Philip W.

It's not just about learning maths; it's also about learning how to think mathematically!

My degree in mathematics opened the door to a career in finance and strategic consultancy. I was surrounded by maths the whole time — in the risks we weighed and the numbers behind every decision — yet I rarely needed the advanced techniques I had learned. I drew on the thinking that the subject had trained in me: how to identify what matters, make sense of a difficult problem, and keep looking around when the answer isn't immediately clear. That is what I now pass on to my students.

It is also what modern maths exams increasingly reward. The toughest questions do not look like the examples in a textbook. They now expect students to figure out how to approach unfamiliar problems in the exam. Practised methods are essential, but they are not enough on their own.

Personalised approach: My first task is to work out what is holding a student back and what will make the greatest difference. One student may have gaps in earlier knowledge, so the topics built on it are harder to grasp. Another freezes when they don't immediately recognise what a question is asking. Yet another understands the maths but, annoyingly, loses marks through avoidable errors.

At GCSE, students face more than a hundred sub-topics! Success depends on recognising what a question is testing and knowing how best to approach it.

At A-Level and Further Maths, quality of thinking and time management become increasingly important. Students need a secure command of the core techniques, the fluency to connect ideas across the course and the judgement to work accurately at pace.

IB Mathematics takes this further. Students must interpret more complex situations, which demands the confidence to think independently under exam conditions. Tough work, but the perfect grounding for university studies. Preparing students for the challenge is some of the most rewarding work I do.

What lessons involve depends on the student. Take one approach I teach that students rarely meet in school: most see the Formula Booklet as a list of formulae they don't need to memorise. I show them how to read it as a source of clues — a pointer to where a question wants them to begin, and a check against avoidable slips. It stops being just a reference sheet and becomes more of a companion in the exam room.

More broadly, a lesson might include revisiting a topic from a different angle until it makes sense, revising for a test using actual exam questions, or getting ahead of material before it is taught at school. The aim is not only to remember a method, but to understand when to use it, and how and why it works.

What to expect: Every session should leave a student with a clearer understanding of mathematics and greater confidence in tackling problems independently. I want a student to move from "I can't do this" to: "I haven't seen a question like this before, but I know enough to make a start."

My aim is not to instil a love of maths, though that would be nice; it's to prepare the student to achieve the highest possible exam grade and, later, as a bonus, use the critical thinking skills in whatever direction they subsequently pursue.

I am available for tuition Monday to Wednesday and at weekends. I offer online tuition and face-to-face sessions in Leigh, with home visits available around Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells at weekends for an additional travel charge.