Zach Xanthoudakis

Hi my name is Zach. I am currently studying mechanical engineering at Loughborough University. With my achievements of top grades in the areas of maths and the sciences, along with my experience of tutoring for over two years, give me the ability to understand the content, and the experience to teach that content to others.

In a first trial session I typically use the session to gauge the ability of the student and understand where they are up to within the content of the subject. After all it is good to make sure the student has a great knowledge of the subject so they can apply that knowledge to answer harder questions, however it is equally as important to understand what you need to know within the context of the subject specification to ensure the student can effectively achieve high grades.

Typical sessions will involve a couple minutes of warm up questions to get the brain flexible. Then we will dive into areas of the subject the student has expressed confusion in (or areas that I have found to be weak points) and go over questions together. Making sure that over this process the student understands at a fundamental level how to solve the problem, often by linking it back to previously taught areas. We then will go onto harder questions which I will encourage the student to perform individually with my supervision, only helping when I see fit. After the session I will give the student a reasonable amount of homework that I will advise them to complete a couple days in between our sessions to ensure the concepts we learn stay fresh in their mind. I don’t want the homework to clash with the students schoolwork, rather I intend for it to be a 30-45 minute exercise that could be considered ample revision to encourage further revision.

Additionally, alongside all of this I try to really build a strong relationship and good rapport with the student. I strongly believe that a good relationship helps a student learn better, whether that be through fun or trust I find it always reaps better result.