Aaron

I spent four years at the University of Oxford, studying for my master's degree in physics from which I graduated with first class honours. Now, I live in Glasgow and have graduated with a second master's degree (this time in clarinet performance) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I'm working as a professional orchestral musician, regularly playing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra etc.

I enjoy teaching in my spare time because it provides a great outlet for me to show my own enthusiasm for the subject now that I've moved on from my physics degree.
I usually spend any free time practising amateur clockmaking, cooking, reading/watching science fiction, and drinking a lot of tea.

Tutoring Experience

I have taught A level and Highers physics to several students across various exam boards. I have taught interview preparation for the Oxford physics entrance interviews, and I have also assisted with teaching STEP (the Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial College maths admissions test) to sixth-form students in preparation for their university admissions.

I taught online quite extensively over the pandemic and since then have largely moved back to face-to-face teaching; nowadays I'm happy to do either.

Tutoring Approach

A typical lesson will usually consist of a set of questions about a particular topic. The student will have been supplied with these questions after the previous lesson, given time to work on them, and should ideally send their solutions to me to mark before the lesson. Then we spend the lesson working through the questions together, identifying mistakes and correcting them along with any underlying misconceptions.
I select questions appropriately for the student so we can focus on the areas they need the most help with, and am very happy for the student to request the topics they want to study. If I cannot find suitable questions, then I write my own, tailor-made specifically for them. At a suitable point nearing exam time, I switch from 'topic-bundled' questions to past papers, and use the same process.

I don't lecture my students; instead I much prefer to guide them to the correct answer through a logical, thought-out process. I've always found this to be both more engaging for the student and more useful in the long term when they are faced with new or unfamiliar challenges.
I also try hard to present interesting facets to a topic that the student may not have considered, sometimes guiding them beyond the syllabus to where the most strange and fascinating ideas can usually be found.