your willingness to be there for them—get a little bit too comfortable with how many times a day they can ask you a question,” he says.

“As soon as you become a TF, your inbox starts overflowing with questions,” Muller says.

A LEARNING CURVE

The job is not always a perfect fit for students. While the average CUE Guide score for undergraduate TFs in the Physics Department last spring was an impressive 4.43, Kevin A. Rader, who hires CAs in the Statistics Department, has observed that this is not fully reflective of undergraduate TF performance.

“Their average might be a little bit higher, but their variance is much higher,” he says. “Every once in a while they overcommit themselves.”

New CS61 TF Yonatan J. Kogan ’12 says a potential challenge may be explaining material in a broader framework when he has only mastered it in the context of a particular course, a concern that graduate students do not necessarily face.

And while graduate students take a year-long course to learn communication and teaching skills, Rader adds, undergraduates get little more than “on the spot training.”

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” says Gommerstadt, who is planning to teach CS51 again in the spring. “I’ve experienced in other classes undergrad TFs who don’t really know what’s going on.”

But undergraduates and faculty alike agree that the experience of TFing is a learning process in itself—and one that gets easier with time.

“I’m definitely not afraid to say ‘I don’t know,’ and Google it after section,” says Thomas M. MacWilliam ’13, a CS50 TF, of responding to tough questions.

A REWARDING INVESTMENT

The most challenging and exciting part of the job, according to Physics 15a TF Andrew R. Milewski ’12, is keeping students motivated.

“I don’t care what you have to do to engage them—stand on your head if you have to,” he says. “The energy you bring to the situation will be reflected back to you by the students.”

According to some of his students, Milewski sometimes brings snacks to section, offers interesting examples, and provides practice problems of varying difficulty, from “confidence-builders” to “face-melters.”