Jaime John

My experience comes from tutoring secondary school and A Level students in GCSE Maths and A Level Maths/Further Maths/Physics. Usually, they'll let me know a few days in advance what they'd like to go through (something they struggled on in class? Something that piqued their interest? Completely behind and lost on a topic?) and I'll look at how best to present the material to them in a way that is easy to understand. I can also mentor university admissions i.e. help with personal statements, help with (a few) admissions tests, and interviews!

I put a lot of emphasis on understanding the concept and putting it into practice immediately--for example, if I'm teaching you maths, I'll explain the concept, where the method to solve problems comes from (i.e. the derivation), walk you through a few examples, then set you off on problems to try, and at any point you can ask me for help if you're stuck or struggling. If the student feels it's appropriate, I'll be happy to just quickly glance at something outside of actual paid time, too, i.e. you've got a problem you're struggling on, just shoot me a message and I can get to that.

I did have a student before who struggled to grasp a fair few concepts. In this situation I try to track down the root of their confusion, no matter how far back or elementary it could be, and tackle that, then we'll work our way back up to understanding the problem at hand. For example, to solve quadratic simultaneous equations, you'll need knowledge of factorisation, the quadratic formula, substitution, how to solve regular simultaneous equations, how to rearrange formulas to make a particular variable the subject, et cetera... sometimes you don't realise how many tiny nuggets of information you actually need to be able to advance onto something new in maths. I have always been very patient, and according to my students and those I teach in general, very capable of reframing concepts in a way that can make sense to anyone.