Justin - Buckingham tutor





Justin's profile picture

Information About Justin:


Personal Description:

A recent First Class Master's Chemical Engineering graduate from the University of Manchester (July 2018). I now work as a private tutor, providing both face to face and online lessons as well as remote assistance outside of the lesson hours. Additional to this, I also work as a freelance graphics operator in sports broadcasting, involved in multiple world sports leagues, including the Premier League, Serie A and IAAF competitions.
I chose Chemical Engineering because of my ability to problem-solve in a timely manner as well as my academic strength in Science and Mathematics. My success in these subjects comes from the strong understanding that the STEM subjects are all based from a small set of rules that dictate the way the universe works. From this, mixed with the skill set required to problem solve, what may seem like an impossible problem can be solved.



Teaching Experience:

Since starting professionally 2 years ago, I have tutored 42 students, so far, and counting. I have built a wealth of tuition experience across a variety of subjects. This includes both face to face as well as online tuition, with students from the UK and abroad. I have primarily worked with students from year 9 to year 13, of varying abilities. Whether a student is aiming to achieve the top grades, get themselves through the exams, or generally build there confidence and ability in a subject, I will set out a plan with them, initially identifying the steps necessary for improvement and from there set out a road map to achieve the goals we set out in our initial session.
With the ability to tutor a variety of subjects, I offer additional value in being able to switch between the subjects I provide, giving flexibility to your child`s needs on the lesson day. This wider knowledge also allows me to interlink the STEM subjects together. For example - In schools we teach the sciences as 3 different subjects, where they are really 3 subsets of Science, although this helps, teaching should never lose focus of how these subsets interlink, especially at GCSE level.



Tutoring Approach:

My approach to tutoring stems from a belief that each session must be designed to suit the student. Everyone has different learning styles and tailored sessions are pivotal to make them as effective as possible. With each subject topic area, it is really key to determine the areas of confusion for the student before trying to re-enforce the actual teaching. It is, also important for the tutor to be flexible in their teaching styles, using different strategies to help the learning process, such as interactive programmes. Above all, if the session is enjoyable, it will be more memorable and therefore the learning more successful.
Additional to the above I hold a strong belief in the ability to problem solve and the benefits of learning how to problem solve on not only confidence in a subject but exam results as well. Many students I tutor, initially apply what I refer to as a `methodology` approach. Where they look at a problem, hope to recognise it and then follow the `steps` they have been taught to solve it. This works well when faced with a problem you recognise, but, less so when you are given a problem that requires application of knowledge, the main difference between GCSE and A levels. Too often I get told by a student set with an unfamiliar question "I don`t know how to solve this", my usual response (if unfamiliar to myself) "Neither do I, yet". Despite being new to both of us, using the rules, we start manipulating the problem. Each new line, a new visual perspective on the problem. Line by line, `step` by `step` the problem will start to become more familiar until the problem is solved.
This is where my tuition differs and excels. I will ensure that my students not only have the skill set to approach questions in this problem-solving manner but to do so with confidence. No matter what subject, confidence is key to being good at any subject. With confidence instilled and the skills necessary to problem solve are acquired, a dramatic improvement will be seen in ability and overall academic result.



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Qualifications:

  • First class masters in Chemical Engineering
  • A* Geography A-Level (AQA)
  • A* Chemistry A-Level (OCR)
  • A Maths A-Level (Edexcel)

Further Information:

Availability:  Weekends / Weekdays (all times)
Types of Tutoring:   Travels to you / From their home / Online
References Supplied?   Yes
Current DBS/CRB Check?   Yes