Harry

Hi, I'm Harry! I am a part time tutor and medical educator alongside a full time career as an academic surgical trainee in general surgery at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. I trained at St George’s, University of London, graduating top of my year for both BSc Biomedical Science (Hons) and MBBS (Medical) degrees and was nominated for the University of London Gold Medal. I completed my academic foundation training in Manchester before securing an academic clinical fellowship at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge.

I began teaching during my undergraduate degrees and have developed this passion, now running a national medical teaching course alongside several other formal and informal teaching roles.

I am a firm believer in a healthy work life balance and spend a lot of time climbing alongside my professional commitments.

I have a current and up to date enhanced DBS/CRB check.

Tutoring Experience

Medical or biomedical education?
I have delivered over 1000 hours of teaching, ranging from formal university lecturing and anatomy demonstration, to private tuition, to medical students on hospital wards and biomedical scientists in laboratories. I find great reward in the continual learning process for both tutor and tutee, and believe passionately in the value of teaching, taking great satisfaction in seeing students achieve their full potential. Having taught science for many years, I have worked with pupils of varying ability, each with their own learning styles, strengths and weaknesses. I run a national revision course for medical students, employing a dynamic teaching style to deliver high yield revision material for exam success; I consistently receive excellent feedback and students signing up for the next year almost as soon as their exams are over! I am currently an Undergraduate Clinical Supervisor at the University of Cambridge, delivering regular teaching to clinical year medical students, providing a clear understanding of the curriculum and its delivery.

Applying for Medicine?
Having studied Medicine I have inside experience of both how to apply for Medicine and succeed at interview. I have interviewed on the panel for multiple mini interviews (MMI), a unique interview process adopted by an increasing number of medical schools, and can offer an important insight from the interviewer's perspective. I have further insight into the more traditional panel interviews having coached prospective medical students for these over the years. I have tutored several candidates in the previous three rounds of intake, all of whom received offers to study Medicine.

A Level Science?
I have experience in tutoring A level science and am adaptable to the curriculum each student follows. I promote not only regular information recall but also a deeper understanding of the material, which helps students apply this knowledge and interlink other parts of the curriculum, in turn improving memory and information utilisation. The tutoring style I offer is one of collaborative working to develop understanding, memory triggers/recall prompts and knowledge application, perfect for exams and beyond.

Tutoring Approach

The average student spends over 1200 hours at school, and often 100s more studying at home each year. As a tutor spending limited time each week with each student, I can’t hope to compete with the efforts students put in outside my sessions. What I will do, is help them use that time efficiently, which is one of my main aims when tutoring. I am passionate about the subjects that I teach and I try to pass that enthusiasm on to my tutees, as a genuine interest in a subject affords far greater productivity.

I briefly spend some time discussing study skills and techniques, ensuring each students' learning environment and methods are optimised for information processing, understanding and retention. I also spend some time covering exam stress and how to cope with it, helping tutees find their optimum place on the stress-productivity curve.

My approach to tutoring is to consider each student as an individual and to identify their needs and goals early, before making a plan moving forwards, and making learning as fun as possible! As well as varying between students, my strategy varies between subjects too, as each subject requires a different approach. I pride myself on being able to identify when the tutee does not fully understand or is struggling with a concept, and will explain the idea in several different ways to find the one that works for that tutee.

My sessions include a combination of:
- Setting objectives and clear goals for the session
- Recapping areas that students are struggling with
- Breaking down difficult concepts into manageable pieces and discussing wider applications to help with memory retention
- Developing memory aids for long term knowledge retention
Teaching new material is not usually the primary focus of the session and revision is prioritised, but this can vary on a case by case basis. I am open to teaching new material where the learner is able.

I provide personalised tuition ONLINE only. As I am a full time doctor, I am mostly available during evenings and weekends with flexible hours, however, I do have some days off during the week which opens the possibility of daytime tutoring. For A Level students, I am able to provide feedback to parents on their child's progress after each session if required.