Cambridge Maths graduate with over 7000 hours of experience tutoring maths and further maths for GCSE through to STEP preparation.

Find out more about Robert

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

  I've always loved maths. My first memories of enjoying it are from primary school, and the more I learnt, the more I wanted to learn and push myself and see what was out there I didn't know yet. I first found that I loved helping people understand maths when studying A Levels, when I would talk to people about the topics they were struggling with, and we'd talk about how we went about learning them. As time went on though, and I started to develop my knowledge of more advanced maths in preparation for university, I began really being able to help people, and give them the tools I'd wished I had when learning some of the harder parts of maths. I found joy in learning maths for myself, and challenging myself, but also in imparting my knowledge to those struggling, and providing that challenge for those wanting to pursue maths further.

• 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 love maths for many reasons, but one is its universality. Maths is everywhere, and is a necessary part of all our lives in some form or another. That's why I most like to talk about the applications of maths, and the ways it relates to whatever my students are interested in, be it engineering, finance, biology, cooking, or anything else. Not only do I find a lot of it personally interesting as a mathematician, but anything that helps students be more comfortable, engaged and motivated to do well is incredibly important and worthwhile in my view.

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

  One person who really influenced how I teach was a senior tutor from Cambridge. From them and their teaching method, I think I realised the importance of the atmosphere in a lesson, specifically allowing people to feel comfortable enough to make mistakes. If, as a student, you're going into lessons either nervous you're going to mess up, or disinterested because it's all so boring, then you're in no shape to retain any information. But the passion of a tutor, and their commitment to exploring the more fun side of a topic, or just making the delivery more enjoyable, can break down these issues by helping students relax and learn at their best.

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

  You need at least 3 things to be a good tutor: passion, competence, and versatility. You need passion because you have to love your subject in order to inspire your students to try their best, and you have to be good enough at your subject that your students can be confident in what you're telling them, and in your ability to help them with whatever they may be struggling with. Versatility though is most important, as education is not a one-size-fits-all. Only by being aware of your students' differences, and how you can change to better suit their style of learning, can you be a truly effective tutor.

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

  While I was at Cambridge, a lot of my time working was spent completing problem sheets. Maths is so much more a subject you improve at through practice than pure study, so the lectures were almost supplementary to the problems. One week I'd been stuck on one in particular for a while, and went to have dinner with a friend and some of his friends from before university. We got along, and when I happened to mention my problem one person actually had a very interesting insight, so much so I found myself thinking about the problem in a completely different way than before.
  
  
  This experience taught me the importance of not assuming people are only good at their individual specialties. People are capable of helping with a multitude of things due to their own unique perspectives, even if they're not aware of it. You must always be open to new ideas, as they can sometimes provide the new perspective you need to solve your own problems.

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

  A difficulty that I, and I feel a lot of people, face in mathematics is the making of "silly" mistakes. I think a common misconception is that to get good at maths is to stop making these mistakes altogether, but that's not the whole story; being a better mathematician is about spotting them. There's no way to learn not to make mistakes, but you can learn the skill of checking effectively, and thinking in each question whether your answer makes sense in context, or if it's approximately right. Most people can never become perfect calculators, but we don't need to; we need to know what we're putting into the calculator is right, and whether what comes out makes sense. This is how you catch errors that can be as silly as 1+2=2.

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

  I would say my passion is mathematics, as an entire field. I may personally be better at certain parts of it, but it's the whole discipline that still impresses me and that I love. The creativity involved in solving hard problems, the universality of maths, the skill in distilling the real world in its infinite complexity to a real, solvable problem, is incredible. What I love just as much is how I'm now able to share this passion with others, to help future mathematicians be inspired. My work helps me show people who don't love maths that they don't have to be scared of it, that it can make sense, and that it can be beneficial to them, even if they won't use it directly later in life.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions)

  I think what makes me a Superprof is my proven track record, and my focus on the importance of flexibility and adaptability. I always tailor my tutoring style to fit the student, as there is no single tutoring method that works for everyone, and how easy it is for a student to work on maths in their own time greatly impacts how lessons should work. The student is the most important component of their own success, so making them, their needs, their learning style and their goals the focus, is the key.