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I have written several blog posts already which touch on the subject of undergraduate tutors. But as the new term comes round, A-level students are increasingly looking to find tutors to give them a competitive advantage, and university students are trying to make their student loan stretch that little bit further. The two seem naturally to be a match made in heaven. Go on any tutoring advertisement page and you will soon see an advert starting "I am a medicine/dentistry unde

In a previous post we looked at the problems students face when starting their A-level chemistry course. They have come off the back of eight weeks' holiday, have landed in a new college and have to suddenly adapt to a new style of teaching. The most important consideration is not to fall behind early. Yes, the first few concepts may feel familiar from GCSE: the structure of the atom, electron configurations and bonding, but the additional details are subtly added in. And you

Many students want help with their studies beyond the classroom and turn to books and websites to help them. But let's cut through the chatter and find out which ones are genuinely helpful and which ones are all hot air. Check which specification your school or college uses before purchasing and exam board specific resources. Any links will be to AQA products as these are the dominant provider. Disclaimer: As a member of the Amazon Associates and other affiliate programs, we

You're studying A-level chemistry. Maybe you want to get into medicine, dentistry or a highly competitive university like Oxford or Cambridge. And the only way you are going to succeed: getting an A*. Grades A and A* unlock the opportunity to choose where you study and what you study. They are the difference between getting into the university of your dreams and spending results day ploughing through the courses on clearing that the universities couldn't fill. There are three

Thursday is A-level results day and this can bring a lot of anxiety and worry to students and parents alike. No doubt you have spent the last two months worrying whether you have got the grades to progress to whatever you are doing next. The first thing to remember is that the results don't define you for the rest of your life. Whatever comes out of that envelope, you still have a future and that future can be very bright. True, it may not look exactly like you planned it, bu

The benefits of tutoring are becoming more apparent to parents and students. Particularly in highly competitive areas like STEM subjects, Oxbridge and Russell Group university applications and even grammar school entry. But when is the right time to look for a tutor? Starting too late? Many people start looking for a tutor after January mock exams. Perhaps they are sitting on a university offer and the mocks haven't gone quite as well as expected. Some wait until even later;

In a previous post, we looked at how students hit a huge culture shock when they transition from GCSE to A-level. New surroundings, new teachers and new material combine to give an overwhelming challenge when starting the new term in September. To help smooth this transition, we have introduced a bridging workshop. The post title promises to tell you what these sessions are. But let's start with what they are not. They are not GCSE revision classes. We are not going to cram t

You've finished your GCSEs and you are moving on to next year. For some of you, that will mean A-levels. Students are often told there is a huge jump from GCSE to A-level. It is partly true, but there is more to it than just harder material. It starts with eight weeks' holiday between your exams finishing and starting in September. Your brain disengages, you relax after a hard exam period and you are expected to swing right back into things when term starts again. This is a s

Many STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) degrees are highly competitive and require good A-level grades to meet the entry requirements. This is especially true in the fields of medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, but applies to chemistry, physics and engineering and mathematics at Russell Group universities as well. To gain a competitive advantage, many students are seeking tutors in these subjects. Our focus at Simon Horsnall Tutoring is on chemistry tu

Organic mechanisms cause headaches for students every year. Students rarely understand the ideas and instead learn them by rote. This is a result of the syllabus teaching a concept without teaching the the underlying concepts. And this comes from the underlying concepts being too complex to include in an A-level specification. The result: year in and year out students produce woolly answers to mechanistic questions. Unfortunately, the specifications of the major exam boards a

Tomorrow is the first A-level chemistry exam. What advice can I give if you are sitting down tomorrow morning? We can start with revision. If you don't know it now, you're not going to learn it overnight. If you start reading notes or trying to do past papers, you will almost certainly find something you think you don't know. This will send you into a panic and you will start forgetting other things. At this stage, you have to accept that you have adequately revised up to thi

Many tutors advertise primarily based on their academic qualifications. While strong subject knowledge is clearly important, is it really the best way to judge the quality of a tutor? I would argue that it is only part of the picture. In this post, I’m going to explore why the most effective tutor is not always the person with the strongest academic background, but often the person who best understands how students learn, struggle and improve. A first from Oxford is an outsta

In our last post, we looked at choosing a tutor. If you search for a tutor online, the choice will be overwhelming. Naturally, many people focus on the price that various tutors are charging. This also varies wildly, from under £15/hour to well over £100. What causes this variation? Is there really such a difference? Many factors play into the price a tutor charges. The location (inner London is more expensive than suburban areas), the level of student (primary costs less tha

It is great to see the demand for tutoring rising so much. It really shows that students and their parents are committed to investing in their education in an increasingly competitive market. But with this increased demand has come a wealth of people trying to cash in on it. So how do you go about selecting the right tutor for you or your child? This article is going to break down some of the things to look out for which can make or break the experience with tutoring, and ult