Minyan

I have a BA and a master of Engineering (MEng) from Trinity College, Cambridge. Before Cambridge, I studied 5 A-levels in Maths (A), Further Maths (A), Physics (A), Chemistry (A) and Economics (A) in The Stephen Perse Fundation, Cambridge and competed in The British Mathematical Olympiad (Silver Medal) and British Physics Olympiad (Silver Medal).

Upon completing my MEng degree in Cambridge, I interned briefly in various engineering companies as well as Investment banks before deciding to pursue a study in Latin American Literature, something I began to be interested during my MEng degree in Cambridge. As I was not convinced by the hyper-specialised way of understanding knowledge that pervades our society nowadays, I applied to read MPhil in Latin American Studies in Cambridge to broaden my horizons. I achieved the highest mark in my year for my MPhil thesis on the poetry of the Argentine writer Alejandra Pizarnik.

I was accepted into furthering my study of Latin American Literature at the doctoral level, where I analysed a large corpus of literary and philosophical texts in their original languages of Spanish and Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language) and engaged with both Eastern and Western thought closely. I was awarded the rare result of ‘Pass Without Corrections’ for my PhD thesis.

My doctoral study has fundamentally altered the way I view education since what is education but a way to empower us with independent thinking? By merely giving students the results to memorise and not giving them enough freedom to dialogue with their own thoughts and understand their own mistakes, it is unlikely that they will learn to question the existing knowledge and even less to produce new ones.

I also discovered that it is a myth that scientific investigation is often conceived to oppose creativity present in many artistic endeavors, one which was already debunked by numerous thinkers, such as Immanuel Kant in his work Critique of Pure Reason.

For me, my studies of the humanities make me a much better teacher in sciences than I used to be, for to teach means to let my students see what they do not see before, and that requires me to be a better explainer, a more skilled user of language.

The reasons that keep me interested in tutoring different students are twofold. First, I enjoy the moment when my students begin to understand the taught subject (and the implication of the subject). Secondly, I also feel rewarded when the students begin to feel more confident in the tutored subject. A good understanding and an increased level of confidence ensure that the desired results shall naturally follow.

Tutoring Experience

I have more than six years of experience in teaching both GCSE and A-level Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics, and Economics. I have also taught Latin American Literature and Philosophy in Cambridge.

Tutoring Approach

I am passionate about education and I believe education serves a fundamental role in empowering human minds.

Education in my view is not about giving the students the right answers, but about helping them to gain the confidence to reach the right answers themselves. As the Lebanese-American poet Gibran Khalid Gibran once commented on teaching – ‘If the teacher is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind’.

Therefore, as a tutor, my responsibility is to assist and inspire my students so that they can acquire and use the knowledge confidently at the end of this journey!