A Specialist Maths Tutor based in Lilliput, Poole: Dr Duncan James.

You are welcome to contact me about tutoring:
by freephone on 0800 0807 087;
by phone on 01202 808 604;
by mobile phone on 077 5757 4942 or;
by email via duncan@poolemathstutor.co.uk.

Things I am happy to tutor:-

You are welcome to contact me directly for more information. My specialist subjects is Maths... I am able to coach a student up to A* at A-level for this. Note, I can also give help for science subjects (including Physics up to A-Level).

Maths: 11 plus and Common Entrance Exams
Maths: Foundation GCSE
Maths: Higher GCSE
Maths: AS-Level
Maths: A-Level

Booking options:-

I can split a session between two students if you wish... I charge an extra £5 to cover the additional preparation time. Note, these prices do not include travel costs... I am based in Lilliput, Poole and if I can get to you within about 15 minutes I will not charge travel. To be fair to everyone I will charge if the travel is more than this and note that if it is during rush-hour then I will have to reflect fairly the actual time it takes. (Note, any regular bookings listed below do not attract an additional travel cost as it is already factored into the price.)

Price per hour: £35 (Plus £30 for every additional hour, pro-rata.)
Extra benefits for regular students: Phone/email/Skype support outside tutorial time (fair-usage conditions apply), free session-overruns when my diary allows and no cancellation fees if you have to cancel a session (as long as this does not happen too often). (Also, I will work my diary around your booking to reduce the travel charge... at the time of writing none of my regular students have an additional travel fee charged.)
Extended Session: £40 for 75 minutes. (Special session length for regular students.)
A regular weekly half-hour session for younger students: £20 for 30 minutes. (Special session length for regular students. This is designed for KS1-KS3 students who need some help to keep-up with class or slowly build their basic skills in preparation for future years. Learning is different when you are younger and I have found that the 30 minute sessions are often more appropriate. Please ignore the availability below and just call if this interests you.)

Current regular tutorial vacancies in Lilliput/Canford Cliffs/Parkstone:-

Weekly, fortnightly and monthly bookings are available. If you are from other areas you are still welcome to contact me. I can often fit another location into my diary by putting it at the start or end of a particular day. One-offs or a short series of tutorials are often possible on other times/days.

Wednesdays 16.30-17.45 available fortnightly (£40 for 75 minutes)
Wednesdays 18.00-19.15 available weekly (£40 for 75 minutes)
Saturdays 12.30-13.45 available weekly from 3rd March 2012 onwards (£40 for 75 minutes)
Saturdays 16.30-17.45 available weekly (£40 for 75 minutes)
April-June 2012 vacancies for exam preparation... contact me to reserve a place
Academic Year 2012-13 vacancies for regular tutoring... contact me to reserve a place

Current regular tutorial vacancies in Wimborne/Colehill:-

April-June 2012 vacancies for exam preparation... contact me to reserve a place
Academic Year 2012-13 vacancies for regular tutoring... contact me to reserve a place

Maths and Science are special subjects:

Research has shown that these are subjects where tutoring can have a measureable impact on exam performance (ref: research at the Institute of Education). I agree with this and believe that my tutoring approach makes optimal use of the 75 minute sessions. Normally I start with a "warm-up" drilling basic skills through repetition (focussing on the student's weaknesses) using exercises specially written for the session. These warm-ups can last the whole lesson initially as we focus on basic skills for initial exam-performance gains. Note, this is one of the reasons my tutoring is such good value: I write all of these warmups so that they are tuned to exactly the level of the student. Personalised questions means that confidence and skills grow faster: good confidence and basic skills means that the student can then start working through longer questions...

These longer questions are either chosen by the student (which helps to make them feel empowered) or I choose for them if I feel something is particularly important. I do not (generally) act as "expert" during these sessions...

...instead I share good exam technique and skills and we work as a team. This means they are learning that improved Maths performance is a learnable skill and not something magic: very important. Generally, if they can do something I'll either say "great, lets skip this and move onto the next thing" or "that's good, let's find some ways to do that quicker to buy us more time in the exam"...

If they can't do it I will try and prompt them to the correct answer by asking questions such as: "Can you read the question out loud to me?"; "Did you remember our plan to summarise the question before trying to answer?" or; "What is this question about?" (followed by) "So, what do you know about triangles that might help?"...

I am continually trying to teach them to help themselves... and I praise good technique much more than getting the correct answer. After 2 or 3 months I find their confidence grows and by then I've had time to really develop their weaker skills. In general, exam improvements will have already been achieved... at which point I will start pushing them into using more advanced skills, significantly beyond anything they will have done before. This is where the really big gains can start to kick in...

If a student has (say) at least a year doing a lesson most weeks it is possible to have a really big impact on their performance. The only rider to this is that if the student has other issues impacting their performance (such as going out too much or too little sleep) this will always hold them back. Simply encouraging them to get adequate sleep and balance work and play better is equally important to getting good tutoring in this case.

Exam Preparation:

It is obviously possible to gain some benefit from emergency lessons close to exam time. I would use my judgement to find the best way to help the student in circumstances like these. I generally do two things:- 1. Work on their exam technique so that they are making maximum use of their existing skills and; 2. Pick on a few "easy hits" where I can see they are missing out on marks and where they can be gained fairly easily. Remember this is not as good as tutoring over a period of (say) a year or at least 4 or 5 months. A key difference is that if (for example) they are weak at fractions I may never even mention it to them... simply ignoring it in the knowledge that fixing it would be too difficult in the time available... mentioning it would simply lower their confidence... instead I would target easier gains elsewhere.

About me: I have experience of learning, researching, teaching and marking exam papers in Maths and Science. Twelve years ago I completed my PhD in Applied Physics. Before that I gained awards for Maths throughout my studies including getting the Maths Cup at a large secondary school... I often got 100% in Maths tests/exams and now share the secrets of my success with my students. I enjoy working as a full-time Maths Tutor and have a track-record of supporting local students through their studies. I can accept payments by credit/debit card, Paypal, cheque or cash. I don't have a flash website because I prefer to chat to you over the phone or via email to tell you how I can help your specific circumstances. Every student is unique... my approach to helping them achieve performance-gains will always be unique.