When you finish your end of year 9 exams and GCSEs and A levels, you may want to start to think about what subjects you are going to focus on for your GCSEs and A levels next academic year. Choosing your GCSE and A level subjects is an exciting time. You’ll be selecting subjects that will help shape your future. With A level study, it’s the next stepping stone to your future career and will have an impact on your options for University courses as well.
For some people, the experience can also be quite overwhelming. It’s such an important time, and the choices you make are super important for you and your future. If you are selecting your GCSE subjects, then, up until now, you will have been assessed by mock exams, end of year exams, as well as tests, such as SATs, and teacher’s reports. Whilst outcomes may influence what set you’ve been placed in, ultimately, they will have very little bearing on your future – academic or professional. Doing well should always be the goal, but now, it all feels a little more serious.
Perhaps this is why, according to The Telegraph, parents in the UK are spending £6 billion per year on private tutors. Concerns that the school system is not best placed to handle the teaching requirements alone, have caused thousands to seek additional support. So, how can a private online tutor help you when it comes to your chosen GCSE and A Level subjects?
#1 Online learning is engaging and interactive, with no restrictions
Advancements in technology mean that online learning today looks nothing like the courses offered just 10 or 15 years ago.
Today, improvements in IT ensure that any online learning you undertake can be hugely engaging, tailored to your learning style, as well as very interactive. Tutors can share their screens, upload videos, dissect content, gain your instant feedback and provide immediate comment on work you upload.
One great advantage of online lessons is that you get to choose the best tutor for you, regardless of whereabouts in the UK you are, or of the location of the tutor or teacher. You have the best choice of UK tutors and teachers to choose from.
#2 Personalised and tailored to your needs
Ask your tutor any questions, and as many questions as you like!
Let your tutor know what topics and areas you may be struggling with, or you simply want to improve on.
Your online tutor can go through all aspects of your GCSE or A level course, and help to identify your areas of strength, as well of your areas of weakness. They will help you to strengthen the areas you need to improve, in line with the marking schemes of your exam board and subjects you are studying. That way, you can be sure to be prepared to maximise your score, and to have the best chance of getting the best grades you can in those all-important GCSEs and A levels. All of this ensures that your online learning can be individually tailored to you, and your tutor can take your wants and needs into account.
In addition, they can focus on the best ways you learn – if you’re receiving support from an online maths tutor, they will check to see if you respond better to watching demonstrations on problems, or if you prefer to have a go yourself first. With science, it may be that you work best with flash cards or watching videos rather than simply reading textbooks.
The end result is that you get the precise level of support, when you need it most, to achieve your own personalised goals when it comes to your learning outcomes. It also means that your learning can be set at a pace that best suits you. Some people will be able to pick a topic up quickly, and rapidly move on to the next piece of work.
For others, that’s not the best approach. If you need more time to ensure any learning has been fully embedded, then online tutoring ensures you have the space to do that.
#3 Learn when it suits you
One of the biggest barriers to receiving additional, private tutoring, is often time. The reality is that Monday – Friday you probably spend six hours or more of your day at school, with additional time for travelling, as well as after school activities. Some online tutors are university students themselves, with their own daily commitments,
others are qualified teachers who are at school all day teaching. Some children are home schooled, and want to have their online lessons during the daytime
For children that go to school, tutoring will be in the evenings, or at weekends. When you factor in other extracurricular activities you may be involved in, the need to travel, the need for parents to support with travel (which may conflict with their own work commitments and perhaps care of younger siblings), the idea of booking in a session can feel like a logistical nightmare. Rushing to tutoring sessions is never
the best way to approach a learning experience and often, it can become counterproductive.
With online learning, you’re immediately removing a lot of the hassle. If you need help with Chemistry, your tutor or teacher may be able to provide online chemistry tuition immediately after the school day ends, rather than you having to still be concentrating at 9pm, when neither of you are at your best.
#4 Go from good to great
The ease of accessibility when it comes to online learning ensures that it really is open to everybody. Many people assume that it’s only worth getting a GCSE or A Level tutor if you’re struggling with a specific subject. Whilst there is, of course, huge benefit in this, it’s not the only way an online tutor is going to help you.
For subjects where you’re already holding your own, a maths and science tutor can take you from being good, to being great. You may be a whizz at Further Maths. The additional time you put in via the support of a further maths tutor could ensure you increase by a grade point or two, thus opening up even more opportunities for your next steps when it comes to either your education or career. You could be a top student, wanting to make sure you get 9s for your GCSEs or A*s for your A levels
Whatever your level and goals, lessons with an online tutor can make a difference and help you to achieve the best you can.
#5 Fosters independence
Arguably, one of the biggest transitions many students experience as they move through the education system is the need to increase their independence so far as their learning is concerned.
At primary school, you are largely told what to do, how to do it and then supported as you work your way through it. As you move through to High School, this handholding does tend to drop off somewhat, dependent on your school’s wider philosophy.
By utilising online learning through a private tutor, you’re taking a huge amount of control for your learning. You’re looking at what you want to learn, why you need to learn it and ultimately what your plans are. You’re demonstrating that you can take this responsibility for your personal growth and use it to your advantage. It’s a quality many universities, and certainly employees, love to see, and are looking for in students and graduates who are waking through their doors at the moment.
Here at Tutorspot, we’re always here to help. Don’t hesitate to contact us to find a suitable tutor by calling 01509 265623. Alternatively, you can send an email to info@tutorspot.co.uk.
