Typically an A level course at school or college involves 360 hours of teaching over 2 years (see: AQA teaching guide). Sadly, it is unrealistic to condense the full 2 years of teaching into a short revision course experience. Even if you could cover the material ten times quicker there are literally not enough hours in the day. In addition to it being impossible it would also go against the idea of providing relevant learning experiences. Our courses are here to do just that, to focus on those specific topics that students need support with, and there would be little benefit to covering topics with which they are completely comfortable.
Here at OXSS, we work strictly to the syllabus, covering whatever the students wish to tackle, the material that is relevant to them. There is, of course, the caveat that the tutors will be aware of set topics that they know from experience can be challenging. These may generally be checked as the lessons progress.
For A level we offer courses that focus on specific papers. For example, we may have a course running for A level Chemistry, exam board: OCR A, paper 2. This particular paper accounts for 37% of the marks for that A level. So that teaching block is intended to cover just over a third of the syllabus.
For GCSE we offer courses that focus on the specific subject. The approximate number of teaching hours for a GCSE or IGCSE is an estimated 120 hours.
For IB higher level is 240 hours of teaching and for standard level 150 hours.
Not all tutors will do all things in exactly the same way, but the underlying ethos is to establish which areas the student(s) wishes to cover then do that. A list of priority topics and areas will be established at the start of the first session, to guide the duration of the course. With the timetables offering a tutorial, followed by independent exam practice session, the process is very much of continual learning throughout the day or course. If a student is unsure of set topics, then the process of completing exam papers and questions naturally uncovers areas for improvement and better understanding.
We suggest that our tutors try, as far as possible, to run a democracy. This is best explained via an example.
Here is how I used to tackle GCSE Physics groups. I would write of list of 8-12 topics on the board and essentially get students to “vote” for which topics they wish to cover. I would then ask if there was anything else, add that to this list, then add that and collate votes for the addition(s). I would then start with the topic with the highest number of votes, unless there’s a topic which needs to come first.
Furthermore I would have a list of things that I think students often are convinced that they do understand but in reality, they don’t. These I would add in, often via a question to the group, as appropriate.
The key point is that we are focused on problem areas for that particular group of students.
Also, remember that the class sizes are small. The maximum number of students timetabled per class is 6, though the average generally lower than this. We also offer the option for guaranteed one-to-one tuition on our Half Term Courses and Year-Round Online Subject Tuition offering. It’s not always needed though – the small group offering is small, it provides a friendly learning environment where students feel at ease to ask questions and get the help they need. Our students are experienced in managing the needs of the group.
Operating a student-led tutorial is more straightforward for one-to-one tuition. Here it is essentially a dialogue between the tutor and student. As with groups the tutors will have certain problematical key topics in mind.
As an example it maybe that a student just doesn’t “get” Shakespeare in which case a very broad brush approach is needed; at the other end of the spectrum it maybe the nuances of the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is a source of confusion.
Whatever the case the tutor will always be “checking-in” with the student to see what they want to do.
If Shakespeare is on your challenging list we have an excellent blog on Learning to Love Shakespeare.
A Summer Course giving students an introduction to their forthcoming A levels (i.e. intro to the first year) is radically different to a single day course in May a handful of days before their final A level exam.
An introduction to A Level Summer Course, as an example, is intended to inspire a student, build confidence and ensure that all the GCSE knowledge is in place, introducing new ideas and concepts. It is also intended to remind the students what it is like to study after the post-GCSE/summer holiday hiatus. The introduction to courses are not too obsessively focused on the syllabus – the exams are roughly 2 years away and motivating and inspiring is more important than the fine print of the syllabus. Students are less likely to come to a Summer Course armed with a list of topics they must cover, though they are of course welcome to identify any they wish to review.
Conversely the Easter Course or May BH Weekend Course for students a few weeks away from their exams are obsessively focused on the syllabus and will be honed in on the details of mark schemes and examiners reports. Here the objective is to maximise the student’s potential in their forthcoming exams. For revision course very close to the exams we are unashamedly obsessed with exact syllabus content and exam performance, to push students to achieve the best marks.
For certain subjects we ask for information prior to the course. For History and English Literature, as an example, knowing which texts and periods is absolutely key.
We are specific – asking for quite detailed information already on application and timetabling students to quite specific classes (with small class sizes). As a result the class joined should already be specific to a degree – e.g. A Level Chemistry, Paper 2 (and only those topics contained within it). The student may identify topics of focus and apply for Paper 1 or Paper 2 accordingly – already narrowing down the scope.
We ask all students to write their own list, just prior to arrival. This prepares them for what ahead, arms them with detail to discuss with the tutor at the very start of the session, and ensures that the topics included are relevant to them (not the person that completed their application months or weeks prior).