Tom C
An engaging and encouraging teacher and examiner of maths and physics
You can book a free 20 minute, no-commitment introduction with any of our tutors. How does this work?
What do you specialise in?
My favourite subjects to teach are Physics and Maths- despite really hating Maths when I was doing my A-levels! I've spent most of my teaching career focusing on these two subjects, but have also taught engineering design, economics, business studies and accounting. Most of my classroom experience is at Anglia Ruskin College, teaching UK and international students A-level topics, but I've also tutored many private students at both GCSE and A-level, mainly in physics. All of this has given me lots of experience in teaching students from all kinds of backgrounds, and with all manner of prior knowledge and attitudes towards learning. I pride myself on getting to know my students, so that I can really help them identify and develop their own skills.
What is your teaching style?
My tutoring style is conversational, and I will always try to draw the student towards answering their own question, rather than providing them with an answer. With a new tutee I will always start by getting to know them, and what their goals are to ensure that our expectations match, and I encourage parents to be involved at this stage if the student is under 18. After setting expectations, I am happy to keep parents informed of students' progress but I generally encourage the student to be responsible for their own learning as I find this helps to foster a sense of intellectual independence.
What are your interests outside of teaching?
Outside of teaching, I am a keen runner, cyclist and PC gamer, and I develop games for the PC as a hobby. I also have 2 young daughters who keep me busy, and we love to spend time exploring in our local woodland with the dog!
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I graduated from Cambridge University 13 years ago with a Masters in manufacturing engineering. Since then I've worked as an engineer, a police constable (no bad behaviour in my classes!), and a typesetter. I finally found my passion in teaching and have been working for 8 years as a teacher at foundation, A-level and undergraduate level at Anglia Ruskin University. Whilst working at Anglia Ruskin I studied for a Post graduate certificate in Higher Education, and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I'm also a senior examiner for Cambridge International, and work writing exams and marking for their A level physics qualification (9702).
What do you love most about teaching your subject?
Physics and Maths are more than things to study at school: they are a way of seeing the universe! Once you begin to delve into the subjects, you can't look at anything in the same way.
What is your favourite thing about being a tutor?
Spending time getting to know a student, and watching them develop their skills and confidence is extremely rewarding. Nothing beats seeing a concept click into place when a student has an "aha!" moment- it's the best feeling!
Reviews
Georgia Goodchild
Tom an extremely enthusiastic, thorough and patient tutor. He sticks on topic and encourages me to think and figure out the answers for myself leading to an engaging lesson. Im so happy i've found such a keen and committed tutor help guide me through A-level physics while I self study.
Turkan Ucur
Tom is a tutor with great insight into his subject. He often provides me with multiple ways of thinking about a problem that I had previously never considered, already I can see my improvement in the subject thanks to him.
Ellie
Tom is a lovely tutor with an amazing understanding of his subjects. h He is patient and will to spend as much time as needed for you to understand a specific topic or question. Would 100% recommend to anyone struggling with physics or maths as he has helped my understanding so much and helped bring my grades up a lot!!
alexandra moore
Such an amazing maths tutor; kind, friendly and creates a comfortable space to learn and make mistakes without the worry of being wrong. You can tell he truly cares about teaching and about his students. I couldn't recommend him enough! :)
Teaches
| Subject | Level |
|---|---|
| Maths | GCSE |
| Maths | A-Level |
| Physics | GCSE |
| Physics | A-Level |
Showing off Their Knowledge
Our tutors can answer one-off questions from students in our forum.
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What is the proper name for a rainbow effect created by the splitting up of white light?
Asked in KS3 Physics - Energy and Matter by Molly Rodriguez
The splitting of white light into a spectrum of colours is called dispersion....
87 views
0favourites
Answered 3 weeks ago
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How do you denote A and B?
Asked in A-Level Maths - Probability by Aaliyah Denesik
A and B is also called A intersection B and is often denoted with...
88 views
0favourites
Answered 3 weeks ago
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How do you denote A or B?
Asked in A-Level Maths - Probability by Prof. Krystel Trantow
A or B is also called A union B and is often shown using the notation:...
91 views
0favourites
Answered 3 weeks ago
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What is the definition of a prime number?
Asked in GCSE Maths - Positive and Negative Integers by Sebastian Owen
In Emyr's excellent response, the last sentence should have read "Whereas 12 is not a prime number"!...
176 views
0favourites
Answered 2 months ago
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What is the difference between a vector and magnitude
Asked in GCSE Physics - Forces and Elasticity by Garrison Huels
"Magnitude" just means "size" so all numbers have a magnitude. 3 has a greater magnitude than 1, an...
166 views
0favourites
Answered 2 months ago
FAQs
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Where do I go from here?
You can send Tom C a message through Sherpa and they will usually get back to you within 24 hours. You'll receive an SMS and email notification when they do so.
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How do the introductions work?
Sherpa gives you the opportunity to meet our tutors in a free 20 minute introduction, which takes place through the Sherpa classroom.
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How do lessons work?
All lessons take place through Sherpa's online, industry-leading classroom. This is a combination of a collaborative, real time whiteboard and a video call, like Zoom.