Information About Emma - Galway tutor

Personal Description:

The junior and leaving certificate exams are terrifying, overwhelming, something you don’t really see how you’ll get through. Whatever I can do to get you on the other side, with results you’re proud of, I will.

My name is Emma, pleased to meet you. I think my teaching abilities stem from me being slightly thick -not really- but the explanations in school often didn’t work for me. Maybe stubborn is more fitting, I was stubborn to do well. I would go home and using youtube, online forums and occasionally a textbook, relearn concepts from simple fundamentals that made sense to me.

Using these alternative explanations, and other study tricks I picked up along the way, I was able to get the highest marks in the leaving cert, 625, and subsequently, the highest grade in my Bachelor degree of Chemistry.

Not only have my methods worked for myself, but I have had plenty of experience teaching them to others, both at secondary school and university level, in-person and online. You can check my resume for all the details. Albeit not the most esteemed role on my resumé, I think the most relevant experience for this position is tutoring my younger brother and his friend remotely in higher level leaving cert maths. We would focus on exam questions (the real key), deciding upon a few before each session. I would prepare a powerpoint beforehand with step-by-step instructions and explanations. Then the boys would try the questions in real time, explaining their reasoning, and we would pick holes and tease out answers until everyone was satisfied. With below 40% in their mocks, the boys pulled it out of the bag on the day with H3s, both securing their place in their first choice courses.

Tutoring Experience:

Private Tutor for HL Leaving Cert Maths: In response to my brother struggling with higher-level leaving certificate maths, I offered to tutor him from where I was studying in the Netherlands. Together, on Zoom, we worked through exam questions and filled in the gaps in his understanding. Upon his improved school test results, word spread that I was helping him and offers came
in from classmates for paid tutorials.

University Teaching Assistant: Tutored the first year Chemical Engineering course: Transport Phenomena. I gave tutorials alone to
approximately 20 first year students, which required detailed knowledge of the course content, good
communication skills and quick thinking to handle the questions posed by the students.

Homework Club Tutor: What started off as volunteering in a local direct provision center, became a paid position by the county
development agency. My role was to help the children who lived in there to adjust to the Irish education system.
Twice a week I would meet with 15 students for one hour to help them complete their homework.

Approach to Grinds:

My approach… tackling exam questions together like a challenge, us versus the paper. I ask questions to test understanding, as it's how I've always learnt, by explaining it to someone else. And if it's not only good grades you're interested in, I'd love to share some of the background information and asides that make chemistry and maths interesting to me and hopefully you too!