Aleksandra

I am a PhD candidate in English at the University of Cambridge, where I have for the past almost four years also provided instruction and dissertation supervision to undergraduate students, as well as assessed applicant entrance examinations. Privately, I offer individually tailored tuition, as well as aid with critical, analytical, and writing skills.

As my work is cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural, I can offer individually tailored lessons within a number of subjects in the arts and humanities (up to MA level within my areas of specialism, which are in English literature, language and culture, and up to BA level otherwise), along with aid with critical reading, analysis, and writing skills (up to MA level). Prior to my PhD, I completed an MPhil in English also at Cambridge (with Distinction) and a BA Hons in comparative European literatures, linguistics and languages at Utrecht University (summa cum laude, equivalent to Double First Class with Distinction), which also included internships at the Universities of Sheffield and Heidelberg, where I worked on archives in English, German and Dutch. Ever since, in addition to literary and linguistic studies, I have regularly also crossed into art, philosophy, history, politics, and related areas, including as part of editorial roles at The Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art, Edinburgh University Press and Amsterdam University Press.

Apart from subject- and skills-based instruction, I can also offer help with applications as well as with examination and interview preparation (including for Oxbridge, Russell Group, Ivy League, League of European Research Universities, and other competitive institutions). In addition to having participated in the assessment of entrance examinations and interviews at Cambridge, I have also had the entirety of my own studies fully funded through a number of competitive academic awards (including scholarships from the Cambridge Trust, Le Bas Fund, Utrecht Fund, and numerous others), so have a good sense, from both the tutor and the student perspective, of what it tends to take.

Tutoring Experience

I have experience tutoring both through university and at earlier school stages (at levels including MPhil/MLitt/MA, BA, IB/EB/A-Level, IGCSE/GCSE and more). Over the course of the past four years, I have provided instruction and dissertation supervision to a number of first- through to final-year undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge (predominantly in English but also extending into Comparative Studies, especially in the case of dissertations interested in exchanges between the United Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe), as well as assessed and moderated applicant entrance examinations and interviews (especially the CELAT and CMLAT). Outside of the Cambridge supervision system, I have taught independent adult, postgraduate, undergraduate, secondary and middle school students through the Cambridge Language Centre, Cambridge Summer Schools, Sutton Trust, Friends of Youth and numerous other initiatives, as well as privately through platforms like this one.

For those interested in advanced university-level instruction, my specialism is in English language, linguistics, literature, and related social, cultural, political and philosophical contexts of the modern and contemporary periods (that is, of the latter half of the nineteenth, the twentieth and the twenty-first century), so I teach within this period up to especially advanced levels (including for the purposes of MA or BA dissertations). For those interested in less specialised university-level instruction, or earlier stages of education, I also offer assistance with additional periods of English (having, after all, been educated in all of them before pursuing a specialism) as well as within a number of adjacent disciplines (all of which have featured prominently in either my education, employment, or both) such as additional languages, linguistics, literatures and cultures (especially Germanic or Slavonic), political and social studies, philosophy, history, and art (all potentially up to BA level). Academic skills are exceptionally transferable across the arts and humanities and, combined with a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary background, this has ensured that I have been able to help lots of students in lots of diverse disciplines over the years (including those studying for degrees in PPE, IR, and other areas that do not immediately seem particularly related to my own!).

I have especial experience imparting and improving students' critical, analytical, reading and writing skills, all of which can be transferred across subjects and be of aid with extended pieces of coursework, assignments and examinations alike. I assist very regularly both at and outside of Cambridge with a wide variety of academic, critical or creative pieces of coursework and research (including the occasional PhD dissertation, as well as an assortment of academic manuscripts, editorial and publishing briefs, MPhil/MLitt/MA dissertations and papers, BA Hons/BA dissertations, papers and assignments, A-Level EPQs, IB EEs, NEAs, and more).

I encourage anyone interested in but unsure of whether I might be able to assist with their particular topic or set of needs to reach out, as I am always happy to lay out the details of my experience and education within a particular field, or with implementing specific accommodations. Ultimately, it is important that a tutor and a student make for a good fit — and a detailed conversation is always useful in ensuring this is the case!

Tutoring Approach

I am aware of students' different personal and educational backgrounds and learning profiles, and ultimately aim to structure my lessons around each individual. Therefore, if a student is able to provide previous or current syllabi, express particular interests, or articulate particular difficulties (whether due to a lack of experience, confidence, or a learning profile that has traditionally been marginalised by schools and universities), this can be especially useful for me to know. From there, I aim to structure my lessons so that they are not only individually tailored, but also especially interactive (drawing much from the Cambridge supervision system I am used to working within) — so as to allow the student to actively develop and entrench knowledge, understanding, and transferable academic skills.

I am especially capable of improving students' critical and analytical capabilities, and ensuring they can effectively read, analyse, research and write about texts in the arts and humanities, from literature and language to political and social studies. I would suggest that this is easiest accomplished, in most cases, through carefully guided practice — by, first, leading the student through how to approach texts (both in session and, if desired, in materials designed for the student to take away after the session and keep referring to while applying their skills in future) and, second, regularly providing them with detailed comments and annotations on their independent pieces of work, which can then also be further discussed, explained and adapted in session (as well as through successive drafts, edits and annotations of either the same assignment or else additional, increasingly complex assignments).

I am available for appointments online and in person in Cambridge (depending on location). I can work very flexible hours around my schedule (from early mornings until late evenings on a number of days throughout the weekdays and weekends), and am also open to inquiries from those who require a more unconventional approach (whether last-minute appointments, late-night availabilities, or other unconventional circumstances often arising from abrupt and imminent deadlines). I accept bookings upon confirmation of payment (which ought to be completed within no more than 24 hours after a time and a place for the appointment have been agreed upon in order for the booking to be held and, in the case of last-minute appointments, always also in advance of the appointment). I can accommodate all cancellations made with sufficient notice with up to a full refund of tuition fees (with a full refund when cancellations are made no later than 48 hours in advance of a lesson, and with a halved refund when cancellations are made no later than 24 hours in advance of a lesson).