Research mathematician and Oxford doctoral graduate with over 15 years of experience tutoring maths up to university level

My approach in tutoring is individually oriented around the tutee: their expectations, background knowledge and way of thinking; and what they see as most important to focus on, be it a particular part of maths, or a certain type of problem. While it's useful and necessary to be familiar with certain recipes and templates for solving different types of problems, ideally the aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas behind the material that's learned and the problems that are set. This provides a much firmer basis for an appreciation of maths and greater problem-solving ability.