Mathematics and sciences
Pure, Mechanics, Probability and Statistics taught as separate components. Sciences taught with the practical paper in view from the start rather than bolted on in the final term.
Cambridge Assessment · Years 12 and 13
AS and A Level, taught by people who have marked the paper
A Level is where the gap between knowing the content and answering the question opens widest. Our tutors close it by teaching from mark schemes and examiner reports rather than from textbooks alone.
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9709 to 9990Syllabus range
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Years 12 and 13AS and full A Level
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Every six weeksWritten progress report
Why A Level breaks good students
Content is no longer the hard part
Students arriving from a strong IGCSE cohort are frequently blindsided by A Level, and the reason is rarely difficulty of content. It is that the questions stop telling you which piece of knowledge to use, and a student who has only ever been asked direct questions has no practised method for deciding.
One-to-one teaching is unusually well suited to this, because deciding is a thing you have to watch somebody do. Our tutors talk through their own reasoning on an unseen question, then hand the pen over and make the student narrate theirs, which is uncomfortable for a fortnight and transformative after that.
- Unseen question practice from the first week, not saved for the final term
- Full-length essays and long-answer questions marked against the published grid
- Examiner report reading as part of the lesson, so students see what a cohort got wrong
- University and UCAS context where it helps, including predicted grade conversations
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Examiner marked
Unseen practice
Six-week reports
Course at a glance
The practical shape of an AS or A Level course with us.
BoardCambridge International, with Edexcel IAL on request
Year groupsYears 12 and 13, ages 16 to 18
StructureAS in year one, A2 in year two, or a linear two-year run
Exam seriesMay/June and October/November
GradingA* to E at A Level, a to e at AS
Session length55 minutes standard, 85 minutes common for maths and sciences
Marked workOne full-length question or essay marked each week
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Reason out loud
Mark scheme literacy
Timed essays
Professional expert tutoring
AS and A Level subjects
Mathematics is taught by component, so a student who needs Mechanics but not Statistics is not billed for both.
Humanities and social sciences
Essay subjects where structure decides the band. Tutors mark to the grid, mark harshly, and show the student which sentence moved the answer up a level.
Business, economics and English
Data response, case study and commentary work, drilled until evaluation stops being a paragraph tacked on at the end and starts running through the answer.
Edexcel International A Level unit codes, including WMA11 for Pure Mathematics 1, are covered by the same tutors. Ask for the Edexcel route when you enquire.
How a course actually runs
How an A Level course is built
Two years is long enough to drift. The structure exists to stop that.
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Diagnostic and target setting
A recent full question, marked live, plus a conversation about the grade the student actually needs for their offers. Those two things together set the plan, and the second one is often the more useful.
02
Component-by-component mapping
The syllabus is broken into components and topics on a shared sheet. Each gets a confidence rating from the student and a separate one from the tutor, and where those two disagree is where we start.
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Teach, then hand over the pen
The tutor demonstrates reasoning on an unseen question, then requires the student to narrate their own. This is the core of the method and it is the part students resist for the first fortnight.
04
Weekly marked work
One full-length response a week, marked to the grid with band boundaries quoted. The student receives the annotated script and a one-sentence instruction for the next attempt.
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Mock series and the run-in
Two full mock papers under exam conditions, timed and marked cold. The run-in then targets only the question types where marks were lost, ignoring everything already secure.
Predicted grades are a conversation, not a verdict
If a student is short of the grade an offer requires, the tutor will say what would need to change and how much time it would take, in writing, rather than nodding along.
Where marks are won and lost
Where A Level marks actually go
Compiled from examiner reports and from the scripts our tutors mark each week.
| Subject | Components | What we drill | The usual grade leak |
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| Mathematics 9709 | Pure 1 and 3, Mechanics, Probability and Statistics | Question triage, exact form, and full method under time pressure | A correct answer with no visible method, which scores a fraction of the marks |
| Physics 9702 | Theory papers plus the practical components | Uncertainty treatment, graph gradients with units, and definition precision | Definitions written from memory that are almost, but not quite, the required wording |
| Chemistry 9701 | Structured, multiple choice, and practical | Mechanism arrows, equilibrium reasoning, and multi-step calculation layout | Skipping the intermediate step the mark scheme awards a mark for |
| Economics 9708 | Data response and essay | Diagram accuracy, chains of reasoning, and evaluation that weighs rather than lists | Textbook-correct essays with no judgement, which cap out below the top band |
| Psychology 9990 | Research methods and applied papers | Study detail recall, methodological critique, and applying studies to novel scenarios | Describing a study at length when the question asked what it implies |
Scheduling and fees
Booking AS or A Level sessions
Longer sessions are common at this level, and we will tell you when a double is genuinely worth the cost.
Free trial
Thirty minutes with the tutor you would actually be assigned. They set a short diagnostic task, mark it live, and tell you where the gaps are. No card details.
Weekly slot
One fixed 55 minute session a week, billed monthly in advance. Your tutor and your time do not move unless you move them.
Exam sprint
A block of eight sessions in the six weeks before the series, built around past papers and examiner reports rather than new content.
Single component
Just Mechanics, or just Paper 4. Some students need one component repaired and nothing else, and we will not bundle the rest in to inflate an invoice.
Rescheduling is free with 12 hours notice. Inside 12 hours the session counts as taught, which is the only way a tutor can hold a fixed slot for you and still plan a week around it.
Questions parents ask first
AS and A Level, answered plainly
Can you teach Edexcel International A Level as well as Cambridge?
Yes. The same tutors cover both routes and will work from the correct specification and unit codes for your entry. Say which board you are entered for when you enquire, because the papers differ more than the syllabus content suggests.
My child is retaking one unit. Is that worth a course?
Frequently it is worth six to eight sessions rather than a full course, and that is what we will recommend if that is what the diagnostic shows. Retakes usually fail for the same reason twice unless somebody identifies the reason.
Do you help with university applications?
We are tutors rather than admissions consultants, so we help where it touches teaching: predicted grade realism, subject choice, and the content knowledge behind an admissions test. For personal statements and applications we will point you elsewhere.
How do you handle the practical endorsement or practical papers?
Practical papers are taught as written skills, which is what they are. Planning, uncertainty, error analysis and evaluation are all examinable on paper, and they are the parts most students never rehearse.
What if we start in the middle of Year 13?
Then the course is triage. The tutor identifies the three or four highest-value repairs available in the time left and works only on those. It is not the course we would design from scratch, but it is honest about the calendar.
More answers sit on the full FAQ page.
AS and A Level admissions open
Book an A Level trial with a subject specialist
Tell us the syllabus code, the components you need and the grade the offer requires. We will match a tutor and set a diagnostic question before the first paid session.
Contact us