Josh
"He was extremely helpful in explaining methodologies and essay writing techniques and was patient in teaching me how to achieve a higher standard of work."
History, English Literature & EPQ A Level
A Level
English Language
English Literature
EPQ
GCSE
History
Undergraduate Level
Writing Skills
Academic History
University of Southampton, BA (Honours) English Literature and History: 2:1
A Levels: English Literature (A*), Politics (A*), History (A) Business Studies AS (A), EPQ (A*)
About Me
My tutoring style centres around a tailored approach, adapting my working methodologies to the academic needs and goals, personality and interests, and learning style of the student. Before starting with a student, I obtain information from their parents or carers – alongside educational professionals – about the best way to support them through their educational journey. This informs the first couple of lessons, where I start developing a rapport with the student through conversations and activities; alongside informally assessing their skills via academic tasks and games, identifying their strengths and targeted areas of improvement.
This forms a bespoke scheme of work for the student, focused on heightening their skills through interactive and creative tasks based on the examination they are working towards, being matched to their nature and best way of working. To give a few examples, if they learn best through logic, we will explore formulaic ways of tackling an essay question; or, if they are visual learners who are struggling to understand the course content, we will watch a video on this area, prompting them to give a creative response to display what they have learned through this. By combining a skills-based approach with the examination structure, this allows the student’s end goal to constantly remain in sight, with a student being able to see their progress in real-time alongside allowing for lessons to be structured at their own pace. Through using incremental learning blocks, this provides a consistent and structured lesson style to build upon, reinforce, and revisit areas in accordance with the student’s needs, ensuring feedback and tasks are specific and clearly communicated. Furthermore, this approach is adaptable to tutoring both online and in-person, being able to adapt my methods and resources for both formats.
This is underlined by having a patient, empathetic, and creative nature, creating a relaxed learning environment where I am able to develop a strong rapport with my students to guide them through their academic and personal journey. My prior students have stemmed from a wide range of academic and personal backgrounds and I adapt my lessons accordingly. I have worked with students with a range of special educational needs, from autism to ADHD, ensuring sessions take heed of what helps them to learn in their own individual way; pupils classified as EFL, understanding how to tailor communication to their level of English; to high-achieving students, providing an intellectually rigorous environment to help them achieve the highest grades. Through my experience and approach, this has seen many of my students obtain academic confidence and progression, from securing sixth form, college, and university places to heightening their educational skills.
Recent tuition
English Language GCSE (AQA)
This student struggled with disciplinary issues, being classified as EFL alongside having a diagnosis of autism and ADHD, having a low level of written language. We worked on a one-to-one basis, developing a rapport through a patient approach. I noted his interest in creative writing; coining writing tasks associated with this to build up his knowledge of language foundations, including punctuation, grammar, and spelling before looking at the examination process. Through using learning blocks, his confidence and application grew as he progressed, leading him to obtain a ‘4’ in his English Language exam: this represented a significant improvement, with the individual having not achieved more than a ‘2’ prior to working with him.
English Literature GCSE (AQA)
I worked with this student due to her being classified as EFL, with her being a highly able and enthusiastic individual who struggled with academic confidence. Upon identifying her target as heightening her analytical language to achieve strong grades in her GCSEs, we worked through resources I had made to help her improve this, applying this to sample exam questions. Furthermore, she had a burgeoning passion for creative writing, where I explored how to form plot, characters, and structure alongside techniques needed to create a compelling piece of fiction. This led to her improving her confidence to tackle this process, resulting in her achieving an ‘8’ in Literature.
English Language and Literature GCSE (AQA)
In the six months leading up to their exam, I identified that the student struggled with dissecting poetry. Having noted their passions for music and television, I started by getting them to analyse song lyrics to build up their analytical skills; alongside eliciting examples from TV shows they enjoyed to learn about language devices, such as a character who overexaggerates to understand what hyperbole is. This enabled them to remember these techniques, with this being applied to the course content; leading to the student securing a ‘6’ in both their English Language and Literature exams.
History GCSE (AQA)
I took this student on with six months to go before their History GCSE, with them struggling to understand the course content alongside tackling source questions. We spent a month on each area of the course, incorporating notes and discussion on the knowledge needed with sample questions; before spending the final couple of months on examination processes, namely how to structure and form a source question. Overall, this saw them go from a ‘4’ in their mock to a ‘6’ in their History GCSE exam.
History A-Level (AQA)
I worked with this student over a 15-month period. Although they had been out of education due to mental health issues, he possessed an in-depth knowledge and interest in this subject. We worked in incremental blocks to help him readjust to the rigours of the academic world, which developed his personal and academic confidence through obtaining strong progress in forming essay questions. This led to him securing a ‘7’ in his History A-Level, helping him to obtain his goal of obtaining a place at Nottingham University to study International Relations.
English Literature A-Level (Edexcel)
I tutored this student for three months in the lead up to their exam. Although they had a strong knowledge of the course content, she struggled to adapt this to the questions. We spent the first few lessons focusing on essay structure through tasks breaking down each element, from how to form points to bringing in context. She was then able to start applying this to exam questions, where I would provide in-depth feedback and tasks based on her essay targets, leading her to attain a ‘9’ in her English Literature A-Level exam.
English Literature A-Level (AQA)
I worked with this student for the duration of their English Literature A-Level, helping them initially on their first target of heightening their course content understanding, such as producing theme, plot, and character profiles for The Handmaid’s Tale. We then focused on applying this knowledge to examination questions, coining each lesson around the main target from an essay question conducted for homework, such as selecting quotes to remember for a particular text related to theme and multi-purpose usage. This enabled them to attain a ‘9’ in their English Literature A-Level exam.
English Functional Skills (AQA)
Due to being out of education for a significant amount of time, I worked with this 17-year-old to build their knowledge of English foundations. Each lesson centred on a different subject area centred to their goal of improving their English to enter the workplace and develop their skills, from writing an email to using different sentence structures, developing their confidence to read and write. As a result, they were able to obtain passes in Functional Skills from Levels 1 to 3 over a 20-month period, allowing them to enter a job at a gym with a greater language utilisation.
Extended Project Qualification (AQA)
As this student struggled receiving support from his school for this qualification, I helped guide them through this process. We started by exploring planning and research methodologies, helping them identify and structure a question on ‘How the Oscars Responded to Social Movements in the 2010s.’ As they conducted the writing process, I would offer in-depth feedback on each stage, using my interest in this medium to suggest sources that would enhance their writing to areas that needed condensing or heightening. Through this, they were able to greatly improve their writing processes, achieving an ‘8’ in their EPQ; helping them obtain skills that would help them with their BA in Film Studies at Warwick University.
History Undergraduate
This individual initially requested proofreading for one of their essays on the Cold War, providing feedback on their noted areas on if they met the question remit, their depth of analysis, alongside their usage of grammar and punctuation. Upon sending this back, the student requested a series of sessions to work on these targets, where I identified his struggles in forming a plan and structure, working towards this by examining the mechanisms behind these processes. This led to the student going from struggling to secure 2:2s to regularly obtaining 2:1s in his essay scores through increased written confidence and ability.
Hobbies
I am an avid reader, indulging in fiction that employs both psychological and satirical themes, including the works of Haruki Murakami, Thomas Pynchon, and Phillip Roth. Additionally, I also read a wide range of non-fiction dissecting the modern world, from Yuval Noah Harari to Amanda Montell. This interest stems from a desire to understand perspectives and how they relate both to individuals and wider society.
Additionally, I have a strong passion for culture. I listen to a wide range of music, from art rock to hip hop, having attended numerous gigs and festivals; with my favourite artists dissecting identity and societal issues, including David Bowie, Radiohead, Pulp, Frank Ocean, and Kendrick Lamar. This provides a thread to the films and TV I watch, enjoying both modern and classic works that explore similar themes, from the movies of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, and Federico Fellini, to shows including The Rehearsal, Mad Men, and Bojack Horseman.
Furthermore, I am an avid traveller, taking the opportunity to explore numerous new places and cultures. I have travelled around Europe, South America, Australia, East Asia, South Asia, and the United States of America, where I explore the history and culture of each place to heighten my knowledge; from visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum showing the impact of nuclear war to Cold War museums in both Hungary and Czechia. This passion for knowledge extends to my social life, being part of a quiz team with my friends, where we have a healthy success rate.
Finally, I am a long-suffering supporter of Barnet FC, my local football team, where I have had a season ticket for the last 15 years. I was also fortunate enough to attend the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, alongside watching the highlights for the Premiership and Football League on a weekly basis. This interest enables conversation and debate with individuals holding the same enthusiasm.
Testimonials
“Josh tutored me for my English Literature and History A-Levels. He was extremely helpful in explaining methodologies and essay writing techniques and was patient in teaching me how to achieve a higher standard of work, which helped me move from a B in my mocks to an A* overall in these subjects. He also guided me to achieve an A in my EPQ, teaching me planning and research methods. Through his tutoring, this helped me to get into Warwick University, so I would highly recommend Josh as a tutor.”
History, English Literature and EPQ student – A Level
“Before I started having Josh proofread my work, my history essays were at high 3rds and low 2:2s. However after reaching out to Josh, he managed to help with the flow and structure of my essays that gave me the confidence to start achieving 2:1s. This was helped significantly with his subject knowledge in areas such as the Soviet Union, Cold War, and late British imperialism. His clear and detailed feedback on every paragraph I wrote was terrific but the best part of his help is his efficiency to return feedback. Usually work would be returned within a working day or two, that would have a strong level of constructive feedback that I can only dream of my university tutors giving. Thanks to Josh’s efficient and clear guidance, my average grade has jumped significantly to the extent I am now expecting to get a 2:1 when I graduate next year.“
History student – Undergraduate
“Josh has tutored both my children in English Language and Literature at GCSE and A-Level, and I have found him to be reliable and responsible in his approach. I work in education and I was impressed with his knowledge, teaching methods and ability to tailor his lessons to the individual requirements of each of my children as their learning styles and needs are very different. He most definitely helped them progress and achieve higher grades.”
Parent of English Language and Literature student – GCSE
