Matthew

I have been a professional, full-time private biology tutor for the past 33 years. Until 2014 I was widely regarded as 'Oxford's Premier Private Biology Tutor' having tutored there since 1989 on all the UK examination boards, plus the IB. I moved to Devon eight years ago and now tutor exclusively online via Scribblar (online whiteboard) and Skype, bringing my unparalleled expertise to students across the nation and worldwide. Please note that although I charge £80 per hour as my standard charge there is a £10 per hour discount offered for tutorials starting before 3 pm and after 11 am (UK time) on weekdays. Due to heavy demand for my services I have now also had to introduce a weekend and summer vacation rate of £120 per hour. Charges are as normal over the easter vacation and I do not tutor at all for two weeks over the Christmas vacation. Once-every-other-week tuition is charged at £90 per hour and must be the last tutorial of the day so that I am not sitting there earning nothing every other week in a slot that I can fill weekly. As I get more students as term progresses I may need to push this last time slot back to a later and later time, but this will never be later than an 8-30 pm start.

Tutoring Experience

33 years of one-to-one tuition on all the UK GCSE and A-level examination boards (the last 8 fully online), plus the IB, EB and pre-U. I have been tutoring online since 2013.

Tutoring Approach

I base studies exclusively on the syllabus/specification and do not deviate from it. I write detailed individual notes for the student on each topic and set past paper questions on them from that exam. board to consolidate the facts (I have booklets of past papers divided into topics going back many years for all the major A-level exam. boards). I get the student to do ALL of the recent specification past paper questions and I go through them carefully with the mark schemes to rehearse key words and phrases required by the exam. board. The student takes the exam., gets the required grade and gets on with the next academic hurdle. All of the many hundreds of students whom I have taught over the past 30 years prefer this no-nonsense approach to the time-wasting they usually encounter at school as it emphasises effective work over hard work and (if the student does it properly) gives them study skills of use throughout life when studying any subject.

Thanks to modern interactive online whiteboard technology and Skype, online tuition is EXACTLY the same as face-to-face tuition except that it is more convenient; reduces travel time, costs and stress; reduces the probability of catching colds and other diseases and brings you the best tutor rather than whoever happens to be available locally. I offer an initial one-hour online tutorial to anyone who is uncertain about this new technology which is not paid for if you do not proceed with full-time tuition with me - 95% of my students who have tried it prefer online tuition to face-to-face tuition.