Bright Young Things Tuition

Pass your Exams-Feb 2013

Exams are a headache. Well, they're not the silver lining to your school experience, that's for sure. You could even go as far as saying they're a necessary evil. Those seemingly ineffectual letters on that seemingly innocent slip of paper may dictate where you end up, and might even have a bearing on your gap year; you could be talking Slough and not Soh Tai beach. 

But don't hang up your haversack yet.

Here are a few ways to ensure you ace these tricky little trials. 

Revision is your friend

Revision is your mate. Revision is the sure way to guarantee excellent results. These exams shouldn't come as a surprise. You know they're coming, and so timetable in revision, without ignoring the sections of the course that you abhor. In fact, tackle those first!

Get savvy with practice papers 

It's easy to pretend practice papers don't exist, and that exam boards craft papers five minutes before using only Dumbledore's magic and a quill. But really, these blighters are an amalgam of many years of torture. Believe it or not, you can see exactly what to expect (give or take a few edits) by looking at last year's paper. 

SO DO. It's simple. Practice until you are perfect.

Make the most of your teachers and tutors

They are here to help you. Don't be afraid to cramp your classroom cool by asking a few questions here and there. And if you still don't understand, ask again. Make sure you are clear on what's expected of you in each paper. There should be no huge surprises in your exams, just enjoyable* challenges. 

*Maybe

 Channel your inner yogi in exams

We do not recommend lying down on the floor mid-Maths for a quick Savasana, but it is widely recognized that channeling calm/breathing well will aid better thinking. We all identify with the rising panic when an unexpected question rears it's ugly head, but rather than letting your throat constrict and screaming for tranquilizers. instead consider how best you can tackle this beast, and take a few minutes longer to plan. 

You can do it. 

Namaste.

Throw self-doubt out the window

Visualize yourself with those gleaming results in your hand. Without sounding like Paul McKenna after too many herbal teas, it does help to employ positive thinking. A few 'I can do this' and 'I am pretty ace at English, It'll be okay,' can make a world of difference. 

Throw self-doubt out the window, seriously, it's a waste of time.

Rate Yourself

This doesn't mean punching students as you all slither towards your appointed desks, or trying sabotage others through tapping your pen towards Australia on your desk, but DO take yourself seriously in exams..

This is your moment to shine, be focused and bring your A*-game. 

Which University? - Feb 2013 

Choosing a university can put teenagers' heads into a complete tailspin. What
with schools brimming with stern advice manuals on how one establishment
scores against the next, and the 'super-friendly' guides to fun-times at others.
the process can be pretty overwhelming!

When deciding which university is for you, it's important to ask for advice from
a range of people. The deciding factor shouldn't be your older brother's opinions
on the clubs in Leeds, versus your little sister's evaluation of Edinburgh's
nightlife. Although they are, of course, valid aspects of University life that you'll
want to investigate.

Here are some of the main things to consider when choosing a place for you.

. Your Subject

You need to assess which university really specializes in your subject.
Whether you have a penchant for Physics or a passion for English
Literature, it's important to deduce which place has the best facilities and
tutors to support your quest to greater education.

. Structure

Ask a reliable source, i.e. someone who is currently studying at the
university, what the day-to-day existence is like there. Don't ask your
grandmother what Manchester was like, because despite her Manc
allegiances, it may not still have the swinging sixties ambience that she
recalls. Some subjects and universities have rigorous lectures everyday,
which is brilliant if that's what you are looking for, but if you fancy a more
relaxed approach or conversely a more intensive regime, you need to
inquire to those who know it best. And that's the current students.

. Extra-curricular

You don't live, breathe, drink your subject 24-hours a day. If you are crazy
about cricket or bonkers about badminton, these are things to consider.
The best way to meeting like-minded people is finding a place that offers
extra-curricular activities that you love!

. Open Days

Make the most of meeting people who currently attend your university
of choice. If they are reporting to the disciplinary Dean of their Oxbridge
college post helping out with it's Open Day, you may want to reconsider,

but all in all students will give the best advice. You can ask freely which
tutors make it worth attending there. There is a lot to be said for one
inspiring lecturer who wrote an esteemed works on Sylvia Plath, if you're
obsessed with her.

. Entry

What are you aiming for? What results do you need? Ultimately you
need to gauge how what grades you are aiming to achieve. These are the
hurdle/key/galactic gateway to that coveted place at any university. We
recommend enlisting help from tutors and teachers to ensure you reach
these tricky little letters capped with stars. After all this umming and
argh-ing; pacing and peering into lecture halls; dexterous and diligent
research. You must make sure you win that place! So don't be afraid to
ask for help from experts who have been there and done it.

For help of any kind choosing or preparing for university life,
contact us at info@brightyoungthings.co.uk

Exams,Exams, Exams....... 4th February 2013

Unlike birthdays, summer holidays and Monday lunchtimes, exam season

looms towards us at an alarming pace. And like the relative that we dread
visiting because they are all too fond of reciting the Faerie Queene, or the
excruciating dentist appointment that we pray is cancelled because of an
unexpected snowstorm/ alien-invasion.. exams are often unavoidable and
simply inevitable.

But here at Bright Young Things Tuition, we think that the best way to approach
your exams is to embrace them. And, for those of you worrying, this doesn't
mean re-wallpapering your room in your timetables or personalizing grey-marl
T-shirts with your Common Entrance notes (although that could be a unique
and lucrative revision technique). No, we're talking about making sure you
feel comfortable, content and confident in your abilities before D-day. We can't
guarantee you'll be drinking in the environment of the exam halls and quietly
wishing school "was like this everyday", but we will guarantee you won't be
playing the "Would I rather wrestle a crocodile" game over and over again in
your head! Instead we hope you'll feel like you're able to give them your very
best shot. And, you might even enjoy them.

There is a perplexing plethora of exams designed by many different "boards" to
tackle before you even reach university level, and often half the battle is getting
your head around revision and exam technique. This overwhelming feat can
be tackled with the help of our expert tutors who specialize in everything from
Mandarin to Maths. They have an increasing amount of clear and clever little
methods that make learning refreshing and enjoyable. rather than a poking-
pencil-in-eye, Britney-on-repeat experience.

And at the age of seventeen when you're bombarded with the prospect of A-
levels, university interviews and personal statements (in which you have to sum
up your brilliance in a mere 300 words), we are on hand to coach you through
it all. It really does help to speak to someone who has been to the Oxbridge
interviews. If anything to expel the kind of myths that surround them! Who knew
that the Oxford English Professors didn't set fire to newspapers to distract you
while you reviewed your Shakespeare extract?

Exams can be daunting, but they can be made easier by the right kind of
preparation. Making sure a few hours a week at the beginning of the week are
jam-packed with the right kind of stuff can set you up for 6/7 days of really
worthwhile revision. At Bright Young Things, we aim to eradicate the thumb-
twiddling, face-booking faffing revision time that can swamp a whole day,
making sure time is spent wisely and productively instead. This way, you can
make time for other things that you really like doing like footie, face-masks or
bee-keeping perhaps.

Exams are big and scary, but you can feel pretty marvelous before them if you
are well prepared and calm. Our tutors are passionate about their subjects, and
its infectious! We can help you get the results you want.

The Life and Times of a Super-Tutor

Like so many graduates these days, I left university last year with a sense of grim foreboding. The world was in the throes of an economic crisis that seemed to worsen by the day; riots were spreading across the nation's streets; and News of the World journalists were listening to everything we said, and then misreporting it. In 2009, when this whole 'here-comes-the-apocalypse' rationale came into being, I had remained quietly confident that things would come good for people my age. I thought that we would just ride this little crisis out for a couple of years, accrue a bit more student debt, and ultimately enter the outside world as it started to become a lighter-place again.

How wrong I was. When I left university, Europe was collapsing like a flan in a cupboard, and its graduates were filing out into an enormous proverbial scrap-heap of wasted man and brain-power. Dutifully I followed suit, slipping in to this androgynous, amorphous mass of humanities students, desperately seeking an unpaid internship in literally anything. I even applied for one at a waste-disposal company. If it was good enough for Uncle Bulgaria, I thought, it's good enough for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't good enough for them.

So, I returned back to the scrap-heap (proverbial, I had been turned away from the literal one), dusted myself off, and started again. I decided now that I would be a banker. Spreadsheets are cool, I thought, and at least the gutter-press are Public Enemy Number 1 these days; compared to those guys, bankers are pretty-much Mother Theresa. So, I put in some applications, and I successfully convinced all around me that every morning I got out of bed with the sole intent of analysing derivatives. Eventually I attended some interviews, and ultimately I even convinced one bank to have me as an intern. Unpaid, obviously, but working.

It was at this stage, however, that something changed. I had heard about the enormous increase in demand for so-called Super-Tutors in London, and signed up to Bright Young Things Tuition, who offered a rather different route out of the 'heap. As a tutor, I was suddenly able to do something with my good-for-nothing History of Art degree. Finally, my work involved something that I was passionate about. It also tore me away from my desk, and away from the persistent glare of a computer screen in a darkened room. My office was no longer some soulless tower block filled with pin-striped worker-bees, now it was some of the most remarkable houses in London. And soon after, I was shipped out to manor-houses across the country, living and teaching in what appeared to be the set of Downton Abbey. For those who want to stretch their tutoring even further, there is the opportunity to work abroad. Fellow tutors I have met have worked with families in Moscow, Lagos, Monaco, China and America, living an all-expenses lifestyle and salaried at the same rate as a newly qualified Magic Circle lawyer. With roles currently available in Florence, Moscow and Greece, I am considering following suit.

I doubt that I will be a tutor forever, but before I commit myself to enslavement at the hands of Mighty Powerpoint, I am sharing my passion for my subject in outstanding surroundings. I'll at least hold out till the guys at the scrap-heap (literal) realise the mistake they've made, and come crawling back.

Cameron shames schools that "muddle through"

Writing in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, David Cameron outlined his desire to narrow the "shocking gap between the best and the worst" state-schools in the UK. His most recent target, however, is a departure from the type of schools that his two flagship reforms, Free Schools and Academies, have previously focused on. The Prime Minister declares that his newest education drive will concentrate on schools, outside of the country's major cities, that are currently happy to "drift along tolerating second best." Cameron seeks to resolve what he sees as a "hidden crisis" in England's "prosperous shires and market towns," wherein schools, although not failing, are failing to maximise their students' potential. It is an issue, according to the Prime Minister, just as troubling as the more blatant educational crises in the nation's metropolises.

The Prime Minister is worried about a sense of "complacency" ingrained in these schools, and in particular the kind of environment wherein, "staff count down the hours to the end of term without ever asking why B grades can't be turned into As." Cameron desires to spread a new brand of engaged and energetic education, characterised by "the brilliant new generation of teachers" currently seeking to overhaul failing inner-city schools. It is a mission that Bright Young Things sits firmly behind, in line with our mantra that enthralling and inspiring teaching makes all the difference. It is also one that we are currently promoting with our upcoming partnership with the charity Action Tutoring, with whom we will be sending our own tutors to failing schools across the capital. If this philosophy and these kinds of schemes, as the PM clearly hopes, can be extended throughout the country, the benefits can surely be nothing but positive.

As Mr Cameron's focus moves out of the inner-cities, however, there is something somewhat troubling about his assurance that his current reforms amount to a "revolution" in inner-city education. A recent study, for instance, has raised serious doubts about how successfully Free Schools are actually dealing with issues of educational imbalance. The statistics, published in The Guardian this week, seem to suggest that the catchment-areas for free schools are skewed in favour of middle-class families, indicated by below average numbers of children claiming free-school meals (9.4%, against a national average of 18%). Moreover, questions have been raised regarding the running of Cameron's Academies, with serious concerns noted in non-teaching staff's salaries and schools' accountability. The Guardian revealed this week, for instance, that only 38% of Academies filled out their financial return for the Department of Education (no longer compulsory), while the frequency of staff salaries of over £80,000 is somewhat worryingly 50% higher than in comprehensives. Freedom from syllabuses and the financial constraints of the state might well promote more independent and competitive schools, but it also leaves them very much at risk of financial mismanagement and an abdication of their accountability to those they are supposed to serve: local people, and local children.

Mr Cameron's desire to tackle problems in the UK's education system at large is indeed laudable. He must be very wary, however, that the reforms he has already introduced truly amount to the "revolution" that he believes they do. With 87 new Free Schools expected to open by September 2013 and increasing numbers of schools taking Academy status, the Prime Minister must be sure that his legacy in the education sector is not characterised by two ambitious experiments that failed.

Keeping the Young in Bright Young Things 

Hi, I'm Oli Eccles, Director of Education at Bright Young Things Tuition, and welcome to the first blog of the 2011-12 academic year!
Bright Young Things Tuition was created by Malachy Guinness and Woody Webster in 2007, and so it is fair to say that four years later we're no longer spring chickens. We have tutors teaching nigh on every subject from 8+ to Graduate level, and provide private lessons and home schooling not only throughout the UK but internationally. We believe that our service has only improved over the last three years, as our private tutors collate and share their experiences and knowledge of every top school and university in the country, and many foreign institutions. Amongst our tutors we are fortunate to count public school teachers, professionals from the fields of law, finance and the media, and also certified national exam-board examiners.

We have a few miles on the clock now, it is true; should we consider re-branding ourselves Bright Mature Things? Whack BMT into Google and you will discover that competition for the acronym is strong: Defensive Services, Engineering consultancy and a time zone. Luckily we need not take such drastic action. BYT is proud to take on the brightest graduates as new tutors each year, ensuring that we are always ready to provide quality tuition which draws upon fresh and recent experience of the exam syllabuses and Oxbridge interview processes. In the office, I might hold up my own hand as evidence of Bright Young Thing's regenerative properties: my arrival as a new Director of BYT has pulled the average office age down by a couple of years. First task? Airbrushing the wrinkles out of Woody and Malachy's website mug-shots.

Yet to focus on ourselves in this way is not only narcissistic, it is also a misreading of our name. Certainly, our tutors are all Bright Young Things. But it is also our pupils who earn this moniker. It is they who put in the extra study, who seize the opportunity to develop their enthusiasm for a subject and who collect the exam results that certify them to be the successes of the future. So, as the new term starts, we're not just looking forward to employing a few more Bright Young Things, we're looking forward to making some!
It seems like the secret to eternal youth is Bright Young Things Tuition.