Daniel

I have studied for a PhD in theoretical astrophysics at Durham University and am an experienced full-time tutor. My strengths are physics (particularly astrophysics), mathematics and computing. I am passionate about my subjects and making them interesting - school methods can be constraining and make subjects dry when they don't have to be.

I am friendly and outgoing and enjoy tutoring very much. My hobbies include computing, number and logic puzzles, music and reading physics books.

Important information for Computer Science :
I am very experienced in Python and C++. In C# I have helped a couple of students with projects recently.

Tutoring Experience

I have been a tutor for over 7 years now, and a full-time tutor for the last 5 years. I have tutored over 130 people through this site and everything has gone very well. I have also tutored over 100 other students via other websites and agencies. Many students were found through word-of-mouth, so my full experience is not recorded on these websites. Included in that are various members of the same family and friend groups. I currently tutor online over a wide geographical area, and have taught students from all over the world including China, Russia, Singapore and New Zealand, so have dealt with language issues and time-differences.

I have taught Entrance Exams (11+/13+), CAT4, GCSE, International Baccalaureate, Irish Leaving Certificate and A Level Physics, Maths, Further Maths and Computing across a range of exam boards (OCR, AQA, Edexcel, SQA, WJEC and CIE (A level and Pre-U)). My youngest tutee was 7 years old and I have taught adults studying for work-related exams and GCSE re-sits. I also helped students with applications to Universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, UCL, Imperial, Durham, Edinburgh and Warwick with students successfully heading to all of these. I have helped students prepare for the Maths Admissions Test (MAT) and Physics Aptitude Test (PAT). For the MAT I am now on a college's contact list for future students and generally tutor a few students over summer towards that exam. I have also helped students prepare for the Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP) exams and the UKMT Junior, Intermediate (including Maclaurin) and Senior Challenges.

In August 2022 I was particularly happy to see all four of my A level Physics tutees achieve an A* in Physics at A level, with A*/A in all their Maths and Further Maths exams too.

I have worked with students from various top schools including Eton (5 tutees including a King's Scholar), Westminster, Harrow, Charterhouse, Dulwich, Rugby, Durham School, King's College, Garden House and Brighton College. I acted as an academic mentor for a student at Harrow giving them guidance from pre-GCSE to improve their physics with a view to applying to Cambridge to study physics. As part of this I offered extensive advice on readings, technique, style, historical context and mathematical elegance with regards to physics.

As well as academic teaching I help with personal statements. One recent one is now being used as a model statement at a college. I have also helped with physics summer projects, helping to develop research skills and clarity of presentation. In the past I have arranged meetings between students and members of staff at Durham University to help improve experience and inform university course choices. I have written progress reports for school applications and liaised with these schools to provide my references and reports to them. I have worked long-term for agencies and built up an excellent working relationship with them.

I have done some intensive, daily pre-exam sessions for students, but most of my tutees tend to be for a couple of academic years. For some I have guided them from pre-GCSE and seen them go to University. My longest tutee I currently have I have been tutoring for 5 years, quickly developing him to a coding level beyond A-level by the age of 14. I have taken responsibility for the entire course of a home-schooled GCSE Physics student over a two year period.

I have taught students with a variety of educational needs including people on the autistic and Asperger's spectrum and have had great comments from parents on this front that can be supplied as references if required.

I teach a variety of skill levels; whether it is applying to Oxbridge or gaining the mathematical skills to become a primary school teacher, seeing students gain confidence and achieve their goals makes my tutoring a rewarding experience.

Feedback GCSEs August 2023 :

"Dear Daniel,

Just dropping you an email to let you know that my son got a 7 in Physics!! This definitely wouldn't have happened without you. He had switched off at school due to an uninspiring teacher and you completely turned this around. My son really enjoyed his lessons with you and this was his best result.

Thank you so much for everything!"

Tutoring Approach

Structural :

The first step is an evaluation of the student; after discussing their current level and desired outcomes with the parent on First Tutors I like to look at recent test results and then do a first session. This will cover a wider range of topics than a typical session to get a feel for the student's true level and areas of difficultly. Also I sometimes video call parents beforehand to discuss the situation in more depth. I am happy for anybody to sit in on the first session to see how things go. After the first session I normally talk to the parents again to confirm that everything is ok and that they wish to proceed, addressing any further questions they might have. I can also write reports at regular intervals if required; at the very least parents will be given updates if I am concerned with progress or application.

Practical :

I hope to be able to help the student understand the concepts they are struggling with and give lots of examples to make the learning process easier. By taking things steadily we can identify areas that need work. I like to focus on explaining the fundamentals clearly, and providing some extra context if appropriate. I can provide worksheets, online-resources, computer programs etc. if required. I use an online whiteboard and make a pdf of the tutoring notes after every session and send them to the student. For coding I use the online platform 'coderpad' that allows me and the student to code together in real time and run code online. I also send this code to the student after every session. Homework can be set if desired, and in-session tests set. This is particularly useful for coding tests as it avoids perfect 'Googled' answers being turned in. I have a large bank of previous tutoring notes, exam questions and resources, so if a topic is given in advance the collation of material can be done in preparation to make the sessions more efficient. Often the tutoring sessions are 'reactive' in the sense that the student brings me a topic or question they are struggling with and I address that issue. For students I see once a week this is quite common as I am complementing their usual learning. But sometimes the students like to get a head-start on topics and so we get ahead of their regular classes, which allows me to lay out a topic over a few sessions in a logical order that I feel makes the most sense.

To a degree it all depends on the tutee - so I have learned to be very adaptable, from a few one-off sessions to a complete home-schooled course over years.

The overall approach is to put the student first and see what works for them, if they just want lots of exam questions practice that is fine, or more background / understanding to enable them to link together the subject more as a whole. If they are struggling we focus on just building up from the very basics and making sure those basics are solid by repetition and many examples.

I encourage students to email me questions in between sessions if required. Generally sessions are the same time every week, but I always try to swap / move if desired for a test or other reason.

Thank you for reading.