Contributed by Mike Smith:
Go to any West London dinner party and I can guarantee that, at some point, the conversation will turn to education.
Whether the talk is of school admissions, the stress of exams, or how to get your kids into the best university, we’re all obsessed with the subject. And no wonder: recently, the Daily Telegraph reported that there are more than 10 applicants for each place at the most sought-after senior schools. For today’s children and teenagers, the world is growing ever more competitive.
When I first started working as a tutor, I had no idea what to expect. Would my students be unmotivated, needing someone to prod them to do their coursework, or just not very bright kids who had fallen behind the rest of the class? In fact, I found they were intelligent, dedicated and hard-working – far more hard-working than I had been when I was a teenager.
Some of my pupils simply need help with technique – particularly true of the Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning papers for the 11 plus. They really aren’t as easy as you might imagine. My wife, who’s an Oxford graduate, was almost reduced to tears the first time she tried a Verbal Reasoning paper. Yet once a child (or adult) understands how to tackle the paper, they can fly through the questions.
The Extra Edge
Often students want tutoring because they feel they could achieve better grades and are frustrated as to why they aren’t moving up from a B to an A. Others have missed chunks of school for various reasons, such as illness, and are eager to catch up. And some simply need a bit of one-on-one help to fill in gaps in their knowledge.
One of my students was a girl who had scored an E in AS-level Business Studies. Her classes at school had been hampered by some disruptive pupils, and her confidence was at rock-bottom, but she needed a B to get the university place she had set her heart on. With weekly sessions over two months, we covered the essentials of the whole syllabus plus lots of question practice. Her confidence and knowledge grew rapidly – she achieved that B and is now a first year undergraduate.
Of course, exam success is not the be-all and end-all, but it is important. If your child aspires to attend a top university, he or she will need a clutch of A’s and A*’s at GCSE, and will have to match a conditional offer of three good A-levels, including at least one A. Nothing less than a B is likely to count for anything. For Oxbridge, offers are normally at least AAA and sometimes A*A*A*.
With offers that demanding, students must not only know their subject, but have the skills to show their knowledge to best advantage. Most students know far more than they realise, but getting it on paper in a form which will score high marks can be more challenging. One of my students was getting Bs and Cs, although he knew his subject backwards. When I looked at his work, I saw that he was doing brilliant essay plans, which he then failed to follow when it came to the writing. Just one session was all it took to persuade him to stick to his plans – and get the grade he deserved.
What should you look for in a tutor?
You want someone who will teach students how to manage their time in the exam room, how to answer the question set (not the one they wish had been set!), and how to build a well-structured answer that makes it easy for the marker to award maximum marks. I tutored a boy who was extremely bright but was only getting Bs in Business Studies GCSE. The problem was, his answers were too sophisticated – he was missing out on the marks awarded for basic points, and I drummed into him the advice my own university tutor once gave me: “Don’t be afraid to state the obvious.” At GCSE, and even A-level, what may seem to the student to be too obvious to mention is often worth valuable marks.
As well as focusing on what could be improved, a good tutor will build the student’s confidence by highlighting what has gone well. The sessions should be interesting and fun. Working through the syllabus with a tutor who can keep up your child’s interest, and fill in any gaps in their knowledge, is far more effective than re-reading notes or slogging through a Revision Guide for the umpteenth time.
The tutor should give frequent feedback on the student’s written work and what progress is being made. Sometimes, a few sessions is all it takes to give a child a real boost in the subject, so be wary of anyone who tries to persuade you to sign up for lots of lessons.
Above all, the tutor needs to ‘click’ with your child. You are paying them to add value beyond what the school can provide, so you need to be convinced that he or she can keep your child interested and motivated to learn, and can explain the trickier aspects of the subject in a way the student can readily understand and remember. If your child looks forward to the sessions, and seems cheerful and happy afterwards (by teenager standards, anyway), then you have probably found the right tutor.
Mike Smith is an Oxford graduate who worked in the City for 25 years. He left banking in 2010 to do an MA in Modern History. He tutors for the 11 plus exams, and Economics and Business Studies at GCSE and A-Level.
For more information go to www.facebook.com/mikesmithtutoring or contact [email protected]
Photo: Jeremy Nelson
