They did nothing at GCSE and still got a 9

Your child sailed through GCSE. They barely revised, walked out smiling, and the Grade 9 came anyway. Now it is October of Year 12, the marks have fallen off a cliff, and for the first time they are coming home saying they do not understand maths. Nobody in the house saw it coming, and that is the part that frightens you most.

Here is the first thing to hold on to. Your child has not become worse at maths over one summer. GCSE and A Level are two different exams that reward two different things, and nobody tells families that in September. One child at Winchester College coasted to a 9 and hit a wall in the first term. Another walked in expecting the same easy ride and got the first low mark of their life. The subject did not change. The bar did.

This is one of the most common ways the A Level jump catches a strong student out, and the pattern almost never varies. So before anyone panics, or books a pile of extra lessons, it helps to know exactly what shifted between the two exams.

Is it the maths, or the exam? One check tells you

GCSE maths rewards spotting the method. Questions point you at the tool, the algebra is short, and a strong student scores well by knowing which one to reach for and using it cleanly. A Level maths rewards fluency. The questions run several steps, the signposts disappear, and the algebra inside each step is heavier than anything GCSE asked for. So a Grade 9 student has gone from an exam that hands them the method to one that expects them to choose it, chain it, and run three or four steps without a slip.

That means the drop almost always comes from one of two places: the algebra underneath, or the exam on top. Do not guess which. Check it.

The ten minute check to run at home

Running it takes ten minutes. Sit your child down with one page of pure algebra and no calculator: indices, surds, algebraic fractions, rearranging formulae, expanding and factorising. Nothing from the A Level course itself, just the machinery underneath it. Then watch how they work rather than marking the score.

They understand it but make silly mistakes

Start here if the ten minute check came back slow or scrappy. This is the most common cause of the Grade 9 shock, and the most fixable one. Your child follows every new topic in class, then loses marks because the algebra inside each step costs them time and accuracy. The teacher says “understands the concepts, makes silly mistakes”, and you nod, because you have heard it before. That sentence is not a personality flaw. It is exactly what the maths gap looks like from the front of a classroom.

The fix is short, daily, and dull. Fifteen to twenty minutes of pure algebra practice most days for four to six weeks, aimed at the exact weak spots the check found. Not more A Level homework, and not past papers yet. The goal is to make the algebra second nature, so the new content has something solid to land on.

One thing to expect, because it trips families up. While the algebra is being rebuilt, the topic marks often stay flat for a couple of weeks, then jump. Families who give up in week three miss the jump. Our guide to the step up from GCSE to A Level maths shows what that first stretch looks like.

They get it in class but not in the exam

When the check came back quick and clean, the maths is not the problem. Your child knows it and still loses marks, which is the version parents find most maddening, because they can see the ability sitting right there. This is a real, teachable skill of its own, separate from the maths.

The usual causes are all fixable: diving into a question without choosing a method, showing too little working to bank the method marks, ignoring what the marks on offer are telling them about how much to write, and running out of time on the back half of the paper because the front half took too long. One parent put it exactly right about her son’s history exam: he “came out of the exam saying I really didn’t understand what they’re asking of me.” The knowledge was there. Reading the question was the gap.

The fix is focused exam practice, not more content. Work through past paper questions with the mark scheme open, and make the question “where do the marks come from?” not “what is the answer?”. Write the one line plan before touching the algebra. Time single questions before whole papers. Our advice on revising A Level maths past papers explains how to mark them the way an examiner would.

One low grade and their confidence is gone

Sometimes the honest finding is not the maths or the exam. It is confidence. A child who has only ever been top of the class can find the first low grade of their life genuinely shaking, and from there it tends to snowball: avoid the subject, slip a little further behind, prove the fear right, avoid it more. We had one parent describe her son after a run of top grades and one dip as “a little bit broken.” That is not drama. That is a bright child whose self image just took its first real knock.

The fix is not a pep talk, and it is not more pressure. It is making progress visible on paper and building in early wins, starting with problems just inside reach, so your child feels themselves getting better instead of being told they are. Push a little, but never so hard it stresses them. That balance is the whole job, and it is exactly what we match a tutor for.

“

If you mean business about doing well in your A Levels, you just have to spend the month before doing timed questions. That speed, it takes ages to develop.

”

Naomi, A Level tutor, Oxford

How to make the most of your time before the next exam

The best use of the time is not more waiting. Waiting has a price, and it builds up. Year 12 does not pause while you decide. Each week of new content lands on the same weak spot, the gap between your child and the class widens, and the fix takes longer the later you leave it. A problem worth six weeks in October is worth a whole term by February.

One move pays for itself straight away. After every practice paper, sort the lost marks into three piles: did not know it, knew it but slipped, ran out of time. Almost every student who gets it in class but not in the exam finds the first pile is tiny, which changes both the plan and how they feel about themselves in a single sitting. Our piece on what to do between GCSEs and A Levels covers how to get ahead of this before Year 12 even starts.

Will online lessons actually work for my child?

Every lesson happens live on a shared online board, so your child and the tutor work on the same page at the same time. The first lesson is a diagnosis, not a quick recap. The tutor runs the algebra check properly, watches how your child attacks a real exam question, and separates what they do not know from what they know but keep dropping. By the end you have a specific answer: this is the gap, this is the order we fix it in, this is what the next few weeks look like.

You do not have to referee any of it. You get a full written report after every session, homework reminders by email, and a WhatsApp group where lessons are booked and work is shared. Nothing depends on your child remembering to pass a message on.

Inside a lesson

A real Greenhill Academics lesson, recorded live: the tutor works through an A Level maths question on the shared board, thinking on the page as they go.

Who your child would work with

The maths tutors who find the gap

Hugh · Maths and Physics, Oxford

Reframes hard topics from several angles until they land. More than 20 of his recent students exceeded their predicted grades or won places at leading universities.

Holly · Mathematics, Oxford

Maps out exactly what a course covers so students can track progress and revisit weak spots, with a steady focus on building confidence alongside skill.

Murray · Maths, Chemistry and Physics, Oxford

A*A*A* at A Level in Maths, Chemistry and Physics, and clear about the exact habits that separate a top GCSE from a strong A Level result.

Answers to your questions

If this helped, read these next

So why is your child stuck at a 4 in IB Biology?

Start with what a 4 actually means. IB Biology is graded from 1 to 7, and a 4 sits in the middle. It is often where capable students land when they understand the topics but have not yet learned how to turn that knowledge into marks.

The final grade comes from Paper 1, Paper 2 and the Internal Assessment. A 4 usually means marks are being lost across more than one of them, often for the same reasons. Knowing the Biology is not the problem. Knowing exactly what each question requires is.

The marks that turn a 4 into a 6 or 7 sit in the harder parts of the papers, and the Paper 2 essays are the clearest place to see them. Each essay is marked in parts. Here is one way a 16-mark essay breaks down.

A real answer that scored 2 out of 6

That final six-mark question is often where a 4 turns into a 6 or 7. Rather than just telling you what went wrong, I’ll show you a real student answer. You don’t need to know any Biology to spot the mistake, just read the question.

Here is one of those questions: “Evaluate the use of stem cells in treating human disease.” A strong student answered it like this, and it scored two out of six.

Mariam is a made-up name, and this answer combines parts of several real scripts we’ve marked. An answer like this really does score two out of six. Everything she writes is correct, but she never does what the question asks. She describes instead of evaluating. Now look at the very first word of the question: Evaluate.

She writes everything she knows and still loses marks

One word at the start of the question decides everything. IB calls this the command word. Here, the command word is evaluate. That doesn’t mean “write everything you know.” It means weigh up both sides, then reach a judgement. Mariam wrote what she knew, so she missed the marks for discussing the downsides and the marks for a clear conclusion, even though everything she wrote was correct.

Here is where those six marks come from.

This is common, and it shows in the results. Whether your child sits IB Biology at Sevenoaks, at King’s College School Wimbledon, or at an international school overseas, the papers are marked to the same command terms. The global average IB score is just over 30 points, and fewer than 5% of students worldwide score 40 or more. Much of the gap between a 4 and a 7 in IB Biology comes down to this one habit: writing about the topic instead of answering the question.

From an IB Biology session

“

I used to rush a lot in exams. What helps me is going word by word, visualising what the question is actually asking. Look at the verb, the action word.

”

Kriszta, IB Biology tutor, Oxford

That verb, the action word, is the command term. Reading it properly is what turns a 4 into a 6 or 7.

The answer that scored 6 out of 6 simply answered the question

Answer B never even explains what a stem cell is. It has fewer facts than the answer that scored two out of six, yet it earns full marks because it answers the question. It covers the good, the downsides and reaches a clear judgement, backed up with a reason.

That is the skill. It’s not about knowing more Biology. It’s about answering the question the way the examiner expects, and that’s a skill most students can improve far more quickly than learning a whole new topic.

Inside a session

A real Greenhill Academics session, recorded live on the shared online board. Every IB Biology session runs the same way.

Could your child find their own lost marks tonight?

Find one of these six-mark answers that disappointed you both. Read the first word of the question, then ask your child to score their own answer against it, out loud, point by point.

Most students find two or three gaps, go quiet, then say something like “oh”. That “oh” is worth more than a term of revision, because for the first time they can see the difference between what they wrote and what was being marked.

It’s not what she knows, it’s how she answers

Read the first word of the question every time. Describe, explain, outline, evaluate and discuss all ask for different things. Read the command word first, then shape your answer around it. That’s how students turn their knowledge into marks.

On data questions, answer the data. Paper 1 and parts of Paper 2 reward what the graph or table actually shows, not the topic it comes from. A strong student often writes what they know instead of what the data says.

Mark answers against the official IB mark scheme, not just the teacher’s ticks. It feels strange at first, but it quickly becomes one of the most effective ways to improve. The same skill is needed for the Internal Assessment too, so it helps raise the overall grade, not just one paper.

Who your child would work with

Who sits with your child on Paper 2

Charlotte · Biology, Oxford (First Class, Balliol)

An Oxford tutor with a First in Biology, who teaches IB Biology and Chemistry, shaped by four years in the Oxbridge tutorial system. Her sessions run on discussion, which is exactly what an evaluate question tests.

Kriszta · Biology, Oxford (First Class)

An Oxford tutor with a First in Biology, top 10 in her cohort, now doing a PhD in cancer biology. She is sharp about what a sentence actually claims, which is what an answer is graded on.

Mirsab · Medicine, Cambridge

A Cambridge medic who builds simple tools for the abstract parts of the course. He is used to showing a student the exact difference between knowing a topic and answering the question set on it.

What IB parents want to know

Read these next on IB Biology

The effort is there, but the grades say otherwise

Your child is already putting in the effort. They revise in the evenings, work through past papers at weekends and make notes, but the marks are still not improving.

When you look through the paper, there may not be one obvious weak topic. The calculations may be correct, but marks are still lost on questions that ask your child to explain, describe or justify an answer.

Your child may say, “I knew that.”

They may be right. But in A Level Physics, knowing the answer is not enough. They also need to explain it clearly and include every point the examiner is looking for.

That is a different skill. If this is where the marks are being lost, more revision alone will not solve the problem.

Incomplete answers are costing them marks

A Level Physics is not only about getting the calculation right. Many questions ask students to explain, describe or justify their answer, and the marks depend on what they actually write down.

An examiner can only award marks for the points included in the answer. They cannot give credit for something the student understood but did not state clearly.

This is why a student can know the physics and still lose marks. If an important step, reason or conclusion is missing, the examiner cannot fill it in for them.

One of our physics tutors, Hugh, explained this to a student during a recent session:

“

Examiners cannot give you points for implied understanding, only for explicit understanding.

”

Hugh, A Level Physics tutor, Oxford

Hugh advised the student not to assume that any part of the answer was clear without saying it.

Students who understand a topic well often leave out important steps because the connection feels obvious to them. They write part of the explanation and assume the examiner will understand the rest.

A teacher in class may recognise what the student means and ask them to finish the point. An examiner can only mark what has been written.

This is not about intelligence or the school a student attends. It is a habit of writing incomplete answers, and it can be changed with practice.

Three questions from one session show the same problem

Here is what this looks like in practice. We will call the student Joel, a Year 12 student working through a past paper with Hugh during a Saturday session. Three questions from that session show the pattern clearly.

The same gap, heard out loud

More revision will not fix an incomplete answer

The revision was not wasted. It helped your child understand the physics.

But reading the notes again will not fix an incomplete written answer. The problem is not always missing knowledge. It may be that your child is leaving out an important step, reason or conclusion.

The fix is to practise writing full answers and checking that every part of the question has been answered.

Exam data backs this up. 44,957 students sat A Level Physics in summer 2025, and 31.9% of entries were awarded an A* or A. Two in three physics students finish below an A, and in our experience a good share of them understand more physics than their grade shows. For those students the writing is what lets them down, and writing can be taught. Our guide on how to get an A in A Level Physics covers what the top grades ask for across the whole course.

Try this at dinner tonight

You do not need to mark the answer or know any physics. Just listen.

The September mock sets the predicted grades

For many Year 13 students the September mock is not a practice run. It is the exam that sets the predicted grades that go on the UCAS form, which means the universities your child can apply to are being decided before autumn half term. That is true at fee paying schools like Charterhouse and Brighton College, and at state sixth forms, and parents are often told it late, or not at all.

The good news is that a writing habit changes much faster than a knowledge gap. There is no new content to learn. In weekly sessions over the summer, your child can practise turning half answers into full ones on real past paper questions, and that usually shows in the first mock. If your child also needs a higher grade in that mock, our piece on going from a predicted B to an A shows what that looks like from the first session on.

What the first session checks for

The first session is not a lecture and it is not a run through the topics. Your child and the tutor work through real exam questions on a shared online board, and the tutor listens the way you did at dinner. Where does the explanation skip a step? Which half of the two mark answer keeps going missing? Then they fix answers together, line by line, until your child can see what a full answer looks like and write one on their own.

The feedback is honest and direct. Hugh tells his students that if he is not criticising them, he is not doing his job. He means it kindly, because finding the problems is what the sessions are for. The same student heard this from him in the same session: “This is what I specialise in, exam technique. So I’ve got you.”

You get a full written report after every session, homework reminders by email, and a WhatsApp group where sessions are booked and work is shared, so you always know what each session covered and whether it is working.

Inside a session

A real Greenhill Academics session, recorded live on our online board: tutor and student thinking on the same page at the same time.

The tutors your child would work with

Who teaches exam writing, not just physics

Hugh · Maths and Physics, Oxford

He taught the session above and specialises in exam technique. More than 20 of his recent students exceeded their predicted grades or won places at leading universities.

Jasper · Maths, Physics and Computer Science, Cambridge

Took the top possible grade in Physics at St Paul’s School before Computer Science at Cambridge. Calm and structured, he breaks long answers into steps a student can repeat on their own.

Liza · Maths and Physics, Yale

Nearly a decade of tutoring across the UK and US, with years of experience supporting students with ADHD and learning differences. Builds answers from the logic up, so they hold under exam questioning.

What A Level Physics parents want to know

Questions about how the tutoring works

Worth reading next

The boys at a top London school had all A* predictions. LSE still said no

Several boys from the same year group at a top London private school applied to LSE, all predicted A* across their A Levels. They did not get offers. The difference was the personal statement.

It breaks the rule most families trust: good grades open doors. At the most competitive courses, nearly every applicant arrives with good grades. The grades get your child considered, but they do not separate them from the thousands of applicants with the same results. The statement is what separates them.

Every student is judged through the same UCAS form. That form has recently changed, but much of the advice online is still based on the old personal statement.

LSE has no interviews, so the personal statement is all they see

Oxford and Cambridge interview their applicants, but LSE does not. Their own guidance says it plainly: the School does not interview for places, so the statement is an applicant’s only opportunity to show they are a good fit, and the quality of the statement is very important in their selection.

Your child will not get the chance to explain themselves in person, recover from a weak sentence, or answer a follow up question. Whatever the statement says is all they will ever hear from your child. For a strong student, that can be an advantage. A personal statement can be reviewed, improved and rewritten until every sentence earns its place.

Your child may be following personal statement advice that is now outdated

For 2026 entry onwards, the single UCAS essay was replaced by three questions:

• Why do you want to study this course?
• How have your studies prepared you?
• What have you done outside education to prepare?

Students still have 4,000 characters in total, but their answer is now split across the three sections.

UCAS made the change partly because 83% of students said the old process was stressful, and many were not sure they had covered the right things. The three questions tell your child what to cover. What they do not do is make the answers good. An older sibling’s statement or a school template from a few years ago was written for a different format. Following it too closely can leave your child answering the wrong question.

One mistake has not changed: telling instead of showing. “I have always been passionate about economics” tells LSE very little. Discussing a specific book, entering an essay competition or researching a real question shows where that interest comes from.

One personal statement has to work for five different courses

Many families come to us stuck on the same problem. Your child applies to five courses, and they are rarely identical. One choice might be Economics with Economic History at LSE. Another might be pure Economics at UCL. One statement has to serve all of them, and it goes to every university unchanged.

The fix is to focus on what the courses have in common. The statement should be built around the main subject, with examples that are relevant across the whole application. Every course on the list shares a core subject, so the statement should be anchored in that subject, with evidence chosen so that each admissions reader finds something that fits their course. This needs to be decided before the writing begins. Otherwise, the statement can end up sounding too narrow for some courses and too general for all of them.

What the first session actually does

We will call the student Kerem, a Year 12 student applying for economics courses, including LSE. During a session in July, he and his consultant Kevin opened the three UCAS questions on the shared board and started with the first one.

Kerem already knew the first rule. He said it himself: he was not going to write that he loves economics, because you have to show it instead. So Kevin asked him a different question:

“

If you had to answer this question, why you want to study this course or field, what would you tell your parents or your friends?

”

Kevin, admissions consultant, Oxford

The answer came out naturally. Kerem talked about why supermarkets put sweets beside the tills, why buffets make some foods easier to reach than others, and how a currency crisis had affected a country his family knows well. These were real examples of his interest in economics, explained in his own words. Those answers became bullet points on the shared board, which would later become the first draft. Kevin told him not to worry about polished sentences yet. The priority was to find the strongest ideas and have a complete draft by the end of the summer.

Two other moments from the session are worth sharing. Kerem wanted to include an impressive event he had attended through his school’s Economics Society. They decided to leave it out because it read as privilege rather than evidence, and the official guidance warns that knowing clever people does not prove you are too. Removing ideas can feel like losing useful material. Then Kevin asked whether he was trying to cover too many topics at once. Kerem laughed and said one hundred percent. In reality, choosing fewer, stronger examples gives the statement more focus and allows the student to explain each one properly.

Kerem is real, and so is every detail above apart from his name.

Year 13 starts, and the personal statement is still not written

Kerem’s aim is to have a full draft ready by 1 September. Once Year 13 begins, schoolwork, predicted grades and university deadlines quickly take over.

A strong personal statement usually takes several hours of focused work and more than one draft. Starting over the summer gives the student time to develop their ideas, receive feedback and improve the writing properly.

For LSE, applications are submitted by the January 2027 deadline. Count backwards from there, through mock exams and predicted grades, and the summer is not early, it is exactly on time.

Students who wait until the first week of Year 13 often have to complete the whole process in a few days. That rush is where many of the most common personal statement mistakes begin.

From first ideas to final draft

The process starts with a profiling call. The consultant asks your child about their subject, interests and experiences to find the strongest ideas for the statement.

After the call, you receive a written report explaining what they already have, what is missing and what they should work on next.

The drafting then happens live on a shared online board. They begin with bullet points, organise the structure and then work on the sentences.

Your child writes the statement themselves. The consultant asks questions, challenges vague points and helps them choose examples that support the course application.

You receive a report after every session, so you can see what was covered, what still needs work and how the statement is progressing.

Inside a session

A real Greenhill Academics session on our shared online board. Statement sessions work the same way: the questions go up, and the ideas get written down together.

Meet our personal statement consultants

Consultants who have written winning applications themselves

Kevin · Economics and admissions, Oxford

The consultant in the session above. Holds an MSc in Financial Economics from Oxford with Distinction, and more than ten of his mentees have won places at universities including Oxford and LSE.

Kian · Classics, Oxford

Supports personal statements, entrance tests and interviews across the humanities. A writer himself, he is quick to spot the sentence in a draft that actually sounds like the student.

Naomi · Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Oxford

Read PPE at Oxford, where she won her college’s prize for the best overall student in Philosophy. She supports applicants aiming at politics and economics courses.

Questions parents ask about the personal statement

Worth reading next

They can do the homework, then leave the exam question blank

Your child reaches a question in a practice paper and says the sentence every parent has heard: “I can’t remember the formula.” The pen stops and the marks are lost before they have even tried the question.

The usual response is to revise the formulas again. You buy flashcards, print a formula sheet and ask them to learn the list. Then the same thing happens in the next paper.

That may be because the formula was never the main problem. Schoolwork often gives students more clues about which method to use. In an exam, they have to recognise the type of question, choose the right information and decide how to begin. Your child may know the Science but still be unable to find that first step. Until that is fixed, learning the formulas again may not change the result.

Is it the formula, or do they not know how to start?

There are two reasons your child may get stuck, and each needs a different solution. If they cannot remember the formula, they need a short, regular recall routine. If they remember the formula but do not know how to start, they need to learn how to recognise what the question is asking and choose the right method. Repeating flashcards will not fix that. Do not guess which problem they have. Test it.

Choose one question from a past paper, write the formula at the top of the page and give both to your child. Then watch how they approach the question rather than counting the score.

They know the topic but cannot start the question

Try this when your child knows the topic but cannot remember the formula.

A gravitational field exerts a force of 10 newtons on every kilogram. An object has a mass of 5 kilograms. What force acts on it?

Your child may not remember the formula, but the question still gives them two useful clues:

• newtons per kilogram
• kilograms

Say the units aloud: Newtons per kilogram multiplied by kilograms leaves newtons.

The units show that the numbers need to be multiplied: 10 × 5 = 50 newtons

Your child has found the answer without having to recall the formula first.

The same first step, taught in a real session

“

In some questions where you maybe don’t remember the formula, this is called dimensional analysis. It’s to check the units work.

”

Gonzalo, Science tutor, Oxford

Said mid-session during a real 13+ Science session, at the moment a formula went missing.

Hana used to stop as soon as she reached a question that needed a formula she could not remember. Instead of asking her to learn the whole formula list again, her tutor showed her how to use the units in the question to work out where to begin. Within a few weeks, she was attempting questions she would previously have skipped. Hana is not her real name, and her story is drawn from a few students we’ve taught, but she really did get stuck like this and the fix really worked.

Your child can build two smaller habits alongside this. For numerical questions, they should check whether the answer needs a unit, because missing units can cost easy marks. And at the end of every calculation, your child checks whether the number makes sense, because a tiny force on a heavy object should not produce a massive acceleration.

They can answer once the formula is in front of them

Start here if your child could answer the question once the formula was provided. That suggests they understand how to use it but are struggling to remember it.

The fix can be simple: spend five minutes on formula recall most days. Ask your child to say or write the formula from memory rather than reading it repeatedly.

Keep the sessions short and regular. A small routine they can maintain is more useful than a long session they quickly stop doing.

They should still practise using the units in the question. Knowing both methods gives them another way to begin if a formula is difficult to recall in the exam.

They have learnt the formulas but still skip unfamiliar questions

Your child can recite the formula list and still leave an unfamiliar question blank. That is the point at which parents realise that remembering the formula was only half the problem.

The paper expects the other half. Science is one of the three compulsory papers, and Common Entrance at 13+ is used by more than one hundred independent senior schools. The papers test how pupils use their knowledge as well as whether they can recall it, so a child who can work out how to start an unfamiliar question tends to do well. A child sitting St Paul’s at 13+, or the pre-tests used by Eton, Harrow, Winchester and Westminster, often meets the same kind of thinking.

Waiting has a price here, and it builds. Each paper your child sits with only one route into a question can teach them that Science questions are skippable. A question skipped in September is a topic avoided by January, and the fix takes longer the later it starts. Our tutors build the deeper skill by teaching problem solving rather than pattern spotting, one question type at a time.

Will tutoring help if the formula isn’t given in the exam?

The units check may help with one type of question. Other questions need their own first step.

A tutor works through the exact papers your child is preparing for and watches what your child does when they first read a question. That shows whether the problem is recalling the formula or choosing the method, because the two can look identical at home. The tutor then teaches a repeatable first step for that question type, so your child always has somewhere to begin.

You receive a written report after every session, so you can see what the tutor found, what still needs work and how your child is progressing.

On the shared board

A real Greenhill Academics session, recorded live. The session shown is maths, and a 13+ Science session runs on the same shared board, with the tutor thinking on the page next to your child.

Who would teach your child this way

Matched to the schools you are aiming for

Gonzalo · Science, Oxford

Holds an Oxford First in Chemistry and is starting a Cambridge PhD. The featured line above came from one of his real sessions.

Murray · Chemistry, Physics and Maths, Oxford

Teaches Chemistry and Physics alongside Maths, from KS3 through A Level, with a Silver Cambridge Chemistry Award and a British Physics Olympiad Bronze behind him.

Charlotte · Biology, Chemistry and Physics, Oxford

Teaches all three sciences and builds confidence in reasoning through discussion-based learning, drawing on four years in the Oxbridge tutorial system.

Your questions about the 13+, answered

Two more reads for 13+ families

You go through the paper together and they knew every answer

You sit down with the practice paper and go through it together. They knew that one, and that one too. So why is the score still low? Before you book an 11 plus tutor, try something tonight that costs nothing.

The score makes it look like a knowledge problem, and at home you can prove that it is not. In a timed 11 plus paper, marks are often lost to habits under the clock rather than to gaps in what a child knows: extra working, refusing to skip, or misreading one word. You can see all three with your own eyes, tonight, without marking anything.

They do more work than the question needs and run out of time

We will call her Freya. The name is invented and her story blends a few children we have taught, but the habit is real.

On a word question, Freya worked out that the first letter of the answer had to be M. Only two of the options started with M. She then found the second letter, and at that point the answer was certain. There was nothing left to work out, but she kept solving to the end anyway. She had been doing the same thing throughout the paper: solving every question all the way to the end, even when she already had enough information to choose the answer. By the final questions, she was running out of time.

If your child does the same, knowing more is not necessarily the answer. They need to learn when they have enough information to stop and move on. This matters particularly in verbal reasoning, where eliminating the wrong options can often get your child to the answer more quickly.

They will not leave a hard question, even when it costs them

Somewhere in the section there will be a question your child finds difficult. Watch what they do with it. Some children skip it and come back at the end. Others stay on it for too long, then spend the rest of the paper worrying about the clock.

We will call the second student Oscar. Like Freya, his name is invented and his story blends the experiences of children we have taught. Oscar began keeping to roughly a question a minute after his tutor showed him that it was okay to skip a difficult question and come back to it later. His reasoning did not change that week. His decision about where to spend each minute did.

They answered a different question from the one on the page

When they get one wrong, ask them to read the question out loud. You may be surprised by what you hear.

We will call the third student Leela. Like Freya and Oscar, her name is invented and her story blends the experiences of children we have taught. She kept losing marks on shape questions, and the reason turned out to be one word. She was reading “rotating” when the question said “overlapping”, so she was answering a different question from the one on the page. Her tutor asked her to underline the instruction word before looking at the shapes. That gave her a simple check to slow down and make sure she was answering the question she had actually been asked.

A few lost marks can be the difference between a place and a near miss

The competition is tight at the most selective schools. St Olave’s Grammar School had 1,682 applications for 124 Year 7 places for 2026 entry, more than thirteen applications for every place. The picture is similar at Queen Elizabeth’s School in Barnet, where the school reported 3,294 boys sat its entrance exam in 2024, competing for 192 places.

That is why marks lost through rushing matter. Your child may already know how to answer the question, but unnecessary working, spending too long on one question or misreading one word can still cost them the mark.

The answer is not always more revision. They need to stop giving away marks on questions they can already do, and the three habits above are where those marks go.

From a real 11+ lesson

“

Please don’t worry about getting it wrong. Getting it wrong is good.

”

George, 11+ tutor

That line matters because worry can sit behind all three habits. A child who is frightened of getting something wrong may rush, spend too long on a hard question or keep working even when they already have enough information to answer. If the rushing looks more like worry than habit, start with our guide to supporting a child through 11+ stress.

Will an 11+ tutor help if the problem is rushing, not knowledge?

Yes, because the lessons are not about teaching more content. The tutor works on the exact papers your child is sitting and watches how they use the clock: where the extra working happens, which questions they cannot leave, and what they do with the instruction words. Each habit then gets its own fix, practised against the clock.

You receive a written report after every lesson, so you can see what was covered, what still needs work and how your child is progressing. Homework comes with email reminders, and lessons are booked in a WhatsApp group you can see.

Inside a lesson

This clip is from a real Greenhill Academics lesson, recorded live. The lesson shown is maths, and an 11+ lesson runs on the same shared board, with the tutor watching how your child works in real time.

The 11 plus tutors who work on these habits

The 11+ tutors who work on pace, not just content

Clemie · 11+ Maths and English, Cambridge

Clemie teaches both 11+ Maths and English, so she sees the same habits turn up in two very different papers. She is patient, calm and firm about slowing down, and children tend to relax with her quickly.

Martin · Admissions Maths, Cambridge

Martin prepares children for private school admissions maths at 7+, 11+ and 13+, alongside a Cambridge PhD in applied maths and theoretical physics.

Murray · Maths, Chemistry and Physics, Oxford

Murray prepares children for 11+ admissions maths and treats pace as a skill to be coached rather than a personality trait.

Questions parents ask

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The essay is good, but the grade came back a 4

You have read your child’s essay. It is thoughtful, the writing is clear and they clearly know the book. Then the grade comes back and it is a 4. That is what makes the result so confusing. The problem may not be how well they can write, but how closely their writing answers the question they were given.

A student can know the text, have good ideas and write confidently, but still lose marks when the argument starts moving towards the essay they wanted to write rather than the one in front of them.

That is often the point at which parents start looking for an IB English Literature tutor. But before you assume your child needs to learn more content, there is one simple check you can try with an essay they have already written.

Which part of IB English is costing the marks?

If the IB is new to you, this is the structure you need to know. The final grade comes from a small number of assessments, and the balance is slightly different at Standard Level and Higher Level.

Where the prepared essay habit bites

The important part for this article is that the same problem does not affect every assessment in exactly the same way.

It is easiest to see in Paper 2. Your child knows the books before they walk into the exam, but they do not know which of the four questions they will choose. That makes it tempting to prepare an argument in advance and then try to make the question fit it.

Paper 1 is different because the texts are unseen. The problem there is less about bringing in a prepared essay and more about keeping the analysis focused on the text and the argument they have chosen.

At HL, the essay has its own line of inquiry, so the same basic skill still matters: every paragraph needs to stay focused on the question the essay set out to answer. Current IB examiner guidance also stresses clear focus in Paper 1 and warns against Paper 2 responses that have little relationship to the chosen question.

Is it the writing, or the question? One essay can give you a clue

Take one recent marked essay and read the title out loud. Then go through the essay one paragraph at a time and ask your child: where does this paragraph answer the question?

Rather than judging whether the paragraph is good or the quotation is clever, ask your child to show you where it answers the question they were given.

If they can do that easily throughout the essay, the problem may be somewhere else. If they struggle to show you, or start explaining what they meant rather than what they actually wrote, the issue may be focus rather than writing ability.

That distinction matters. More revision will not necessarily help if your child already knows the text. They may need to get better at taking what they know and aiming it at the question in front of them.

How a tutor runs the same check

One of our tutors used this same approach in a recent English Literature lesson while marking a student’s paragraph on a Seamus Heaney poem.

From a real English Literature lesson

“

Remember, your question was how does Heaney use language and structure to make the poem feel emotionally powerful? The key thing is to use that phrase again, so it reminds us that we’re on track.

”

Laurie, English Literature tutor, Oxford

Said mid-lesson, with the question open on the shared board.

Laurie is reminding the student to keep bringing the argument back to the question. A student can know the text extremely well and have strong ideas, but those ideas still need to stay relevant to what they have been asked.

Three ways good essays lose marks

The names below are invented and the examples combine the experiences of students we have taught, but the problems and the teaching are real.

Nadia wrote the essay she had prepared

Nadia knew her texts extremely well. She built an argument she believed in, memorised her strongest evidence, and walked into the exam ready. Then the question asked about something slightly different, and rather than adjust, she wrote the essay she came in with and hoped it would fit. Her tutor gave her ten past questions on the same text and asked her to write only the opening paragraph for each one. Rather than spending time writing full essays, she practised taking the same knowledge and using it to answer ten different questions.

The exercise was designed to make adapting the argument part of the preparation, rather than treating one rehearsed essay as the finished product.

Ruben chose the evidence he liked, not the evidence that proved his point

Ruben knew plenty of strong moments from the text, but the parts he found most interesting were not always the strongest evidence for the argument he was making.

His tutor encouraged him to stop asking which part of the text he most wanted to discuss and instead ask which evidence best supported the point he had just made. That small change kept his evidence tied to the argument and made it less likely that the essay would drift towards whatever he happened to find most interesting.

Sasha answered the question in her head

Sasha understood the texts and still lost marks, because she skimmed the question and answered a version of it she expected to see. Her tutor had her underline exactly what was being asked before writing a single word. This gave her a simple way to slow down and check that the essay she was about to write matched the question on the page.

More than a third of HL students received a 4

A 4 can feel like a verdict on your child’s ability, but it helps to put the grade into context. In the IB’s May 2025 statistics, 30,221 students took English A: Literature at Higher Level. Of those students, 37.7% received a 4, making it the most common grade, while 1.3% received a 7.

At Standard Level, the pattern was slightly different, with a 5 being the most common grade at 38.8%.

Those figures cannot tell us why an individual student received a 4, but they do show that your child is far from alone. If their writing is already strong, the next step may not be making their sentences more impressive or learning even more about the text. It may be making sure that their argument answers the question and stays focused on it from the first paragraph to the last. That is a skill, and skills can be taught.

Will tutoring help if they already write well?

Yes, because the lessons are not simply about teaching your child to write better.

The tutor reads a recent essay with them and looks at how each paragraph connects back to the essay title. That helps them work out whether the issue is the writing itself, how the question has been understood, or how well the argument stays focused on it.

From there, they can work on reading questions carefully, deciding what they are really asking and building an argument that stays relevant throughout. The practice is based on your child’s own texts and IB assessment criteria.

You receive a written report after every lesson, so you can see what was covered, what still needs work and how your child is progressing. The aim is for those habits to carry over into the essays they write at school, not just the work they complete with their tutor.

Inside a lesson

This clip is from a real Greenhill Academics lesson, recorded live. The lesson shown is maths, and an English Literature lesson runs on the same shared board, with the essay and the question open side by side.

Who your child would work with

Who reads the essay with your child

Laurie · English, Oxford (Double First)

Laurie read English at Oxford and took a Double First. He teaches IB English Literature, including the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge, and he is especially strong with international students meeting the UK system for the first time.

George · English Literature and Linguistics, Cambridge

George holds an MPhil in Linguistics from Cambridge and a First in English Literature from Manchester. His background in how language works gives him a sharp eye for whether an argument lands.

Lucy · English Literature, Cambridge

Lucy read Theology and Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge and teaches English Literature at IB and A Level. She is calm and patient with students who have lost confidence in a subject they used to enjoy.

Questions parents ask

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They do the maths at home, then lose marks in the HL paper

Your child was good at maths. Then Higher Level started. Now they leave tests saying they ran out of time or did not understand the question. At home, they often know the method. That is usually when you start wondering whether an IB Maths HL tutor would help.

Here is the first thing to hold on to. HL maths is genuinely harder than what came before it. The course goes deeper and further. The IB recommends 240 teaching hours for an HL subject compared with 150 at Standard Level. But a harder course is not the only reason a capable student’s grade drops, and it is often not the main one. Before anyone books anything, one question at the kitchen table can help you see what is actually going on.

They understand the topic but cannot start the question

Your child may know the topic and still leave the page blank.

Long set-ups, extra details and late instructions can make the first step hard to see. Some students lose time before the maths even begins.

Schools do not always teach students how to turn a long question into a method. Your child may know the maths but struggle to find where to start.

Is it the maths, the wording, or both?

Take one marked question from a recent test. Choose one where your child lost marks. Do not ask them to solve it again. Ask them to explain what the question wants.

Hugh made the same point while teaching a multi-part question:

From a real lesson

“

It’s worth reading all parts of the question before starting.

”

Hugh, IB Maths and Physics tutor

Hugh said this during an A Level Physics lesson. The same reading habit applies when an IB Maths question unfolds over several connected parts.

Later parts of a question often tell you how to read the earlier parts. A student who starts too soon may miss the link and lose marks.

Does AA or AI change where they lose marks?

IB Maths HL has two routes. Students take either Analysis and Approaches or Applications and Interpretation. Both courses are hard, but students can lose marks in different places.

They keep losing marks, but not always for the same reason

Each of the three students below has an invented name, and each story combines several children we have taught. The problems and the teaching are real.

Tomas knew the formulas but could not choose one

Tomas, on the Applications course, met a long question about borrowing money over several years. He knew the simple interest formula and the compound interest formula. What he did not have was a method for working out which one the question wanted, so he guessed and moved on. His tutor taught him to underline the words in the question that point at the model before touching the calculator. Tomas fits outcome one. He knew the maths but could not work out what the question wanted.

Priya knew the topic but did not recognise the task

Priya arrived with a string of grade 9s. At GCSE, she recognised familiar question types and knew what to do. IB asked her to apply the same ideas in less familiar situations.

Her tutor gave her past questions grouped by topic and asked her to say the method out loud before any working, so choosing an approach became part of her practice rather than a shock in the exam. She also fits outcome one because she needed more practice choosing an approach.

Elliot understood the question but still lost marks

Elliot could explain what each question wanted. He still lost marks by rounding too early or trusting the calculator.

His tutor taught him to estimate before calculating. The estimate helped him spot answers that did not make sense. Elliot is the reason the check has a second outcome, because his problem was execution, and more reading practice would not have touched it.

A low HL grade does not mean they are bad at maths

In the IB’s May 2025 statistics, 24,947 students took Analysis and Approaches HL. The mean grade was 4.9, and 16.2% reached a 7. More than a third finished on a 4 or lower. On Applications HL, the mean was 4.5 and 9.5% reached a 7.

Those figures cannot tell you why your child’s grade dipped, and they say nothing about any one student’s ability. What they do show is that a 7 is far from automatic at Higher Level, and that a middling grade puts your child in a large group rather than an unusual one. Reading questions well and checking answers well are both skills, and both can be taught.

Will an IB Maths HL tutor help if they already understand the content?

The lessons can still help. Usually, the first lesson starts with one question, not the full syllabus.

The tutor asks your child to explain what the question wants. That usually shows whether the problem is interpretation, method choice or accuracy. The tutor can then focus on the right skill.

You receive a written report after every lesson. The report shows what was covered and what still needs work.

The tutor adds follow-up practice to the shared board. Homework reminders are sent by email.

Inside a lesson

This clip is from a real Greenhill Academics maths lesson, recorded live on the same shared board your child would use, with the question and the working side by side.

Who your child would work with

The IB Maths tutors who start with the question

Hugh · Maths and Physics, Oxford

Hugh holds a doctorate from Oxford and a First Class MSci in Theoretical Physics from Imperial. He teaches IB Maths and IB Physics, and he is unusually good at taking a question that looks impossible and showing a student that the maths inside it is something they already know.

Ashruf · Mathematics, Cambridge

Ashruf read Engineering at Cambridge and finished first in his cohort for A Level Maths. He supports IB Mathematics as well as the maths admissions tests, and he is particularly strong with students who freeze on long, wordy questions.

Karol · Maths and Further Maths, Cambridge

Karol read Natural Sciences at Cambridge and is completing a teaching qualification there. He teaches IB Maths and Further Maths, and because he has trained in how maths is taught in classrooms, he is quick to spot the step a student was not actually taught.

What parents ask about IB Maths HL

They have not stopped being good at maths. The next step is finding where they lose marks.

Tell us which course your child takes and what happened during the ten-minute check. We will match them with a tutor who teaches that course.

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They revise properly and the Chemistry grade stays put

Your child revises. You have watched them do it. They sit at the desk, work through the questions, and can talk you through a reaction mechanism over dinner. Then the paper comes back and the grade has not improved. Nothing you can see explains it, and neither can they. That is usually when you start wondering whether an A Level Chemistry tutor would help. More of the same revision may not be enough.

Here is the first thing to hold on to. A stuck grade does not automatically mean your child is lazy or bad at Chemistry. One topic may not be secure. It may have been covered quickly at school, forgotten over time, or not fully understood the first time. When that topic appears, your child may guess. On the paper, this can look like weak understanding. The fix for a missing idea and the fix for a shaky one are different.

They revise the topic, but the same questions still go wrong

Guessing can look like weak understanding. A student who has revised everything they were given can still meet an exam question about an idea that is not secure. They recognise the words, pick the answer that looks most likely, and move on. On the mark sheet, that can look just like weak Chemistry.

A tutor will often check what is secure before adding more content. More content may not help until the tutor knows which idea is not secure.

They seem to know the topic, so where are the marks going?

Pick one topic from a recent test where marks went missing. Do not ask your child to answer a question on it. Ask them to explain the idea out loud, as if you knew nothing about it.

Once the tutor knows what needs work, they can teach the theory through a question. Jessica explained this while introducing exponential modelling:

From a real lesson

“

I’ll teach you the theory through a question.

”

Jessica, A Level Chemistry tutor

Jessica said this in a July lesson while introducing exponential modelling. She starts with the question and explains the theory as they work through it.

Working through a question can show the tutor where your child gets stuck. The check at home gives you an earlier clue about which topics need attention.

Every test seems to go wrong for a different reason

Each name below is invented, and each story blends details from more than one student. The problems and the fixes are real.

Dara understood most topics but had missed one definition

Dara could balance equations and explain bonding without notes. On acids and bases, she went quiet. Her tutor asked her to define a conjugate acid. She could not. Her class had moved quickly through the topic, and the definition had not stuck. For two years she had been reading those questions, recognising the words, and picking the answer that looked most likely. Ten minutes on the definition changed it. Most of her Chemistry was secure. One definition was missing.

Femi did the Chemistry right and still lost the marks

Femi’s Chemistry was correct and his answers still came back marked down. His pH answers did not use the precision the question required. His tutor taught him a check that takes three seconds. In the question Femi was answering, a pH of 13 for the acid would have been a warning sign. A pH of 2.5 for the base would also have looked wrong. Femi fits outcome two. He understood the Chemistry but needed better checking habits.

Ines had a Chemistry grade and a maths problem

Ines came to us after a disappointing mock. She expected to relearn strong bases. Her tutor found that she understood the Chemistry well. What she could not do was rearrange the equation to get the value the question wanted. Some Chemistry marks are lost because the algebra underneath is weak. Ines’s tutor worked on rearranging equations inside Chemistry questions, so the maths was taught where she would meet it.

Does the same Chemistry grade mean they are falling behind?

A grade that has not improved does not automatically mean your child is falling behind. It means the reason needs to be identified before they spend more time repeating the same revision.

In the 2025 results, [X]% of A Level Chemistry entries received an A or A*. A total of [Y]% received a C or above. These figures cannot explain why one student’s grade is stuck, but they show that top grades are far from automatic.

The next step is finding what is holding your child back.

Will an A Level Chemistry tutor help if school is already covering the course?

The lessons can still help because they do a different job. One-to-one lessons give the tutor time to look closely at your child’s work. The tutor first checks what your child understands. They may ask your child to talk through a question before answering it.

From there, the work goes where it is needed. If the topic is not secure, the tutor checks what your child understands. They can then explain the missing part or move into exam practice. If algebra is causing the problem, the tutor works on it inside Chemistry questions. The lessons follow your child’s specification and exam board. This keeps the work relevant to their exams.

You receive a written report after every lesson. The report shows what was covered and what still needs work. The tutor adds follow-up practice to the shared board. Homework reminders are sent by email.

Inside a lesson

This clip is from a real Greenhill Academics lesson, recorded live. It shows a maths lesson on the same shared board your child would use in Chemistry, with the question and the working side by side.

Who your child would work with

The Chemistry tutors who check what is secure first

Karol · Chemistry, Cambridge

Karol read Natural Sciences at Cambridge and is completing a PGCE in Chemistry there. His teacher training helps him identify the topics that need clearer explanation or further practice. He teaches Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths.

Morgan · Chemistry, Oxford

Morgan is reading Chemistry at Oxford, where he won an academic scholarship after First Class results in his first year. He took A* Chemistry, Biology and Maths at A Level and nine grade 9s at GCSE. He is calm with students who have lost confidence, and he shows them the reasoning rather than the trick.

Jessica · Chemistry and Biology, Cambridge

Jessica is in her fourth year of Medicine at Cambridge, having taken A*A*A*A at A Level in Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology. She knows where the maths inside Chemistry catches students out, and she teaches the two together rather than treating them as separate subjects.

Questions parents ask about A Level Chemistry

They are putting the work in. The next step is finding what is holding the grade back.

Tell us which exam board your child sits and what happened in the explain-it-out-loud check. We will match them with a tutor who can start with what you found.

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A Level Chemistry Tutors GCSE Chemistry Tutoring Meet Our Tutors

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They do the work and the English grade stays the same

Your child does the homework, revises the set texts and still comes home with the same English grade. The feedback mentions planning, evidence or analysis, but it is not always clear which one is costing the marks. Families at schools such as The British School of Kuwait, Gulf English School and New English School will recognise the situation. It is often the point when a parent starts looking for a GCSE English tutor in Kuwait.

Here is the first thing to hold on to. But the grade does not automatically mean your child is bad at English. One part of the written answer may need work. For instance, they may start without a plan, choose evidence that does not support the point or stop the analysis too early.

They write a full page and still lose marks

A long answer can still lose marks when the argument is unclear. For example, some students start writing before choosing their main point. Others include a quotation but stop before explaining why it matters. The page is full, but the answer does not develop far enough.

Laurie, one of our English tutors, was teaching exactly this in a lesson this July, walking a student through how an answer is built:

From a real lesson

“

So, make sure you’re answering with the words of the question, putting it in your own words, and then having a quote.

”

Laurie, English tutor

Laurie said this in a July English lesson. The same basic structure appears in many GCSE and IGCSE analytical responses: answer the question, explain the point in your own words and support it with evidence.

That structure can be taught step by step. Once it becomes familiar, your child is more likely to know how to begin.

What happens when they have five minutes to plan?

You do not need to mark an essay to see where your child stands. First, pick one question from a past paper or a recent test. Do not ask them to write the answer. Instead, ask them to plan it, on paper, in five minutes.

Every essay seems to go wrong for a different reason

Tariq had the ideas and no method

Tariq’s name is invented, and his story blends several students we have taught. So do Farah’s and Zeina’s below. The teaching in each story is real. Tariq had moved to a British curriculum school from a system where essays were not part of English lessons. He understood his set novel well and could talk about its themes with confidence. Nobody had shown him how to turn that into an essay. So his tutor started at the true beginning: plan first, one point per paragraph, evidence before explanation. Over the following term, his method became clearer, and the essays began to sound like the boy who could talk about the book.

Farah noticed things but had no words for them

Farah could feel when a writer was doing something clever. She had no names for what she noticed, so her analysis came out as “this makes it more interesting”, which may earn few analysis marks because it does not explain the writer’s choice. Her tutor then built her a working vocabulary one device at a time, from pathetic fallacy to juxtaposition, and taught her to name what the writer is doing before explaining why it works. Her paragraphs began to improve over the following weeks.

Zeina wrote well at home and rushed in the exam

Zeina wrote thoughtful paragraphs when she had all evening. But in class, with the clock running, her writing turned rushed and thin. So her tutor made speed part of the training: short paragraph drills against a timer, then feedback on exactly what dropped away under pressure. With regular practice, the gap between her homework and her exam writing began to narrow.

Does the same English grade mean they are falling behind?

A grade that has stayed the same does not tell you which skill needs work. Your child may be losing marks because the answer is not planned, the evidence is weak, the analysis stops too soon or time runs out. The five-minute check gives you a useful place to start.

For national context, in Ofqual’s summer 2025 results for England, 21.8% of GCSE entries across all subjects reached grade 7 or above. The figure provides national context only. It cannot explain one child’s English grade or how students in Kuwait perform.

Will a GCSE English tutor in Kuwait help if school is already covering the course?

Yes. The lessons work on the written skills your child needs, from planning and evidence selection to analysis and timed writing.

When English marks disappoint, many students return to the novel or anthology. That may strengthen their knowledge of the text, but it may leave the written skill that is costing the marks untouched.

Our tutors work directly from your child’s writing. The first lesson will usually begin with a recent essay or paragraph. The tutor looks at how your child plans, uses evidence, develops analysis and manages time. They then agree a focused plan with your child, so everyone knows what the following lessons will cover.

The tutor works to your child’s exam board and set texts. You receive a written report after every lesson, and follow-up practice is added to the shared board. Homework reminders are also sent by email.

Inside a lesson

This clip is from a real Greenhill Academics lesson, recorded live. It shows a maths lesson on the same shared board your child would use in English, with the work and the feedback side by side.

Who your child would work with

Oxford-educated tutors, teaching GCSE and IGCSE English online across Kuwait

Laurie · English, Oxford

Laurie holds a Double First in English from Oxford and specialises in essay writing. He teaches GCSE and IGCSE English, and he is particularly good at showing a student how an answer is built, point by point, before they write a word.

Louis · English and Philosophy, Oxford

Louis graduated from Oxford with a First in Philosophy and French, after taking the IB with three 7s at Higher Level. He teaches GCSE and IGCSE English with a thoughtful, analytical style, and he is especially good at building the planning habit that turns a blank page into a clear argument.

Mimi · Modern Languages, Oxford

Mimi studied Modern Languages at Oxford and is now reading for a Master’s at the LSE. She teaches GCSE English Literature with care and clarity, and she is particularly good at helping students organise their evidence so a timed answer holds its shape.

Questions parents in Kuwait ask about GCSE English

Ready to find out which skill is costing the marks?

Tell us which course your child takes, GCSE or IGCSE, and what happened in the five-minute planning check. We will match them with an English tutor who fits their board, their texts and their starting point.

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