Chemistry GCSE Tutor A Level Online UK Tuition – 10 Years Experience
Your journey will be tailor-made to suit your unique needs, and which areas for improvement you’d like to prioritise. Every student is different, and I am committed to providing a personalised learning experience that caters to your specific requirements. Book your first chat or online Chemistry lesson today.
UK Chemistry Tutor Online GCSE A Level
Whether you prefer visual aids, real-life examples, or interactive discussions, I will adapt my teaching style to ensure that you grasp each concept fully.
So, if you’re ready to unlock the wonders of Chemistry, let’s embark on this educational voyage together. With my expertise and your dedication, there’s no limit to what we can achieve. Get ready to excel in GCSE Chemistry and lay the foundation for a bright future filled with scientific discovery.
Quick explanation of the Doc – my mates all call me Doc, and it isn’t because I have a PhD. It’s actually because I was pretty badly bullied at school and it was used as an insult. It referred someone called Doc Cox from That’s Life – a very old TV show.
Once I got to university I decided Doc was actually pretty cool, and that I would totally own it and turn it into something positive.
Now only my pupils, their parents/guardians and my family call me Andrew. Literally everyone else calls me Doc.
Chemistry GCSE Modules and Explanations – Learn Online with Andrew ‘Doc’ Lawson
By far the most popular exam board is AQA. For this exam board the modules are split across two exam papers: Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 covers topics 1-5, typically taken in the first year, while Paper 2 covers topics 6-10, usually taken in the second year. The exams assess students using various question types, including multiple-choice, structured, closed short answer, and open response, to evaluate their understanding of the modules.
By diving into each module, understanding their unique aspects, and practicing different question types, students will be well-prepared to excel in their GCSE Chemistry exams. Let’s embark on this exciting learning journey together.
Retaking GCSE Chemistry A Level and GCSE Exams UK and International Sudents
As an online GCSE Chemistry tutor, let’s explore each module in more detail
Your favourite Dr. Lawson has been a full-time tutor for over ten
years. If you’re considering retaking GCSE exams or seeking support for
exam preparation, book tuition online sessions now to help you for the
2024/25 exams or future retakes. I’m dedicated to helping students reach
their full potential and achieving their academic goals. Do you have
other subjects you need assistance with?
As well as Chemistry GCSE and A-level Online Tuition for UK or
international Edexcel Exams – I also am equally good at Maths and
Physics. All exam boards, AQA, OCRA, OCRB, Edexcel, international
Edexcel, WJEC, even IB.
As a dedicated and experienced UK tutor, I am confident in my ability to provide exceptional tutoring experiences to students.
I often find myself hired for one subject and then quickly get asked to extend my expertise to the other subjects. At the GCSE level, students often study all three subjects with me (Maths, Physics, and Chemistry). The fact these are compulsory at GCSE makes it a fertile ground for additional tutoring opportunities.
When it comes to A-level education, Physics and Maths are closely linked, much like the iconic duo Lennon and McCartney. I am equally happy teaching one, two or all three. I love the variety and have spent about twelve years in higher education making sure I am a master of all three. Sad to say, but on those rare occasions where I have downtime and my brain isn’t too tired, I actually read quite advanced books on all three. I find it relaxing and extremely interesting. I just love learning!
Given the considerably larger number of students undertaking GCSEs compared to A-levels, I often find myself starting with GCSE tuition, and then being kept on right the way through the two years of A-levels. For all my students, especially those I’ve spent years with, it’s a bittersweet moment in the final lesson. I’m always so proud of them. Not just the results they get, but also the transformation I see in their confidence, maturity, work ethic and problem solving ability. At the same time it’s sad to say goodbye to someone you’ve got to know and become invested in. I keep every card and gift (and email believe it or not!) to remind me of the many journeys I’ve been priviledged enough to be a part of.
Atomic structure and the periodic table for GSCE Chemistry
Fact: The periodic table is organised based on the increasing atomic number of elements, which correlates with their electron configurations.
Bonding, structure, and the properties of matter:
Fact: Ionic bonds form between metals and nonmetals, while covalent bonds occur between nonmetals, and metallic bonds are found in metals.
Quantitative chemistry:
Fact: Avogadro’s constant, 6.022 x 10^23, represents the number of particles (atoms, molecules) in one mole of a substance.
Chemical changes:
Fact: Exothermic reactions release energy to the surroundings, while endothermic reactions absorb energy from the surroundings.
Energy changes:
Fact: Activation energy is the minimum energy required for a chemical reaction to occur. Catalysts lower the activation energy, increasing the reaction rate.
The rate and extent of chemical change:
Fact: Factors like temperature, concentration, surface area, and catalysts affect the rate of chemical reactions.
Organic chemistry:
Fact: Organic compounds contain carbon atoms and are found in living organisms. They form the basis of many everyday substances, including fuels, plastics, and medicines.
Chemical analysis:
Fact: Spectroscopy is a common technique used in chemical analysis to identify substances based on their interaction with light at different wavelengths.
Chemistry of the atmosphere:
Fact: The Earth’s atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and a small amount of other gases, including carbon dioxide and water vapor.
Using resources:
Fact: Chemistry plays a crucial role in understanding and developing sustainable practices for resource utilisation, recycling, and minimizing environmental impact.
GCSE Online Tutor UK Remote Chemistry GCSE and A Level Professor Tuition – About Dr. Lawson
My first decision to do chemistry was back in 1989. I wanted to do Physics and Maths more than chemistry, so tried to do just an AS level in chemistry. Sadly, though it turned out fortunately for me, timetabling issues meant I either did the full A-level or nothing. So I decided to do the 4 classic science A-levels: Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry.
I also sat S Physics, S Chemistry and Step Maths – Step still exists, but S or Scholarship levels were last set in 2001. In case anyone is interested I did pretty well, getting top grades in everything but Step Maths. 4 As (no A*s in my day) and a 1/distinction in S levels (top grade).
The S and Step exams I remember being REALLY hard. For Step Maths I remember it being at the end of my examination period, and I was mentally exhausted. It was a 3 hour exam, and you had to hand in your best 6 questions from a choice of 16. I literally handed nothing in from the first two hours 15 minutes, and had a massive panic attack at this point realising my current score was, well about 0. Not cool. I honestly can’t remember what happened afterwards, but in the last 45 minutes I must have been possessed by the ghost of Gauss or Euler (top maths people from the past – look them up!) as whatever the hell I did got me a 1.
Anyway off to university, Natural Sciences at Cambridge. In the first
year I did Crystals, Chemistry and my true love at the time, Physics
and Maths. I wanted to build a time machine. I went on and on at my
Cambridge interview about it. I could sort of tell they thought I was a
bit insane but when I outlined how I had broken it down into 4 phases, 3
of which I sort of had a plan for – they obviously were not put off
enough as I got an offer. I really should have come up with something
more crazy.
Crystals was so dull I literally cannot describe how painful Saturday
morning 9am lectures were. You read that right. Saturday morning
lectures every week at 9am – for 3 years – with no half terms. Sort this
out if you haven’t Cambridge.
In the following years I was able to do just Physics and Maths, and I added a bit of history of philosophy of science which was actually really interesting and helpful to expanding my mind and thinking processes.
So where’s the Chemistry Lawson? OK…I started a really good job that although I hated was promoted 3 times, so it took me too long to leave, but leave I did, and decided to do something more realistic. Reverse the ageing process. Again not kidding. To do this I drew up a plan and realised I needed to become good – really good – at Chemistry. So I stopped the Biochemistry degree I was doing in my evenings after work in it’s 3rd year, and left to do another full degree and masters in Chemistry. I managed to skip the first year because of my previous work, so did years 2-4. It went really well and a subject I had originally not been the best at was now probably my best subject. It wasn’t easy but so worth it. I now know so much Science and Maths, and I still love learning. I subscribe to Perlego which is like Netflix but just full of university level books on just about anything you can think of. I love it when I get the chance to read something totally random.
After this I was the only person in the year of about 80 to choose my own PhD research topic. My plan to reverse the ageing process required the replacement of what I called wet Chemistry (lab based stuff – takes ages – uses animals which I cannot express how much I hate) with dry Chemistry (computer simulations). I figured with advances in computer hardware and software computer modelling would replace 99% of trials and choose only the best candidates for compounds to make and test. What would take months or years of synthesis and testing could be done in hours, then as the years went by minutes or seconds. I foresaw an age where whole cellular systems could be modelled as separate ‘functions’ with data passed hundreds of times a second between each part of the cell’s computerised models. These were amazing years and I loved it. And it was love that stopped me continuing this.
I was now in love, engaged and postdoctoral roles involve low salaries and moving around on temporary contracts. I needed a stable job in one place, my fiancee had a job and we both had family in Newcastle. Also Newcastle is literally the greatest city on Earth, if you’ve lived there you will know what I mean. San Francisco in the 1990s was a close second. So I had to find something else, and I realised I was already doing it. I had been tutoring at university, and was doing it more while applying for postdoctoral positions. And I loved it. Like really really loved it. The more I thought about it the more I realised this is actually what I wanted to do.
It was beyond hard to start with. Driving between houses miles apart for hardly any money, massive amounts of debt from the 8 year stint for my 2nd degree, 2nd masters and PhD. Sometimes people wouldn’t be in when I got there, and I would have to sit for sometimes 1.5 hours for my next lesson as I had my routes planned. As my experience went up I realised I should try online tuition. This was about 4/5 years before covid. It was hard at first as I’m a perfectionist so I didn’t just show up and wing it. I spent hundreds, eventually well over a thousand hours, getting material together and building a setup that allowed lessons to flow as quickly and naturally as face to face lessons. Soon enough I was better online than face to face, and honestly my lessons now are genuinely amazing. I started programming computers when I was 8 years old, I was hand assembling z80 code when I was 12 so I’ve always been a nerd and used this to automate tasks and build the perfect online teaching system. I use two monitors, 11 virtual desktops that I can access at the touch of a button by mapping them to the numerical keypad on the right of my keyboard.
Left Handed Tips for Students – Preparation and Saving Screenshots
I’m left handed so I use a gaming mouse with 11 buttons on it I have assigned to macros I built in bettertouchtool, which allow me to take screenshots and paste them in, in under 1 second. Every piece of software I use has it’s own screen, and muscle memory means I can press one key without thinking to access it. I really have spend so long doing this side of things but it’s been worth it. Online teaching has transformed the experience not just for me, but for my pupils. Bitpaper is my last secret weapon I will mention.
That’s us up to date. Book a lesson or free chat or get in touch to find out how I can help you. I am beyond passionate about what I do. It’s my calling, my life. Let me help you get the best grades you can.
I look forward to the opportunity of contributing to your success and the academic growth of all eager Chemistry GCSE and A-level students.
