Louis
"He took me back to the beginning, redeveloped my understanding and gave me a huge amount of confidence, leading me to achieving an A in my exams."
GCSE Spanish
13 +
7+/8+
A Level
English
GCSE
History
Home schooling
Spanish
UKiset
University Applications
Academic History
History with Spanish, 2:1, University College London
A Levels: History (A*), Spanish (A*), French (A), English Literature (A)
GCSEs: 9 A*, 1 A
About Me
I generally have an adaptable, encouraging and ‘from the ground up approach’ to tutoring. Depending on time constraints, I aim to teach students how to study/think/approach a subject either before or alongside drilling into specific course content. I believe this makes students more resilient and adaptable when it comes to ultimately taking the exams and gives them the confidence to apply knowledge to any question rather than just learn something by rote. For example, a first Spanish lesson may cover basic vowel pronunciations (always the same five sounds in Spanish) or clarifying whether the student understands basic grammar conjugations. For maths, it may be ensuring students understand fundamental principles which are the building blocks of more complex topics.
I also aim to improve, particularly for humanities’ students, critical thinking skills more generally, which, depending on the student’s personal interests, could mean encouraging them to read or explore things outside of the school curriculum. I believe increasing a student’s confidence to explore things independently carries over to their ability to study independently in turn. When a job is more short-term or in close proximity to an exam, I will also sometimes use past exam papers or questions as the basis for a lesson and use errors and mistakes that come up as a learning opportunity. This also serves to familiarise the student with the task ahead and ensure they do not go into an exam with any doubts or confusion about what is expected.
Finally, and just as importantly, I always spend 10-20 minutes at the start of a first session building a rapport with the students, asking about their own interests and finding common ground. I want the student to feel comfortable and enjoy our sessions, feel comfortable asking me questions no matter how basic they may seem to them. I find that being familiar with a student’s interests can also be useful to explain concepts or ideas that arise by applying an example to something they are familiar or interested in.
Recent tuition
7+/11+ Preparation
I began tutoring this student two months prior to his 7+ for Westminster, which due to having just moved to England and started speaking English that year, he wasn’t quite able to achieve – although he performed extremely well in Maths and Reasoning and was at the required standard. His parents were pleased with his progress however and we continued with tuition with a view to 11+. The student made fantastic progress given where he started and although Covid meant the family moving and not doing the 11+, he was accepted to a top international school.
13+ UkiSet
This student is Indian, living in Mumbai, and was preparing for the UkiSet paper, which is a preliminary test of Maths, English and Reasoning that top independent schools used to filter candidates prior to their own aptitude tests. We conducted these lessons over Zoom for two months. The challenge was to familiarise him with the UK curriculum in a short amount of time as the UkiSet essentially tests whether a student is able to immediately adapt, given schools in other countries will have different ones. We focused intently on exam practice, working under time pressures (most sections of the UkiSet are sub-30 minutes) and developing his essay and creative writing skills. The student scored in the 99th percentile of UK students in each discipline and was able to apply to his six preferred schools.
GCSE English Language (AQA)
I initially began tutoring this student who is autistic and was being home-schooled at the time, for his English Language GCSEs. I took a highly patient approach and made an effort to get to know him and bond over unrelated interests, given trust and confidence on his part were big issues inhibiting his learning. However as he progressed with English we expanded to his other subjects, mainly the humanities subjects. We even ended up working on his Photography GCSE coursework – which he ultimately received a 9 for, along with an above target 7 for English Language.
GCSE Spanish (Edexcel), A Level History (AQA), Media Studies (Eduqas) & English Literature (AQA)
I was initially hired to do a summer intensive Spanish course for this student, who has severe visual tracking difficulties and was struggling with the subject and reading in an unfamiliar language. As such we used auditory learning techniques to cover grammar and vocabulary (as Spanish is phonetic) until his Scottish National 5s the following summer (in which he achieved an A) and then continued into his A-Levels that he moved to London for with History, English and Media Studies tuition. This role also became a mentoring role. The student went on to read University of York following a gap year in Argentina, during which I spent the first half of that year improving his fluency in Argentinian Spanish in preparation.
A-Level History (Edexcel), Geography, (Edexcel), Physical Education (AQA)
I began working with this student after he incurred a serious brain injury in the October of Year 13 and was unable/did not feel confident returning to regular school. When we started in the January he had been off for two months and fallen behind with both classwork, coursework and university applications. Working closely over five months we went through every course from scratch and improving his confidence and concentration (which was affected by his injury), as well as completing his UCAS. It was also a mentor role and we had a strong personal friendship which has continued to this day. He achieved A*/A/A and was accepted into his first choice of university.
A-Level History and Spanish
I worked with this student as she was preparing for her AS Level exams in Year 12, as she was struggling with her essay writing for History and understanding of La Casa de Bernarda Alba for her chosen Spanish text. Already a high-achieving student, we spent time honing her writing skills specifically and developing clarity and structure to her planning for exam-style essays. Our work continued through to Year 13 and her university applications, and I provided support to her applications to Edinburgh, St Andrews, KCL, UCL and the LSE. She completed her A Levels with an A* and A in History and Spanish respectively and is currently studying Law at UCL.
Hobbies
My primary passion is film and theatre. When I graduated I was part of three Royal Shakespeare Companies and more recently have begun screenwriting and producing short films, which have taken me to the Austin Film Festival and won a Raindance Award. As well as being creatively fulfilling, I enjoy the collaboration inherent to film and theatre, the need to build rapport with others, have clear communication, and foster an environment where everyone contributes ideas. Being part of a team is also one of the things I most enjoyed about playing sport and being the Senior Editor of the UCL student paper whilst studying, and I started acting immediately out of university as a way of being part of a similar collective effort.
Testimonials
“Louis has been tutoring my son J– with his GCSEs this year. He has been very patient and kind, and has given J– a lot of confidence in his abilities. This has been really important to J– as he had lost a lot confidence in his regular schooling, and had been very unengaged. We really appreciate how he has helped J– to start to enjoy the process of learning again, and feel ready to sit his GCSE in English language and photography.”
English Language and Photography GCSE
“I began tuition with Louis as I was struggling with Spanish for my Scottish National 5s. I have a visual processing disorder and so struggled with reading and concentration. He took me back to the beginning, redeveloped my understanding and gave me a huge amount of confidence, leading me to achieving an A in my exams. He’s very encouraging and lessons were always enjoyable. We got on so well that when I came down to London to do A-Levels, we started up again covering all 3 of my subjects, History, English Literature and Media Studies and an Extended Project Qualification on Colonial India. With both my A Level years disrupted directly by Covid, he was a great and crucial support. I ended up reading History at my first choice university and am now working for an international start-up. We remained in contact after I finished school and used to have coffee meetings to brush up on my Spanish ahead of a trip to Argentina.”
GCSE Spanish/A Level History, Media Studies, English Literature
