Ben - Maths tutor - London

One of our best tutors. Quality profile, experience in their field, verified qualifications and a great response time. Ben will be happy to arrange your first Maths lesson.

Ben

One of our best tutors. Quality profile, experience in their field, verified qualifications and a great response time. Ben will be happy to arrange your first Maths lesson.

  • Hourly rate £195
  • Response Time 2h
  • Number of students 45
Ben - Maths tutor - London
  • 5 (19 reviews)

£195/hr

Contact
  • Maths
  • Statistics
  • Further Maths
  • Sixth Term Examination Paper
  • MAT

Westminster School Maths Teacher and Oxford Maths Graduate. Oxbridge preparation and mock interviews, STEP, MAT, A level and GCSE Maths and Further Maths, 11+/13+/16+ Maths.

Lesson location

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One of our best tutors. Quality profile, experience in their field, verified qualifications and a great response time. Ben will be happy to arrange your first Maths lesson.

About Ben

I am a highly experienced teacher of Mathematics, Statistics and Mechanics, with nine years at Westminster School, during which time I taught some of the most able maths students in the country. I read Mathematics at Hertford College, Oxford, graduating with First Class honours (MMath, 2005).

I now run my own independent maths education consultancy. I offer bespoke maths tuition at all levels, including A Level Maths and Further Maths. I specialise in preparing students for Oxford and Cambridge maths applications and interviews, as well as school maths admission tests and scholarship exams to leading UK Independent Schools. I have prepared numerous students for successful applications to the country’s top academic schools and universities. I also work as a question writer for a leading UK admissions assessment provider, writing mathematics questions to be used in university and school admissions tests in the UK and overseas.

My approach to teaching is centred on ensuring that students have a really deep understanding of the fundamental ideas behind the maths that they are studying, so that they are prepared to be able to answer the most challenging questions, not just mechanically apply methods.

My teaching experience:

I have more than a decade of maths teaching experience in leading independent schools, including nine years at Westminster School. I have over 2000 hours of one-to-one tutoring experience. My students have obtained places at some of the top universities in the world, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UCL, and Imperial College, London. In 2018 every student in my A level Further Maths set at Westminster obtained an offer from either Oxford or Cambridge in Mathematics or a related subject.

Pupils I have recently tutored have been successful in obtaining places and/or scholarships at 11+,13+ and 16+ at schools including Westminster (including Queen’s Scholarship), St Paul’s, Eton, Harrow, Winchester, St Paul’s Girls, City of London, Hampton, and Merchant Taylor’s.

Services I offer:

I am comfortable teaching maths at all levels, but I particularly specialise in preparing students for

A Level Maths and Further Maths

Oxbridge applications and interviews (including STEP, MAT, TMUA, CTMUA, PAT, SAT)

Entrance and scholarship examinations for leading UK independent schools (11+, 12+, 13+, 16+)

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

University :
- University of Oxford - Mathematics (MMath) [First Class]

School :
William Ellis School
A Levels
- Maths [A]
- Further Maths [A]
- Chemistry [A]
- Physics [A]

Prizes and Scholarships :
Hertford College Oxford - Scholarships 2002, 2003, 2004. Book prize 2005, awarded for achieving First Class in every year of the course.

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About the lesson

  • Secondary
  • GCSE
  • AS Level
  • +2
  • levels :

    Secondary

    GCSE

    AS Level

    A Level

    Adult

  • English

All languages in which the lesson is available :

English

My lessons are highly bespoke and flexible. We can work on any mathematics topic the student needs help with; I don’t need to be told the topic in advance, since I have taught hundreds of students and have multiple approaches to each topic ready to deploy.

In a typical lesson, a student might ask to work on a particular topic or topics they are having difficulty with. We will generally work through some questions to identify what they already understand, and what they don’t understand, and then I will find a way to help them to understand it. We’ll then work through more and more challenging questions together to ensure they have developed a deep understanding of the topic. I have a wealth of resources available, and can provide questions to work through after the lesson if required.

In a different lesson, a student might have some questions or a past paper they have tried in advance of the lesson. We will work through the questions they have had difficulty with, and I will identify the key ideas that they need to understand to be able to successfully answer such questions. Crucially, we will then look at other questions using similar ideas, to ensure that they are able to deploy the new ideas in an unfamiliar context.

I believe in teaching maths for understanding, not as a set of strange rules to be learned. I ensure that my students really understand the key ideas behind the maths that they’re studying, and I know how to ask the right questions to deepen that understanding. I prepare them to be able to answer really challenging questions, not just regurgitate meaningless methods. This approach makes maths more interesting, and ultimately leads to much better results.

Lesson format:

I specialise in online tuition. I use a video call together with an online whiteboard, which both the student and I are able to write on, so lessons are fully interactive. This means that I can teach students wherever they are; all that is needed is a computer with an internet connection. Online tuition allows me to be very flexible in terms of the length and timing of sessions, and parents don’t need to plan holidays and weekends away around tuition; lessons can take place anywhere you can connect to the internet. The whiteboard can be accessed at any time, so the student can look back at the material whenever they want. On request, I am happy to record lessons for students to review at a later date.

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Rates

Hourly rate

  • £195

Pack prices

  • 5h: £975
  • 10h: £1,950

online

  • £195/h

Find out more about Ben

Find out more about Ben

  • When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

    Maths has been my specialism for my entire adult life. I knew at the age of 16 that I wanted to do maths at university, and I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to study the subject at a very high level at Oxford University.

    Although it took me a few years after finishing university to decide to become a teacher, looking back it was the obvious thing for me. It's a career that allows me to combine my love of maths with my enjoyment of explaining things to others. Tutoring was a natural progression from this - I really enjoy working with individual students and finding ways to help them understand difficult concepts in more individualised way than is possible in a classroom setting.
  • Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

    I think maths is an incredibly interesting subject. I'm happy to work on any part of the subject with students, and I'd like to think I can make any part of the subject interesting. I particularly enjoy making links between different topic areas, thinking of new ways to explain complicated ideas, and introducing concepts which are a little beyond the usual school syllabus, such as problems to do with infinite sets, which are really fun.
  • Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

    I was very fortunate to start my teaching career in a fantastic maths department at Westminster School. Over the nine years I spent there, I had the opportunity to learn from some amazing teachers, who showed me how to teach the subject in an inspiring way, so I had a number of great role models there. If you needed ideas as to how to teach a topic, there were always several people willing to give up their time to help - it was a brilliant place to develop as a teacher.
  • What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

    This could potentially be a very long list, so I'll pick three qualities that I think are important:

    The ability to explain things clearly and in lots of different ways - an approach that makes sense for one student might not work well at all for another. As a teacher, it's really important to be flexible, and able to think on your feet.

    Thorough subject knowledge - my students know that they can ask me about any topic in school maths, and I'll be able to help them with it.

    Classroom teaching experience - I'm sure there are some excellent tutors out there who haven't been classroom tutors, but I think classroom experience just gives you a much broader understanding of school-level maths, and the potential difficulties and confusions different students can have with it.
  • Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

    At university, I remember looking forward to a lecture series given by a Fields Medallist (the maths equivalent of the Nobel Prize). The lectures were very interesting, but incredibly hard to follow because the lecturer pitched them at such a high level that hardly anyone in the audience (of undergraduate mathematicians) could follow. To me, it really demonstrated how important it is as a teacher to make sure that you are pitching your material at the right level for your audience. This is why great mathematicians do not automatically make great maths teachers - of course, being a strong mathematician helps, but you also need to be a great teacher, and to have the ability to see how other people can find things confusing, even if you don't find them confusing yourself.
  • What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

    My final exams at Oxford were certainly a challenge! At university, there were 8 questions to be answered in 3 hours, and you were doing really well to answer 3 or 4 questions in that time. It's a really different mentality to A-level exams where you go in expecting to be able to answer every question. Having the right mental approach to exams is really important, and I always make sure to discuss the mental/psychological side of things with my students in the run-up to exams. Teaching isn't just about making sure students can do the maths, they also need to be able to cope with the pressure of performing in an exam.
  • Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

    I am passionate about maths being taught well! Taught properly, maths is a really interesting subject. Taught badly, it is a boring set of meaningless rules to be learned. I always try to teach in a way that ensures my students really understand the ideas behind what they are doing, so that they aren't just learning processes.
  • What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P)?

    I think my biggest strength as a teacher is my ability to explain ideas clearly. I've been told by a client that they're sure I could explain anything to anyone. I passionately believe that students will get better results, and more enjoyment, if they really understand the key ideas behind what they're studying, as opposed to just learning a process. A clear explanation is absolutely vital, and the explanation that works can be different for every student. I love the "lightbulb moment" when an idea suddenly starts to make sense in the student's mind.
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