Specialist Eleven Plus (11+)/Thirteen Plus (13+)/ Entrance Examination Tutor and Commercial Airline Pilot. My students get the best preparation for admission tests into the most prestigious schools.

Find out more about Jacob

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

  I first started tutoring during my first year of university. Admittedly, although I thought I knew my subjects well, I was not familiar with the world of private tuition and the thought had never crossed my mind that I could do this professionally. Fast forward seven years, I have delivered thousands of lessons to students across the world and have helped students secure entrance into some of the best and most competitive schools in the world.

• 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).

  I am a specialist 11+/13+/ Entrance Examination tutor, so of course I am a little biased, but I love teaching all core subjects within this field (Maths, English, Non-Verbal and Verbal Reasoning). I originally started as an English GCSE tutor and still continue to do this (although not as often), so I suppose English will always be the subject that I love teaching the most!
  
  I also do interview preparation sessions which I really enjoy as I particularly like the 'conversational' style of lesson.

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

  Two teachers stick out in my mind... I had an excellent GCSE English teacher and a truly amazing A-Level Politics teacher. Both had a true passion for their subject and you could tell that they enjoyed imparting their vast knowledge onto students.

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

  Patience is absolutely essential and it is crucial that a tutor never forgets that they are dealing with students whose job is to learn and not to be experts in the subject. By definition, a student will have gaps in their knowledge or areas for improvement and it is not for a tutor to get annoyed at this. Rather, it is my job teach the student exactly what they do not know, not to get annoyed at them for not knowing.
  
  Confidence building is also a key quality in any good tutor. I believe that learning is 99% confidence, especially at younger ages, hence I place huge emphasis on building a student's confidence and showing them that they are capable of much more than they often think.

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

  I remember doing absolutely terrible on a mock exam in secondary school that, if I am being honest, I thought I would ace. Although it may seem like a strange story to choose, it was one of the most important things to happen to me at school because I knew I had not put in enough preparation and I still thought I could get a good score. Safe to say I was wrong, and from that moment it made me never take anything for granted when it comes to exams and education and I made sure that from then on, every test I would take would be given my absolute commitment and effort.

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

  I would be lying if I said that I aced every exam at school with minimal effort. Learning did not always come easy and I was not naturally gifted at subjects, particularly Maths and Science. I believe this experience at school has made me a better tutor because I know exactly how it feels to not fully understand a subject or to find difficulty in certain areas. From experience I can now teach my subjects with ease, but I understand the process required to get to this stage and the subsequent hurdles, and I think this is crucially important.

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

  I enjoy teaching in general but there is a particular element of teaching that I especially enjoy. This is watching a student's confidence develop over a period of time and I find that boosting academic confidence also often has a positive impact on overall confidence.
  
  It sounds cliché but all teachers/tutors will say the same, there is nothing more rewarding than making someone understand something they previously did not understand. The 'aha!' moment.

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

  I believe my experience and my track-record speaks for itself. I have multiple years of experience tutoring at the highest-level and have helped students get into almost every top school that you could think of. My students come from all over the world, including the UK, China, Singapore and Hong Kong, so I am well-versed with communicating with students from different backgrounds and curriculums.