Fifth-year medical student at the University of Cambridge offering UCAT, Personal Statement, and Interview tuition. [UCAT: 3260 Band 1. Medical Offers: Cambridge, Edinburgh, Bristol, St Andrews]

Find out more about Hector

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

  1. I first became interested in medicine years ago now, and the tutoring very much came later. But actually, over time, I’ve become just as, if not more into the tutoring! It is especially meaningful to see things that I had personally struggled a lot to learn or to understand make sense for a new student; everything is worth it to see that lightbulb moment in students’ eyes!

• 2) Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  2. I teach all aspects of the medical application, namely: UCAT, personal statement, and interview preparation. Truthfully, I love each of these subjects for their own reason, but interview preparation can be particularly interesting. For example, when discussing hot topics in the NHS, or (in more Oxbridge-tailored sessions) some very heavy scientific questions, students will often genuinely surprise me with a very nuanced view, or an angle on something that I had not before considered – so moments like those are without doubt the most interesting! And something I like a little less…? Well, sometimes there are things we have to just memorise; I far prefer if I can encourage my students to learn to think rather than just to recite.

• 3) Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  3. Whilst there were some teachers in school that were truly inspiring, I think the role model I look up to most in teaching is the tutor I had for my medical application; specifically for the Cambridge interview. What he did, which I always try to carry forward into my lessons, was never to give up on me. By this I mean that, whilst he would guide me and give hints to help me reach conclusions in difficult situations, he would never do the thinking for me. After these lessons I realised that it is the act of being made to think, rather than just watching your tutor think for you, that allows you to learn.

• 4) What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  4. Patience, clarity, and a sense of humour. If you can keep a student calm, make things clear, and make them laugh once or twice, you’ve usually got the right mix.

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  5. Medicine is a funny degree, especially at Cambridge – you apply because you love working with people and you don’t want to do pure, hard science – and then you spend your first three years doing exactly that. It’s a bit of a shock seeing real patients in fourth year, and them not being exactly how the textbook describes… Whilst I have had many far more exciting encounters with patients, the one I will never forget was my very first, whom I gave a full physical exam and took a full history off. When reporting back my findings to her, and the doctor I was with, the response, “How delightfully imaginative of you” was not quite what I had in mind… Lesson learned – you really do have to start again in clinical school!

• 6) What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  6. As anyone will tell you, the biggest challenge in medicine is its shear volume; I am in clinical school now and there really isn’t a single subject that is particularly ‘difficult’ per se, it is more that there are just so many. Thinking back, though, the UCAT was a seriously tough exam, and one that took a lot of work, and the interviews are grueling. I think it was largely just how hard I found the application process that really made me want to tutor it, because going through that alone would not be an enjoyable experience for anyone!

• 7) Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  7. Within medicine my passion is evolutionary biology, which is what I did for my intercalated Bachelor’s in third-year. Essentially, this boils down to trying to find explanations for why, ultimately, we suffer from certain diseases, not just how to treat them. Some stories are so interesting, such as hypotheses that genes coding for ADHD-like traits were actively selected for in hunter-gatherers as they led them to be more explorative, and to discover richer lands. The best thing about this field is that it allows us to attach meaningful stories to otherwise relatively clinical and sterile diagnoses, and this is something I try to incorporate into my teaching, especially if having to discuss a rather dry topic!

• 8) What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  8. I think the best I can say for this is that I have been through all of this myself, and recently. I don’t just have the textbook answers, or the advice google could give – I actually remember how it feels to be in your position, and I truly want you to succeed!