Karen F.

I am a retired successful science and maths teacher having taught for 28 years in the classrooms of schools and colleges, both in the private and state sectors. I have been tutoring privately for the last 8 years. I have taught physics, chemistry, biology and maths to GCSE with great results. I have taught A level Biology and Chemistry for 8 years, also with great results. I also taught BTEC science courses for levels 2 and 3. This level of flexibility and experience means I am often booked to teach a combination of subjects thus avoiding the need to book and pay for more than one tutor. With my 8 years of experience in exam marking both for GCSE and A level Biology for two exam boards. I am therefore uniquely qualified to understand the differences between the exams and their syllabi.

My approach is one of application and enjoyment; if learning is fun and relaxed then the student is able to learn easier. If the work is applied to real life situations then that knowledge is better understood and retained. I worked in the medical and pharmaceutical industry for 10 years and often use this to my advantage and the students gain. I have always found pure learning difficult myself, preferring to understand the basis for the idea rather than just the information. Thus I use acronyms, fun sayings and even little songs to help them remember. This is something I have found many students find extremely helpful, and a little laugh is always beneficial. I teach the students to understand what they are doing so the information makes sense and thus is retained.

Many students have the information but have difficulty applying it to the exam questions. They often struggle to work out what the answer requires as the information given can be too large to digest easily. I have strategies to help the student break down the question, highlight important key words, work through the problems bit by bit to make the answers come to light. I stress the importance of certain phrases different exam boards like, key vocabulary needed to gain marks and how to lay our their working so that the examiner has an easier job to award the marks along the way. This also helps the student to not lose their way in the longer questions. I stress the importance of checking that they have answered the question properly with enough details and the correct units or decimal places are given.

I always work with real exam questions in my sessions in addition to general teaching. This checks the students have understood the information they have learned, helps to reinforce it and most importantly improves their ability to interpret and answer the exam questions. I always send a report to parents after each session so that they can see what has been done and achieved during the lesson. I send the material we worked on so that students can continue with any unanswered questions for homework or just review the material at their leisure to reinforce the information. I have a wealth of material for all exam boards so can supply additional material if wanted. I will stretch the students ability using this additional information which I continue to gather.

I have always been passionate about science and continue to be so. I have many science interests at home which I will use in lessons to bring the subjects alive. I love enthusing my students and get my biggest reward when they wish to continue learning science at further education.