Firstly, it is crucial with exam based subjects that a tutee should target qualified teachers (with QTS) as they have conversed with the current changes that have taken place with GCSE and A-Levels. They are aware of syllabus amendments and have a range of tools to support how to interpret command verbs within the exam.
I am a qualified teacher (with QTS) that has over 10 years leading several departments in Computing, Business, ICT and Design across a range of qualifications and exam boards. As a result of this and exam board work (working as an exam marker), I feel I understand what is required to pass the exams.
The exam board experience stems over a range of exam boards (OCR, Pearsons, AQA and CIE) completing a variety of roles, from verifying coursework to exam marking and leading exam markers.
Both teaching and exam board commitments compliment each other, seeing the teaching misconceptions and to get the exam marks, with great success in my teaching.
I have a good understanding of assessment needs to qualify for the higher Level questions in exam papers which have proven successful (primarily focusing on the command verbs in the question) which can be a focus within the online lessons.
I have been a professional tutor since 2006.
Across all of the different subjects I teach, I always notice the same thing: the main difficulty that learners encounter is getting overwhelmed by what they're trying to learn. It could be that there seems to be simply too much material to cover; it could be that the concepts seem too difficult; it could be that the whole thing causes anxiety for some completely different reason which is apparently unrelated to the 'academic' side of things.
I help remove anxiety, regardless of what form it might take, in whatever way seems like it will help each individual most. Before long, it becomes possible to see the task in hand with different eyes – indeed, more importantly, at this point most of my students come to see their own abilities entirely differently. They may have come to me with a fixed idea of what they are 'bad' at, but I help them to realise that they have skills they hardly suspected.
