Cottie B.

I have a deep love for science and want to help students achieve the best of what they're capable of. I studied and recieved top grades in biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics at both GCSE and A-level before going on to study Natural Sciences at The University of Nottingham where I graduated with a First-Class degree. I am now a master's student at Imperial College London studying Drug Discovery and Development. My education has given me a strong understanding of biochemistry especially, but with an additional broader foundation of other sciences and scientific principles that allows me to link concepts together and help students see other persepctives that may be missed in lessons at school.

I have 2 years experience as a private tutor and am confident helping students understand new and/or tricky concepts, as well as get to grips with exam technique. I specialise in AQA biology: offering support for GCSE, A-Level, and GCSE to A-Level bridging. I am also available for tutoring in GCSE AQA chemistry. 

I hope I can be a good fit for you!

I like to explain concepts from logical first principles and in a way that resonates with the individual student. I will initially spend some time with the student to understand their strengths and weaknesses, what they enjoy, and how they learn best. From there, we can work out the best approach to their learning, be it talking through a concept together, practicing exam techniques, recall games etc. 

I try to coach students through concepts by expanding and building upon knowledge they already have so that they don't feel lost at any point and they can see the logical progression of information. I've found this helps students gain confidence in themselves as they become able to correctly deduce answers to questions. This approach also promotes stronger exam performance as it builds the critical thinking skills necessary to work through exam questions and gives students the tools they need to work things out for themselves if they can't remember the answer directly in the heat of the exam.

Once the student feels confident in the content, we'll move on to exam questions. Repetition and practice is a large key to success here, but it's important to understand the core techniques involved in answering these questions, so I'll make sure the student feels comfortable with command words, how much and what kind of information questions require, timing, and making the most of the information the questions give you. I have made custom worksheets for individual students before to help with some of these core techniques, but othertimes they find it most useful to just practice together with real questions and mark schemes.

Overall, I do my best to work with the student and meet their individual needs and approach to learning, but as a tutor, my goal is for students to excel on their own, so no matter the approach, I try to instil confidence and equip students with the tools they need to succeed.