Holly recently studied A Level Maths with us 鈥� here are her insights on her 91制片 experience.
Just after my A level mocks in January, I realised that if I wanted to achieve the grade I needed for University that I would need some extra help with maths. I wasn鈥檛 really understanding enough in school so I felt that an intensive maths course would really help. In particular, there were a number of really hard topics that were specific to my exam board, OCR, which I needed extra help with. Having heard lots of good things from various friends about 91制片鈥檚 board specific courses, 91制片 seemed to be the best option.
Before the course, I was quite nervous about everyone being much better than me or it being too basic. I needn鈥檛 have worried as they make sure they cater to each person鈥檚 needs. It鈥檚 a small class so you鈥檙e able to go at your own speed and I found that it really didn鈥檛 matter what standard you were because everyone found different topics difficult. Also, everyone seemed to struggle with the really tricky topics and it was really helpful to go over examples as a class. Whilst I hadn鈥檛 been sure about how I鈥檇 enjoy doing 7 hours of maths for 3 days straight 鈥� 聽before I started that sounded like my worst nightmare 鈥� I discovered that the days actually go really fast. There are also lots of breaks to socialise and break up the day. I actually started to enjoy maths again.
Arriving at the centre was quite daunting, but for the first hour we had an introductory lecture before we went off to meet our tutors, which really helped settle my nerves. My tutor was really friendly, which also helped with my nerves, and the groups were small which I really liked. With only 9 students in the class, everyone was able to chat and get to know each other a bit, which made working together easier. Everyone was super friendly which was great because when I got stuck on a question I could work with the others to figure it out. Whilst the classroom was quiet enough to study and concentrate, I liked that our tutor broke up sessions with group examples worked through on the board where we all gave our ideas and inputs.
My tutor was one of my favourite ever maths teachers since year 7! I felt he really cared that we understood what was going on. I also felt comfortable enough to ask him questions that I thought may be stupid 鈥� he would always sit down with me one and one to explain the theory. I really believe my tutor was the reason I managed to bring my Maths grade back up. He gave me back my confidence in maths and made me believe that I could achieve the grade I needed. 聽Having never received much reassurance from聽school teachers, his confidence in me made a massive difference and carried through to when I was revising. He was also really clear at explaining things slowly and carefully. If you didn鈥檛 understand the way he explained a problem the first way, he would switch his approach and try a different way until you understood.
I think one of the best bits of the course was the focus and time spent on practice questions. I always found at school that they rushed through topics or didn鈥檛 go through enough examples. 聽At 91制片, 聽we spent time going through lots of different types of examples for the same topic, many of which were similar to the exam style. I think this really helped because the more you understand a topic, the more you can apply it. As all the examples were from previous past papers or specific to my exam board, I was able to get a better feel for what the examiners were looking for and this really helped me not panic in the exam when I didn鈥檛 understand the question straight away.
I really enjoyed this course (as much as you can enjoy maths lol) and I honestly think this helped me improve my final A level grade, it helped my overall understanding and gave me my confidence in my own abilities back. I did so many past questions from past papers specific to my board that it helped me be prepare for the exam so the really tricky questions that I couldn鈥檛 understand right away wouldn鈥檛 throw me. It helped me remain a lot calmer and gave me the ability to think the question though instead of panicking. This was something I really struggled with before coming on the course. I would definitely recommend a 91制片 course to anyone considering it, for me it made a noticeable difference and I found it invaluable. The course really helps you solidify your knowledge and build on existing ideas.
You can read in-depth reviews from some of our other students by clicking the links below:
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