Gautam

I have a PhD in physics and have previously taught first-year electronics and final-year cosmology at Imperial College London. I have had a wide variety of tutees in the past, from GCSE students dreading upcoming exams to adult learners looking to broaden their horizons. I love teaching and talking about science, and helping students further their understanding of what can be complex and difficult subjects.

Tutoring Experience

I have experience in tutoring a wide range of students, from complete beginner adult learners, through prep school student preparing for the 11+ or 13+ exams, and to undergraduate students struggling with a particular module or their entire course.

In addition to my core subject areas of maths and physics, I have tutored prep school students preparing for secondary school entrance examinations across the entire syllabus, including English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and Latin.

In addition to tutoring, I also taught first-year electronics and final-year cosmology to undergraduates at Imperial. This included lecturing and marking coursework. As such, I have a good understanding of what is required to succeed in an undergraduate physics course.

Tutoring Approach

My approach is usually results-focussed and student-centred.

The first stage is always to look at what syllabus the student is following and assessing where they are at relative to that. For younger students, this may take the form of a relaxed assessment carried out in the first session. For older university-aged students, this will likely involve a frank conversation and asking the student to be honest about what classes they have missed and where they feel they are falling behind.

I understand that, for many students, exam-induced anxiety is a serious problem. As such, whilst assessment is an important part of the tutoring process, I make sure that this is always carried out in a relaxed and informal way.

The next stage, after assessment, is to formulate a tutoring plan. This involves looking at the syllabus and the student together and determining a strategy which can bring the student up to speed. Once this is done, I usually try to keep the student slightly ahead of the class, focussing on topics they have found particularly difficult or challenging.