James

Tutoring Experience

2015-2016:

In 2015, I was an A-level student. A Maths teacher at my school offered to hire me to his small local tutoring agency, which had an arrangement with a local secondary school whereby they would pay for struggling students to receive help with maths. I accepted, and helped weekly at small group sessions to assist the students with GCSE problem sets and past papers. I left when the cohort I helped did their GCSE exam in May.

2016-2017:

I was hired privately for weekly 1-1 tuition in GCSE Maths for three individuals. I delivered tailored 1hr-long lessons.

2020-2021:

I did not tutor during my undergrad (2017-2020). During my MPhil at Cambridge, however, I was given the opportunity to co-teach a formal logic seminar to ten Cambridge undergraduates. The undergraduates would attend logic lectures, before submitting a worksheet to me. I graded all these worksheets, and then, with a fellow postgraduate-teacher, held a fortnightly seminar in which we would explain confusions we noticed had arisen in the worksheets, and in which the undergraduates could ask any questions about the formal logic they were covering. These seminars ran in term time, from October to May.

2021-:

Currently preparing a student for the 11+.

Tutoring Approach

Mathematics

I generally begin by finding out what topics the student feels they need help with. When we have agreed a topic to work on, I will find a past paper question and scope out how far the student can already attack the problem. That information then informs what conceptual background (if any) is missing, which I then proceed to use appropriate resources (whiteboard, graphing software, etc) to fill teach. This is followed by more guided practice, with harder problems as appropriate.

11+

For English and Verbal Reasoning, I assign reading tasks between lessons that focus on improving vocabulary and natural language intuition, and then in lesson focus on teaching compositional skills and comprehension. I try to make these lesson tasks as stimulating and interactive as is feasible, and do my best to nurture genuine creative zest.

For Maths and Non-verbal Reasoning, I scope out the student’s weaknesses through either papers or activities, and try to amend errors and omissions through relevant games and/or whiteboard and explanation work.
For both Verbal and Non-verbal reasoning, I always try to teach the student to think logically and laterally. This too happens through guided practice and tailored activities.

I also set a good deal of past-paper practice as homework, particularly as we get closer to exams.

Oxbridge Humanities Admissions

For admissions tutoring, I focus on building up firstly the student’s ability to think critically on-the-spot, and secondly to write precisely and analytically. For the former, I administer 30-minute mock-interview sessions in-lesson, and provide detailed feedback. For the latter, I ask the student to write brief essays on a topic between lessons, before discussing the essay with the student in-lesson.

Philosophy

To teach philosophy, I assign regular writing and critical thinking tasks as homework, and then split the lesson between feedback relating to the homework task and then teaching on content with which the student needs help. These lessons focus explanation of the relevant argument or concept and then assistance with procuring/producing good notes and resources for revision.