Joshua P.

Hi there, my name is Josh and I'm a Biology tutor. I have been tutoring Biology for over 5 years now with experience teaching students of different backgrounds and capabilities. I completed my BSc in Biology at the University of Leeds, in which I acheived a first class honours and was named on the Dean's list, and then acheived a distinction in my MSc at the University of Bristol. My studies culminated in a research paper on invasive species that has been published in BMC Ecology and Evolution and cited on multiple occasions. 

While at Bristol, I worked as a demonstrator in undergraduate laboratories of over 100 students, improving my ability to teach and support students of a diverse cohort, all with different requirements. My demonstrating work also gave me valuable experience in marking scientific writing assigments and providing feedback. During my studies, I have worked for the educational companies StudySmarter and Medify, where I wrote educational articles for A-Level Biology across exam boards and created GAMSAT and UCAT-style questions.

My lesson structure is as follows: 

1) Warm-up task: firstly, we work through some quickfire quiz questions or flashcards to gauge general understanding of the topic. For higher level students I will ask them to explain more difficult concepts.

2) Content: secondly, we work through the content, which could include 1-5 topics depending on lenghth and difficulty. I make sure that the student understands and can effectively explain the different concepts. E.g., Explain the process of translation? / How is a nerve impulse transmitted across a synapse? / What are the factors influencing the carrying capacity of an ecosystem?

3) Once the student is comfortable with the content, we then tackle different types of exam questions, ranging from one mark answers, to graphical interpretations, and 4-6 mark written responses. 

I ask my students to work through the content in their own time, so the first two parts of the lesson run as smoothly as possible, and we can maximise our time tackling exam questions. Gaining experience with different types of questions is essential in the lead up to their exams.

I have a flexible teaching style for all kinds of students, which can be adapted depending on their current level and ability to focus from lesson to lesson. For instance, some students prefer to work through exam questions independently before I go through it with them. In contrast, exam questions may be daunting to other students and so, before answering the question, they benefit from working together to figure out the process of structuring an answer. This involves maintaining a back-and-forth conservation with the student which helps them reach the answer and understand the concepts.

My approach is how personalised to target the more difficult 4-6 mark questions, where students are asked to perform more difficult tasks such as comparing, evaluating, and analysing while writing in a scientific and clear way. It has been evident from my lessons that this is the area where GCSE and A-level students lose most marks. Furthermore, there is a distinct lack of resources online for answering these types of questions. Therefore, following multiple years of working on exam questions with my students, I have devised methods for approaching each key instruction in longer-mark questions (e.g., Describe, Explain, Compare, Evaluate). In lessons, I work with the students to create model answers and help them understand where they might have gone wrong, such as by not having enough points, not explaining their points effectively, or not showing both sides of the argument.