You learn by doing. Learning theory is one thing, but application is the important lesson.

I would need to start with what the student does not know or hopes to learn. We would need to establish goals so that a plan can be developed to meet those goals.

I would work to not just show them how to do a problem, but to build an understanding as to why those steps are done.

学生的很多倍are distracted and discouraged from their work by not seeing a purpose or relevance to their homework. I would take breaks to discuss why this is important, not only as a grade but how it can be used in practical applications. Maybe show cool examples of a theory in practice; YouTube is a gold mine of science!

It is easy to get lost in an equation. I find that stepping back and looking at an illustration or figure of what you are doing helps. I always have a mental picture of what an equation means before I start a problem.

Have them draw it out. It may seem silly, but actually a lot of qualifying exams tend to have only very simple questions that are hidden under a mountain of text. I would recommend taking your time to ensure you fully understand the problem before diving head-long into the work.

Building a relationship that emphasizes that I once had difficulties on these very same problems. If you want to get better, you can, but only if you want it. You should always look ahead and set goals as to what you want to achieve tomorrow, this semester and even years from now.

YouTube is a gold mine of science at work. There is bound to be examples of nearly any subject. I find it helps to see the practical applications. No one ever thought it would be fun to solve equations or look into biological processes. They only did it because they set a goal, and they did what was needed to achieve that goal and further their understanding of our world.

Have them teach me. You may think that you know a subject, but if you can't teach it you may not know it well enough.

Let them take the wheel. After some practice in the subject, they should be able to teach me. I believe that kind of understanding will give them all the confidence they need.

By looking at their step-by-step process to see how they think. I was a student in the same subject and had my own misconceptions. It makes it easy to see how the student thinks, and how to steer them back on course.

I had a professor once who made no plan for class. Seems lazy, but he actually was letting us explore the subject like the people who founded the material of that class. We asked questions, and he would probe us to answer the question using what we knew. Between all of us, we were able to solve it ourselves, and he did not have to throw up some theorem on the board. This critical thinking is what turned around my idea of how to approach a problem. Don't just find the right equation for the job, but think about how to go about deriving the equation. It gave me a greater understanding as opposed to a typical lecture style.

Long story short: find out how they think, and use that to solve the problem.

Pencil and paper. Nothing beats working a problem out on scratch paper. You can do your math alongside graphs, charts, tables, etc. Once you have a plan, then you can turn to the calculator or computer to finish it up.