Information About Tutoring from Michael A Smith

I offer each new students an hour long free introductory session to discuss the issues and the possibilities.

A tutor with twenty years of experience and dedication with extensive knowledge of Mathematics and Physics in all the common syllabi.

Coming from industry as a physicist with many years of experience I started teaching in 2001. My key strengths are physics and mathematics with a large knowledge base. I have been a full-time tutor since 2006 with over 12000 hours of in-person tuition so far. This includes seven years of on-line experience amounting to over 2000 hours.

My students are encouraged to work to the best of their abilities, pushing and stretching to get the most from each area of study. Whether aiming for top grades or helping to achieve a pass each student will be helped to gain knowledge and understanding to realise their goal. Revision and examination techniques useful not just for current study and tests, but also for future study will also be covered.

Tuition is available from Key Stage 3, through to I/GCSE and A Level, then to early university (including advanced maths, further maths, STEP, UKAT, etc).

When not tutoring I can be found cycling, walking or training my dogs.

Tutoring Experience:

Private and state school teaching in physics from 2001 to 2006. From 2006 onwards concentrated on physics and mathematics one to one tuition only. GCE, IGCSE and GCSE for both physics and mathematics with an extensive library of texts and past papers for all the popular specifications (AQA, Edexcel and OCR). All further pure mathematics and mechanics units are also covered.

Tutoring Approach:

Student led sessions: towards the end of the current session most of students discuss the areas to cover in the following meeting.
Prep is set and marked: students receive prep relevant to the session and generally returned for marking before the follow-on session.
Text or email support between sessions is available to all students: small issues usually resolved via these methods; more difficult issues resolved in follow on sessions. Where necessary students have webpages used to aid information transfer.
Tutoring is available Monday through to Saturday inclusive (current availability).

Badges

This website achieved a carbon rating of A+

Comments and Feedback

Following are the comments & feedback from previous & current customers. These are copied here verbatim; they are directly cut from the source and pasted here.

-/|\-

Michael is punctual and well organised. The quote from my son who he teaches was "he knows his stuff very well" !

-oOo-

Michael is currently tutoring my daughter for her GCSE exams in Physics and Maths and has been doing so for the last two years. We value Michael hugely, not just for his knowledge and teaching skills but also for the fact that he goes the extra mile and I am sure would never give up on a pupil. We also find Michael flexible and good humoured. He explains everything fully when choices need to be made concerning such things as when to take a particular exam, pro;'s and con's of things, informed detailing of the set-up and what to expect, how to structure answers and he keeps me in the loop adequately. We feel very lucky to have him and my daughter's self-esteem and confidence has increased steadily throughout the time he has taught her.

-oOo-

Very patient and explains clearly how to approach each problem. Has developed a good understanding of our child's needs

-oOo-

Michael worked with my son for over a year mostly on A level physics but also some A level maths. He was incredibly patient and kind and helped get our son to a place where he went into his exams feeling much more confident. I would highly recommend using Michael.

-oOo-

Michael is a fantastic tutor. He has succeeded in reigniting a love of Physics in my daughter, explaining it in such a way that is easy to understand and relateable to the real world.

-oOo-

Michael has tutored my twin daughters throughout this year and has helped them tremendously with their GCSE Exam/Assessments, during the pandemic. He has been a great tutor to both of them, patient, thorough and always well prepped with the maths subjects that they needed to cover. We really appreciate all the help that he has given them and would highly recommend him as a tutor.

-oOo-

MS has been a great success in both re-engaging and encouraging my son's confidence in mathematics. He quickly saw where the weaknesses were, which were addressed and supported with great patience, and carefully developed my son's learning capabilities. Very much appreciated!

-oOo-

Michael has provided excellent tuition and guidance since the very first session. He built up a great rapport with our son and quickly built both his ability and confidence. When lockdown struck he seamlessly moved online and has continued tuition throughout. Starting with GCSE tuition and now onto A Level. Would have no doubts recommending Michael.

-oOo-

Michael has been tutoring my son (aged 14) since January 2020 and has helped him enormously. Since lockdown the lessons have been online and it works really well. He explains it all in such a way that my son clearly understands. Only last week we received a letter from school saying he had had an exceptional start to his Year 10 maths work. He is much more confident about his maths and no longer feels any pressure. Michael always has a positive attitude with him and my son enjoys the lessons very much. I cannot recommend Michael highly enough.

-oOo-

Michael is absolutely brilliant (as mentioned in previous reviews by other people). Michael is the best tutor we have used, his teaching style is of the highest standard. Michael also provides feedback in writing after each lesson and also communicates in between lessons as required. We use Michael for both our children who have made great progress at school after support from Michael.

-oOo-

An excellent, organised, student focused and well structured lesson according to Emily. Precisely what she needs. Thank you

-oOo-

Very promp and helpful repy Thank you so much

-oOo-

Your lessons really helped my daughter gain confidence in the subject and a better understanding of what was required during an exam. She liked the teaching approach of encouraging her to work out the answers for herself and then learn from her errors, also working with Michael helped build confidence in asking questions for clarity.

-oOo-

Michael had a good relationship with my son, who didn't like Maths and didn't think he was good at it. He enjoyed the lessons. Michael was always patient and positive and gave him the confidence to believe he could do it, and coached him to a really good GCSE result. I would recommend.

-oOo-

Michael is friendly,experienced and efficiently!

-oOo-

Sam seems more than happy and I'm over the moon with the help you have given him. He gets much less frustrated with his work and his confidence has definitely grown. A big thankyou.

-oOo-

Your lessons really helped my son gain confidence in the subject when he was struggling and prepared my son well to go on to study Physics at University.

-oOo-

Worth every penny. Both my girls are consistently achieving top marks in their class exams and have a thorough understanding of Physics thanks to you. More importantly you have made them love the subject and that is truly priceless.

-oOo-

Very professional and experienced tutor. Looking forward to working with Michael

-oOo-

Very impressive indeed. My son progressed from a 'U' at Maths AS level in January to a 'C' in May. He also learnt clearer revision techniques from Michael which helped considerably with other subjects. Great job.

-oOo-

It is early days, but my son's understanding of maths has improved since he started working with Michael and he enjoys the time they spend working together. I would definitely recommend Michael to future tutees.

-oOo-

We would recommend Michael. He was very professional and flexible with his teaching.

-oOo-

Michael was an excellent tutor. He helped my daughter understand the problems she was having with AS physics in a very professional way. He was prompt, reliable and very flexible and I would not hesitate to recommend him as a physics tutor.

-oOo-

Thank you Michael for helping Sam with your excellent teaching. He found you very thorough, methodical and engaging from the outset and altogether enjoyed your style. You certainly helped him. Should there be opportunity, I will recommend you very highly as a tutor.

-oOo-

Karyma's first session with you has been excellent. She said that you explained things in a way that was easy for her to understand. She is very comfortable with you and likes you. You have also been very helpful with me helping me to understand what needs to be done for Karyma to accomplish her goals. I look forward to seeing Karyma's marks improve!

-oOo-

Mike, thanks so much for your teaching support. We've really appreciated your thorough knowledge, systemic approach, and email support. It's been invaluable. Sarah

-\|/-

The above comments have been taken verbatim from my feedback page at the First Tutors website (unfortunately now defunct). They have been edited to remove any full names, but otherwise are as the author wrote.