Updated: 01/08/24
I am available for online tutoring! I have over 7 years of teaching experience, and I currently specialise in maths and physics for A-level, IB, University admissions testing (particularly the PAT and MAT for Oxford), and undergraduate studies. To enquire, please send me an email at: samsmathslectures@gmail.com - I look forward to working with you!
I conduct lessons online using a video conferencing app (typically Skype), using an online whiteboard (BitPaper) to take notes and collaboratively solve problems. I find this method highly effective as it allows for clear and personal communication, while creating a digital artefact of any work in the lesson which the student can access at any time, at no cost to you. To enhance the learning experience, I do recommend having a good microphone (for example a 'gaming headset' with built in microphone to make sure we can always communicate clearly and some form of graphics tablet (I use a small Wacom Intuos, and it's been working flawlessly since October 2020) to make it easier to 'write' on the digital board, although this is not essential.
I provide monthly reports for all my students outlining what I have been teaching, how the student is progressing, and any comments/recommendations I have going forward. I also make sure to provide detailed marking and feedback of homework problems and past papers, note that there may be an additional cost for any 'excessive' marking (typically anything more than one piece of work per lesson, but this is variable), and I can be commissioned to write lecture notes or textbook summaries.
In general these policies are up to my interpretation and may be enacted or waived at my discretion.
With the exception of the first lesson with a new client (which is discounted 50%, with no upfront payment), I request an up-front payment for each lesson. I am able to invoice lesson-by-lesson, weekly, or monthly, depending on client preference, and I accept payment by either UK bank transfer or PayPal. Please note that there is an additional 5% charge for PayPal payments to cover the platform fees.
If agreed upon, I will set homework to help with a student's learning. This could be a set of example questions I've written or collected myself, a set of problems on Isaac Physics, or a past paper for revision purposes. My purpose is to aid learning, and not to cause undue stress, so if a homework cannot be completed, that is not the end of the world. I simply request that a student tries their best and submits what they can, at least 36 hours in advance of the relevant lesson - this way I have enough time to mark the work and return it, so that any feedback or corrections can be read by the student, and they can decide which parts need to be focused on in the lesson.
Sometimes life happens, plans change, and lessons don’t happen.
If you contact me to cancel or reschedule a lesson before a payment is made, then I can void the invoice and there is no charge to you.
If a lesson is cancelled or rescheduled after a payment is made, then there is a charge based on the proximity of the lesson, and the remaining cost can either be credited to your account (i.e. taken off your next invoice) or refunded (minus transaction fees if payment is conducted via PayPal).
If a student arrives more than 5 minutes late to a lesson, the cost of the lesson will be reduced based on the actual teaching time, such that the period of non-attendance is charged at half of the lesson rate; for example, suppose a student is 10 minutes late for a university admissions lesson. The 50 minutes of teaching is billed at £35, while the 10 minutes of non-attendance is billed at £3.50, for a total cost of £38.50. The remaining lesson cost (in this example £3.50) can either be credited to your account or refunded (minus transaction fees if payment is conducted via PayPal).
If a lesson is forced to end early, or is disrupted by technical issues, then I will either discount 50% of the disrupted time from the cost of the lesson (this amount can either be credited to your account, or refunded minus any transaction fees), or, at my discretion, provide the disrupted time free-of-charge either at the end of the lesson or at a later date.
I reserve the right to not apply this policy (i.e. to not charge at all for last-minute cancellations or non-attendance) if I feel that it is unfair given the circumstances.
This policy exists only to protect myself legally and is required by my insurance. I truly believe in my skills as a tutor (otherwise I would not be a tutor), and in all of my students (otherwise I would not work with them), but, unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong. In the event of such an outcome, I will always work with you to work out what went wrong and what needs to change, but I do not accept any liability for unfavourable outcomes, nor do I guarantee results because, at the end of the day, exams, examiners and admissions are highly unpredictable.