Service Guide

Primer:

I have been in the private tuition business since 2003. My service is personalised to suit the needs of the individual student and the nature of the coursework. I offer both one to one sessions as well group lessons (capped at 3 students). My experience as a private tutor is built around facilitating students with undertaking an accelerated learning program that seeks to familiarise them with the curriculum in advance and place them ahead of their cohort. In addition to VCE, my students include those who study the International Baccalaureate programme as well as those undertaking foundation studies as an alternative pathway into university.


Principle:

Learning is an organic and dynamic process. In my experience as a private tutor, I have guided and nurtured my students towards developing their own unique style of analytical thinking and comprehension. My approach involves teaching specific short cuts and techniques which enable students to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of their ability to apply critical and independent thinking. My methods stand out in that they seek to build on the student's aptitude with respect to problem solving as opposed to mechanical rote learning. A fundamental focus towards building a solid set of core competencies provide students with the confidence they need to excel and achieve their aspirations.


Methodology:

The inaugural session is usually a 60 to 120 minute session that is designed to assess the student's legacy skills and abilities. This entails an in-depth evaluation of the student's knowledge base, comprehension and lateral thinking capabilities through a set of problem solving tasks. Follow-up sessions are structured around school-based assessments with an overall emphasis on exam revision. I use assessment guidelines that operate in concordance with study design prescriptions to help meeting learning objectives. At the conclusion of each lesson, students are assigned question sets to reinforce learned concepts and applied problem solving skills. Tuition occurs around an accelerated timetable which fast-tracks the syllabus outlined under VCAA subject guides. Strictly speaking, an entire unit can be covered within 4-5 weeks, the purpose of which is to leave ample time and opportunity for practice exams.


Marking:

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) publishes a study guide for every subject within its administrative jurisdiction. These documents are available for download from its website. The study guide is a contract between VCAA, educators, parents and students that outlines, among other things, the assessable items in the unit and the marking scheme used to grade the coursework. I use this document extensively with students and part of my job is to make the language within the study guide accessible to parents and students. For educators and students alike, an intimate understanding of the study guide is a prerequisite for achieving a 40+ study score.


Credentials and Qualifications:

VCE ENTER Score: 99.50 (2002)
UMAT: 98th Percentile (2002)
BCom/BIS (Actuarial) - University of Melbourne (2007)
Master of Finance - University of Melbourne (2010)
BSc (Physics, App. Math) / BEng (Elec) - Monash (2015)
M.Eng (Elec) - Monash (2016)
CFA (III)


Experience:

13 Years as a VCE tutor
9 Years as an IB tutor
Tutor (GSBE) at Melbourne University (2007-2012)
Tutor & Demonstrator at Monash University (2012-2016)