Why Parents Contact Me
Most of the time, I get contacted by a parent who is concerned by a mark their son or daughter received in an assessment for the Modern History unit.
Typically, they’ll say things like: “He’s not really sure what he’s supposed to do with the Source Analysis questions” or, “She’s struggling to write essays; they seem to be different to the ones she writes in English”.
The Typical First Tutoring Session
In both instances, my approach is to try to help the student to recognise what the teacher is looking for when they ask a particular question.
Where possible, I also try to provide formulas (see example) that the student can follow in answering them. I find these formulas really help the students who have been struggling in the subject (you can almost see a light go on inside their minds).
More often than not, the formulas also help the stronger students; they give them a framework around which they can display their greater knowledge and literary flair.
The Power of a Formula…
At present, I have formulas for answering all of the Source Analysis questions as well as how to write an effective History essay. They’re based on studying past papers and better student responses, as well as my own insights into writing effective History having gained an Honours degree in the subject.
Neil was recommended to us for our daughter who was struggling with essay construction in Modern History. Neil was able to help demystify the language used in History exam questions and gave ideas and tips of structuring an essay in response to the different types of questions. Neil was very generous with his time and was always happy to read and comment on practice questions that he set. I would highly recommend Neil as a tutor of Modern History.
Jo Norcott, Mum of Female Student, Western Suburbs, 2011
A Typical Second Session
At some point in the tutoring process, I ask how a student prepared for a particular assessment. In most cases, I’m shown some notes copied from a textbook – more often than not, related to the subject matter. Whilst this approach is certainly better than nothing, I can’t help but play devil’s advocate with the student: “Show me the section of your assessment where you have to write notes” (which usually elicits a rather sheepish smile).
I then go on to tell them that “the very best students don’t study this way”. Rather, they spend their time:
- looking at the course outline and past papers (trying to see the links between each),
- classifying content into relevant parts and finally
- practicing writing different responses.
In doing so, they give themselves an enormous advantage over the “note-takers” and “text-book readers”.
Deliberate Practice…The Secret Ingredient to Succeeding in Modern History
From there, the rate of improvement is up to the student. I’m a great believer in the concept of “deliberate practice“, discussed at length by award-winning journalist, Daniel Coyle in his great book on elite performance, The Talent Code. Basically, I believe that provided you practice something in the right manner for long enough – you can eventually make it automatic.
Initially, this process is very taxing on the brain. In time however, provided the student persists trying to do things the right way – learning takes place – which usually coincides with a significant increase in marks (and/or positive feedback from the student’s teacher).
Hi Neil. Today we received our essays back. I got 72% on the essay and I’m very happy with this mark as the average was 64%. I would like to thank you for helping me with studying the topic and preparing for the essay with practise questions and plenty of really helpful feedback. I feel like you have really helped me improve and hopefully I can continue with these kinds of marks with the knowledge that I can do it showing from my essay result. Thanks so much.
Male Student, Western Suburbs, 2018