Maths lessons at GCSE level provided by an Oxford University graduate with 8+ years tutoring experience

Find out more about James

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I've always enjoyed tutoring, I started back in year 9 as I really enjoyed explaining things to other and younger students. When a student doesn't understand something it makes me think of new ways to explain it, and this thinking of concepts in different ways that I really enjoy; as well as building rapport with the student and seeing them make breakthroughs and improve.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I teach a variety of subjects at a variety of levels and as much as I enjoy working with and helping people understand new things, I love interview prep work at a high level as it provides the best opportunity to have really stimulating discussions to really push the student - I like how they often make me have to think too!

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  I had a couple of amazing teachers at GCSE who really helped and worked with me in areas that I was struggling with and in the end I got the best grade possible thanks to their help :)

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  I think to be a good tutor you need to be really understanding and patient because you need to not only know the concept inside and out but be able to explain it in an accesible way for the student. I also thinking being personable really helps the students to connect with me, making them feel more comfortable asking questions and enjoy the lessons more which means they engage more.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  When I decided to apply for Oxford I was met with two different responses by my teachers. One told me to apply for a different course because it was kind of the same but much easier to get onto, the other wanted to help but had never even heard of the admissions test. Faced with little support from my school I had to proactively work out what the test was, how best to prepare and then in turn seek specific guidance from teachers who were happy to help but just didn't know how. It really taught me how much you can achieve if you approach something proactively and give it a lot of time and effort.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  The main difficulty I'm facing in my subject at the moment is picking my options modules. I'm still unsure what I'm particularly interested in or what I may do as a career and so trying to work that out and align it with available papers at Uni is causing me all sorts of problems at the moment!

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I love learning languages, I think its because I like being to communicate with all kinds of different people, particularly when I travel. I did German in school for 7 years, taught myself Spanish alongside it and am now doing a French course too.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  I have a lot of experience tutoring a variety of different students and I think my younger age and friendly personality makes me a lot more relatable for the students meaning I find I can get a lot more out of them than a typical teacher.