Cathy

As a former Head of Chemistry at a top-rated school as well as a current A-level examiner, I am a well-qualified, experienced and successful Chemistry teacher. Having recently stepped back from full-time teaching, I am now available for AQA A-level Chemistry tuition.

Please note that I am now taking AQA A-level students for the academic year 2024-2025.

Tutoring Experience

Following a 2.1 Master of Chemistry degree from the University of Oxford and an MPhil from University College London, UCL, I completed my PGCE in 2009 from the University of Manchester (for which I was awarded the Withers Memorial Prize having been ranked as the top performing PGCE student of the year). Having qualified, I taught Y7-Y13 Chemistry at a mixed grammar school. Following a move to a top-performing school, I was promoted to Head of Chemistry. Employed since 2014 as an A-level Chemistry examiner, I have formally been recognised and awarded for my services to examining.

Tutoring Approach

As a parent of 3 children, I appreciate that the decision to employ a private tutor is a significant financial commitment, particularly considering the recent increases in the cost of living. As such, I work diligently to meet each student's individual needs, to prepare well for each tutorial and to provide plenty of high-quality resources and past paper questions. All my students make genuine and sustained progress enabling them to achieve meaningful improvements in their grades.
With many universities demanding high grades as part of their standard entry requirements, I appreciate how important academic success can be in securing a desired place. Accordingly, my many years of experience and insight as an A-level examiner ensures that I can offer detailed guidance on how to maximise those crucial marks.
Having first identified problem areas, tutorials focus upon increasing understanding and raising confidence. Once secure, the focus then turns to application-based questions, which are the gateway to the highest grades. Students are gently encouraged to ask their own questions within a supportive and encouraging environment. Identifying and correcting errors is a key part of the learning process and very beneficial in terms of raising exam performance. Homework is set in the form of topic based past paper questions, with students being encouraged to self-mark in their own time as a way of gaining additional familiarity with exam phrasing and technique. Obviously, those students willing to undertake the additional work go on to make the most progress!