Balaji

Hi, I'm Balaji! I'm a first year medical student at the University of Nottingham.

I first discovered that I had a passion for teaching during my secondary school days. My friends and I would have regular study sessions together when exam season was approaching, and when some of us were struggling with a topic, someone in the group who understood the topic better than us would teach it to us and clear up any confusions we had. Watching an expression of confusion morph into an expression of clarity instilled a satisfaction in me that I just loved! It was then that I realised that I enjoyed teaching others and helping them fall in love with the subjects that I had a passion for.

During my A-Levels, I embarked on a journey to improve my teaching methods. I began voluntarily teaching maths, reading and science to Year 4 students at my local primary school. At first, I thought that it would be just like teaching my friends, but then I was quickly presented with a new challenge - How do you teach someone a subject which they have no prior knowledge about? After somewhat struggling to teach my students in my first lesson, I went back and reflected on what went wrong. I then came to the realisation that I was using words that were too complex for younger minds to understand, and that I was unable to put certain concepts into a context which they were familiar with. This experience really made me think about the words and analogies I was choosing for my explanations. From that lesson onwards, I made it a point to actively reflect on each lesson and come up with modified strategies to engage my students better and remove any confusions they had before the lesson ended. I finished my year of teaching at my local primary school with so much more confidence in my ability to teach students of various ages, and with more love for teaching than before I started.

In terms of qualifications, I hold 4 A-Levels in Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, scoring a grade A in each. Aside from my passions for science and teaching, I am a keen pianist and singer. I like to spend my down time playing tennis and cricket and going on runs with my friends.

Tutoring Experience

I spent a year volunteering at a primary school, where I helped engage Year 4 students in activites that developed skills in reading, numeracy and literacy, providing guidance and feedback to pupils in a coherent and constructive manner.
I have mentored younger students (Yr7 to Yr11) in Maths and Biology.
I am also able to tutor medical school applicants for the UCAT entrance exam, review their personal statement and conduct interview sessions.

Tutoring Approach

At the start of each lesson, the student and I will engage in a short discussion about the topics they want to study. From this, I wil identify where the student needs guidance, and I then try to explain the content in a coherent fashion. Since the student is directing the session, I am able to more comprehensively cover the student's prioritised topics and also get to the crux of their misunderstandings, which I can then correct in a coherent and constructive manner. When required, I may discuss my own experiences with certain subjects with the student and what techniques I used to overcome them. This could be through sharing exam techniques, resources and question banks, for example. This method encourages the student to reflect on their learning and develop ideas (which I will aid them in doing) on how they can improve as a student. I will assign a number of problems on the specific topics covered in the session, which we will then go over together. This raises the confidence of the pupil and increases their motivation to succeed.