FAQ

My coaching focuses on two key aims - building CONFIDENCE and achieving RESULTS. I have found that these two things usually go hand-in-hand, and I have a proven track record of delivering success in both these areas.

My approach is to keep the coaching as informal and relaxed as possible, providing a friendly and encouraging environment which allows people to thrive. I teach people how to take their time and not panic when faced with challenging maths situations, and how to solve problems in a simple step-by-step manner. This increases the individual’s confidence, and allows us to work together towards their specific maths goals.

I believe in beginning from an individual’s strengths and building up from there. I have seen many times how pupils, teachers and tutors waste time, knock confidence and cause more confusion and distress by focusing on people’s main weaknesses first, often struggling to make progress, expecting someone who already has low confidence in their maths ability to suddenly understand the part of the course that they find most difficult. I find my more positive approach of starting from a person’s strengths, and gradually building up from those, to be a much more successful strategy.

I also offer free on-going support between coaching sessions. I don’t let people abuse this by expecting me to do their maths homework for them (!), but I try to be available to be contacted throughout the week to help with any general queries or issues that my clients may have with their maths, away from our usual coaching sessions.

Lots of people come to me for coaching in the hope that they can perhaps boost their maths results by 5-10% or improve their grade by one level in the time between prelim and exam. They are then amazed when their grade jumps by much more than that, and they achieve results that they didn’t even think were possible for them! I don’t really believe in ability or lack of ability when it comes to maths. I believe that with enough practice and the right guidance anyone can improve their confidence, and subsequently achieve the results that they are looking for, and often much more.

I don’t usually set any written homework, certainly not pages and pages of repetitive sums or anything like that! I am very confident that we can achieve what we need to during the coaching sessions. I also wouldn’t want anyone to feel nervous about attending coaching because they haven’t found time to do their homework. Secondary School pupils, in particular, seem to have a huge workload already, and I don’t like to add to that.

The only homework I might set would be something more memory-based. For example, I may ask someone to go away and memorise a particular formula or method that we have used in that week’s coaching session or something which will prove useful for an upcoming test or exam.

I hold a Basic Disclosure Certificate from Disclosure Scotland which can be viewed on request. Also, all of my coaching takes place either in a public venue or a venue of your choice, and I never directly contact anybody aged 15 or under, unless given permission to do so by their parent or guardian.

I coach a huge range of ages, from Primary School children all the way up to adults, and every age in between as well!

The levels of maths which I most commonly coach are Scottish National 5 and Higher. I also coach all other levels of maths in Scotland, including Primary School, Secondary School up to National 4, Advanced Higher and University.

As well as this, I can coach the equivalent maths levels in the English, Northern Irish and Welsh curriculums and am happy to coach equivalent maths levels of any other country’s curriculum, if you get in touch and guide me in the direction of the relevant information and textbooks!

Absolutely - lots of the people whom I help with their maths are not even studying maths as a main subject. Many other school, college and university courses and careers contain some maths elements or maths modules. These include things like sciences, computing, finance, health and social care, construction and skilled trades to name but a few.

As well as this, many job applications nowadays contain some sort of numerical testing, often requiring people to answer a series of maths questions accurately within a strict time limit. This can appear quite daunting, particularly for people who stopped studying maths many years ago. I coach a lot of people who are aiming to gain confidence in answering these maths questions for job applications quickly whilst under pressure.

In addition, I coach adults who would like to improve their general maths skills, perhaps so they can help their children or grandchildren with homework, or just to challenge themselves. Finally, I am happy to help people with any kind of maths query, problem or puzzle they may have, either at work or at home. Even if it’s just a time-consuming set of sums you don’t want to tackle yourself, please get in touch and I will be happy to help!

My Maths Coaching is usually limited to anywhere within the city of Edinburgh, but I will travel further for an hourly rate which fairly reflects travelling time and costs.

Although I would strongly recommend my coaching in person as the best option, I appreciate that this isn’t always possible, especially for people who live some distance from Edinburgh. In this case, there are many other ways in which I can offer coaching. I often do coaching through video calling, and I am always open to suggestions for other methods of contact that you would like to use for your coaching.

I very much prefer if the coaching takes place in a public venue in the centre of Edinburgh, as this cuts down my travelling time and allows me to coach more people each day. I do have a special offer for a good discount on your hourly rate, if you agree to coaching taking place in a central venue. However, if this is not a suitable option for you, then coaching can take place in your home or a venue which is local to you.

On the one hand, it is never too late to start receiving coaching towards a particular maths exam. I believe you can learn a lot in a month, a week, or even a day, especially with the right coaching, so never assume that you have left it too late!

On the other hand, however, the earlier you start receiving coaching before an exam, the better. I would recommend that we start working together months or even years before an exam – maybe starting with something like one session per fortnight and building up gradually – as the more time we spend working together, the better prepared you will feel, and the more chance of success you will have.

I try to be as flexible as possible and provide people with coaching at a time in the week which works well for them. Obviously most of my coaching is done in the evenings and at weekends, to fit around the school day, but I also coach through the day as well, if that is more convenient for you.

I usually recommend 1 hour per session for primary school pupils and 1½ hours per session for secondary school age and above, building up to 2½ hours per session in the weeks leading up to an exam. Most maths exams and past papers are 2½ hours in length – calculator and non-calculator papers combined – so my coaching sessions can provide really useful practice in staying focused on maths for that length of time.

The Maths Coaching which I offer includes a number of great features, many of which you won’t find with other Maths Tutors:

1.) My coaching is specifically intended to build CONFIDENCE and achieve RESULTS. I don’t believe in the vague aim of improving people’s maths skills. I believe in a much more focused approach, where we work together to achieve the client’s particular maths goal. I have a proven track record of delivering this with many satisfied clients.

2.) I really enjoy the challenge of improving people’s maths results and I am as determined as the clients themselves to reach the goals for which they are aiming. Every year I help people turn low prelim marks and prelim failures into really good exam passes and Grade A exam results.

3.) My coaching sessions are as friendly and relaxed as possible, which allows clients to thrive. I prefer to describe what I do as ‘coaching’ as people often find words like ‘tutoring’ or ‘teaching’ scary, and may have negative preconceptions about these words. I offer a very encouraging and rewarding environment. I like to create the mentality that this is a real team effort, where we are working together to achieve a particular result, and that I am here to help guide people towards their goal.

4.) My coaching methods are completely flexible and change from client to client, depending on what approach works best for that individual. Even if two clients are working towards sitting the same exam on the same date, my sessions with each client would be totally different, as my coaching approach is tailored uniquely for each person.

5.) I offer free on-going support outside of the actual coaching sessions. My coaching doesn’t stop when we walk away from our weekly coaching session. We are a team working together towards a goal, and I am available to be contacted throughout the week, to help with any maths queries which may arise, which need resolved before our next session together.

6.) I offer tailored coaching packages, each with different hourly rates. This allows us to agree on a very individualised coaching package, which best suits your requirements, and also gives you several different options to help make your hourly rate as low as possible.

7.) I am constantly developing and adapting the coaching which I offer, in order to continue to offer the best possible service to my clients. Although my coaching is very successful in terms of helping people to achieve results, I am always looking for any small improvements that can be made and ways that I can expand, in order to help as many people as possible. I am currently working on providing video tips and tutorials for some of the most common levels of maths which I coach, as well as developing the coaching service that I offer to people who don’t live in Edinburgh, and can’t attend coaching in person.

Maths (along with English) is one of the two subjects which pupils often have to study without much choice in the matter. It is also one of the two subjects in which most employers and further education courses will require applicants to have passed an exam. This means that, unlike most other subjects, many people studying maths don’t particularly enjoy the subject or aren’t confident that they can pass an exam in the subject.

If you count how many hours per week pupils are taught maths in school, and then count how many pupils are in each maths class, it usually only works out at a maximum of 10-15 minutes per week of individual teacher time and attention for each pupil in maths. Obviously, in many cases that just isn’t enough. Maths Coaching provides much more time to focus on the specific requirements of each individual – it really is as simple as that!

I give my all to help every single one of my clients achieve their own individual maths goals and I love the challenge of doing so. My Result-Based Bonus Payment offer provides you with extra reassurance that I am as committed to achieving your goals as you are.

You pay a reduced hourly rate for your coaching sessions, and then, when you have achieved your maths goal (often related to passing an exam or achieving a particular grade or above), you pay me an extra one-off bonus amount. The goal and bonus amount are agreed in advance. I highly recommend signing up to this special offer, as not only does it work out cheaper for you in the long run (even when you include the bonus payment), but it also provides added insurance that you have a Maths Tutor who is as committed as you are to achieving results!

I don’t have a fixed hourly rate as this varies depending on both the time of year that you start your coaching and also on what the individual coaching package we agree for you comprises. Have a look at my prices section to see some of the different options available, and ways you can make your hourly rate as low as possible.

I accept payment by bank transfer or cash in advance of a coaching session or by cash at the start of a coaching session. I strongly encourage clients to sign up to my Advance Payment Block Booking offer, not only does it give you a great discount on your hourly rate, it also saves the hassle of you or your child having to remember to bring cash to each coaching session.

If a new client is referred to my Maths Coaching by one of my current clients, then they will both receive one hour of coaching FREE of charge (once the new client has completed at least 10 hours of coaching.)

I will usually ask new clients how they heard about my services, but feel free to let me know if you wish to Refer a Friend to my coaching, or if you were referred to my coaching by someone you know, and you will each be credited with a free hour of coaching to be used whenever you choose.

Use the contact section of the website to get in touch, and I will reply as soon as possible to arrange a suitable time for your FREE initial consultation.