A bit about Mark W

I've been a Science teacher for the last 19 years with a history of successful results in both A level Biology, GCSE Physics and Combined Science. Across my career I coached and supported hundreds of students through their exams. As a Head of Post-16 I have also worked with students on their personal statements for UCAS and with those students who find revision and exam technique difficult. I have a degree in Zoology and teach A level Biology with particular expertise in the AQA syllabus. I have also successfully taught GCSE Physics and Combined Science for the last 19 years. I make sure that I understand the starting points and gaps in learning for my students and then work to build on these. I use like to base a lot of my teaching around past paper questions and understanding exam performance so that when exams come around pupils feel ready for the challenge. I have moved into online tutoring this year after previously working in classrooms. I have always worked with students individually and in small groups around my lessons though to help support them with intervention so I have plenty of experience in tutoring style learning. I find both Biology and Physics inspiring and exciting. I love learning more about the world, from the microscopic world Biology reveals inside cells to the enormous universe around us revealed in Physics. I like to personalise my style to students as each one learns differently. I like to explain things in a variety of ways, working with students until they understand the concepts. I find that working with memory is important for exam success and use retrieval practice, memory hooks and other techniques to chunk knowledge and help pupils revise. I enjoy the in-depth way a tutor can work, really working to understand how an individual thinks and learns and adapting my responses and teaching to address these. I believe that all students have the potential to be good at Science and to develop their skills in learning. I believe that the skills involved in learning are key and that developing these is an important part of improving in the subject. Students find me approachable. They appreciate my encouraging style and the clarity with which I explain concepts. I find that the fact that I care about their success and am prepared to go the extra mile in planning and feedback for them is something they really like. I taught in inner-city schools in areas of high-deprivation. To take pupils from this background and see them progress to competitive courses at Russell Group universities with revolutionised life chances has been a highlight of my career. I am a fully qualified Secondary Science teacher with an honours degree in Zoology from the University of Liverpool. I began my working life working with homeless young people on a resettlement project. By far the most enjoyable part of this was teaching them new skills. I then decided to take this further and learn to teach. My career in teaching went from there. Outside teaching I spend a lot of time with my 2 boys who are 8 and 11 years old. I climb several times a week and fulfilled a lifetime ambition, running the London Marathon last year. I teach AQA Biology A level and AQA GCSE Physics and AQA Trilogy Science GCSE's.