Ilya

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Addressing you is an aspiring scientist/academic, freshly graduated from Royal Holloway and set to commence a PhD on «Quantum optics phenomena in artificial atoms».

Very recent experience with GCSE, A-Level, University examinations, have resulted in invaluable first-hand understanding of learning techniques and revision dilemmas, which I wish to project onto motivated and expectant students. I teach my students to always work up from the fundamentals and identify «grade scoring» elements to demonstrate this core knowledge. This strategy has reflected in personal achievements:

Numerous awards within the Royal Holloway Science faculty including «Best student» in the 1st, 2nd, 4th years
5 A* at A-Level
Programming in 7 languages, utilised both in professional work and research
Nanofabrication of lasers at Chalmers laboratory
Collaboration project with Sifco, investigating the effect of graphene on electroplating
THz detector project at RHUL
Co-author of two scientific publication.

It is my belief, that with an open mind and motivation for self-improvement, the tutoring lessons will not only impact the formal exam results, but begin to develop more powerful skills: structuring short and long term plans constructive self-criticism and setting goals that address the most vulnerable positions identified. Ultimately, for me teaching has always been an engaging and stimulating process - this core value makes the hours I spend tutoring full of technical fun and positivity.


The small number of students that I cater gives me the flexibility to adapt to each individual. I am just as comfortable of holding lessons based on reading/going through slides, as I am with holding «workshops» were we focus on derivation in an interactive manner.

Fundamental coverage of the content from elemental principles cuts down on the «crude memorising» of formulas and information. Understanding developed in this way is more persistent and is reflected in the ability of solving non-trivial problems in exams and forming a more fertile base for a (possible?) career in physics/mathematics.

Overloading with multi-stage problems that lie beyond the scope of standard exams pushes the student to assess the problems first qualitatively, capturing the physics models hidden in the problem. Application of formulas and mathematical techniques comes second. The linking of such exercises in multi-stage problems establishes their purpose, cementing textbook knowledge in concrete examples.

I will supply my student with:
Professional tailored slides with the course notes
Personal homework sheets and feedback discussions
Papers and articles for further reading
Separate discussions and preparation for exams, lectures and revision techniques
6 hour response time for urgent questions
Happy to go through school homework and assignments/projects, so as achieve immediate term-time results.

Availability:
My fixed location is Royal Holloway, Egham, Surrey. Lessons are run across Skype, but I am more than willing to discuss face-to-face lessons, should that be considered the most effective approach.

I am available for lessons after 19.00 and full weekends.

Willing to travel: 3 miles

Experience: First real teaching experiences came around naturally during A-Levels and first undergraduate years - my colleagues would seek advise on subjects not fully understood during lectures and ask for explanations/ideas to problem sets. Identifying the potential I proceeded to:

2014-onwards 2 students/year Lessons to undergraduate physics students on short term basis (electro-magnetism, atomic and nuclear physics, quantum mechanics, mathematics…)
2015 and 2017 1 student/year Lessons to undergraduate physics students on programming (python)
2015-onwards Once every 3 weeks Lectures during university open days on the topic of particle tunnelling (quantum mechanics)
2015-onwards 1 student/year A-level Physics tutoring on a year-long basis.