Spencer

Hi! I'm Spencer, I'm a physics and maths tutor. Having graduated with a B.A in physics and mathematics from Harvard University, I currently full-time teach online (though I'm open to starting in-person again hopefully this year). Having tutored from a young age when I was also a student at high school and later university, I have the unique experience of having concurrently explored both the student and teacher mindset. A first-generation university student myself, I am familiar with the difficulties of navigating the application process to both American and U.K. universities. As such, I welcome questions about these processes and am happy to provide advice to guide you through academic and extracurricular choices alike. I am immensely proud of the students I have worked with in the past, and the breadth of their achievements inspires me still. Outside of teaching and studying, but still in the academic world, I have conducted research in both mathematics (algebraic geometry) and physics (general relativity) with Professors in Durham University and the University of Cologne, Germany.

In my free time, I enjoy learning General Relativity (black holes and other mind bending physics), playing music and running. I have a wealth of experience with teaching, and it's something I'm very passionate about.

Tutoring Experience

I started to teach students in mathematics and the natural sciences at age 16, which sums my teaching experience to nearly 8 years now. From 16-18 I was a teaching assistant in science and mathematics classrooms for secondary school students, as well as privately tutoring GCSE and lower year students. At 18, I taught my own class for a year at my local secondary school (Shoreham Academy) for year 11 students taking GCSE Further Mathematics. During my 4 years at Harvard, I tutored in a wide variety of environments: university peers, US & UK high school students, group workshops both online and in an in-person workshop in Berlin for students applying to US universities, to name a few.
Online teaching has been my main focus over all this time, having taught students from countries: USA, UK, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan.

Tutoring Approach

I encourage fun, engaging and creative lessons but it is of utmost importance that the student feels comfortable with the approach. With that in mind, I'm happy to adapt the lesson plan to how the student best learns. In the sciences, in particular physics and maths, I like to work with a first principle approach. That is, being able to derive the formulae and reasoning behind every key statement in a given topic. This forces the student to understand the material well, and not just memorize the contents. Once you understand the first principle approach, in my experience the student then finds the exam questions much simpler and very approachable.