Sixth Form/A-level/Further Education Phase Tuition Enquire
(Key Stage 5 ages 16 to 18 incl. A-levels)
Why have a tutor?
Having one-to-one tuition can be a very effective way to support sixth form and further education students with their studies. Subject to availability, we are usually able to find you a tutor to teach most of the subjects taught at sixth form level. There is a wide range of good reasons for choosing to use a tutor during this vitally important phase of learning, including:
- Catch-up support To catch-up with their peers; if they have for some reason fallen behind e.g. due to a period of illness.
- Confidence building To help students to build their confidence, either for a specific subject/s or to build their confidence in learning in general.
- Stretching and strengthening If for some reason they are not being fully stretched at school or college in a given subject such as English or maths.
- Subject specific support To provide tailored support for a student who wants to excel (or who is struggling) with an important part of the curriculum e.g. help with their English or sciences.
- Study skills support Post 16 study students are expected to become independent learners. This is often an area where some students struggle to adapt and when one-to-one tuition can be very helpful.
- Learning difficulties To provide tailored support for a student who is struggling, due to having a specific learning difficulty e.g. dyslexia or dyscalculia or other types of learning difficulties (see our Special Education Needs page).
- A-level preparation To support and prepare students for their A-level (or equivalent) qualifications, for which obtaining the right results can be critical in determining what further study and/or career options are going to be available to them.
We have tutors who can offer tuition support for all the secondary subjects.
Note: At A-level it is not usually possible to have the same tutor for different subjects e.g. maths and English. This is because as most tutors specialise in teaching either English and/or humanities or maths and/or sciences, but not usually both.
The UK’s system of A-levels has changed dramatically in the last few years. See how these will affect your AS-level and A-level studies – go to: A-level reforms: what they mean for you!.
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Exam Preparation
A-level Exams (and their equivalents) can be a stressful time for both students and parents alike!
Understandably, students can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of information on multiple subjects they have to learn. It’s likely that they will perhaps feel confident with some subjects, but not with others. Often this is because they are not fully aware of all the key revision techniques and so feel like they are fighting a losing battle.
This is where having a personal tutor can help hugely. Tutors can support students to be prepared for their exams by helping them to plan their revision well and by showing them how to use key revision techniques. In addition, they will fill in those vital gaps in their knowledge and understanding, all of which will boost their confidence, and help them to do well when it comes to the day of their exam/s. For parents, a personal tutor can help relieve exam season stress; knowing their son or daughter is getting the focused attention they need in order to achieve their potential and gaining the results necessary for the next step of their educational journey.
Top tip – always plan ahead It is always best to pre-empt the need for a personal tutor and get arrangements put in place early, rather than waiting until the exam date is looming up fast; by which time it might be too late to get in enough tuition time (or you might find there are no tutors with availability at that stage of the academic year).
If you think your son or daughter might be struggling with exam preparation or if they have asked for help, then act NOW! Don’t wait until it looks as though they might under-perform or even fail.
You can also take a look our Top Ten Study Tips for a good head start.
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Choosing your AS/A-levels…
The transition from GCSE to A-level this can be a daunting prospect, particularly when having to narrow down from the 10 or 12 subjects you may have studied at GCSE to perhaps 4 AS-levels to eventually just 3 A-levels. Getting the balance between what you are good at, what you enjoy, and keeping an eye on the future, in terms of what you may want to pursue further down the line (whether that be going to university or pursuing a career in a chosen field) is the key to making the right choice.
Choosing which subjects to study at A-level
Choosing which subjects to study at A-level can be a bewildering affair, and the most obvious choice is not always the best option. It very much depends on what subject you want to study at university, which university you want to attend and what sort of career choices you want to have available to you once you have completed your degree.
It’s always helpful to start by thinking about what sorts of career choices would most appeal to you and for which you have, or would be able to develop, the necessary skills, aptitude and interest.
If you need help to decide which subjects you should take at A-level to enable you to study the right course, at the university which would be best for you, then the Russell Group (a grouping of the UK’s top flight universities) have launched a new website called Informed Choices to help you decide what would be the best choice of A-levels to gain entry for a range of different courses for all the universities in their group.
Or you might want to look at the Which? University website, which will help you to explore which A-level subject choice would be right for you! Go to this A-level Explorer link.
Once you have chosen your subjects you will discover two things:
- A-levels are a lot tougher than GCSEs
And…
- With fewer subjects you will have a lot more free time.
Having more free time may sound great; however, it means a lot more responsibility on you. You will be given a much higher work load and extra reading materials (all at a much higher level) and be expected to make contributions to classes and group activity without being prompted to do so.
At sixth form, the onus is much more on you needing to manage yourself, both during the college day, as well as in your own time. This pressure to self-manage your time productively will only increase through this period and this will become greater if you choose to go to university.
A personal tutor can advise you the best way to manage your new workload and this will help you make a significant improvement to your academic performance. As well as offering you advice and guidance, your tutor will be able to help with class and exam preparation, coursework and essay writing skills etc. This will in turn help you become a more self-reliant learner and to maintain your improved performance up to the exam period and hopefully on to the university of your choice!
For further information or to enquire about personal tuition please complete our enquiry form to provide us with all the initial details required, or feel free to call on 020 8446 3963.
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