Justin Craig Easter Revision Courses v Home Tutor

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or both...?

I'm thinking of booking DS who is struggling with a few of the Physics A2 concepts in order to iron them out... with his blessing!

He was a C at AS (yet to sit mocks), and really needs a B in order to get onto the course that he really wants at uni.

By the time I've typed in A2 Physics and Edexcel exam board, the options are really limited.

Does anyone have any experience, or has had success one way or another?

I was looking at the Justin Craig courses but instead opted for a private tutor, the advantage being that DS is covering exactly what he needs to and each session is very focussed. So far so good. I have never used a tutor before but am happy so far.

How did you find a tutor? Ones that teach Physics up to A2 are like hens teeth round here!

I used an agency. We are in London which I guess makes it much easier.

We have found 1-2-1 tutoring invaluable. Firstly I would ask all your friends for recommendations, and get your son to do the same. Next look online. We used Tutorhunt, at least at this age your son can tell you straight after one session whether that tutor will be useful or not.

I would recommend the Justin Craig revision courses, my son was really struggling to concentrate on his exams, so I found using the revision courses really helped to work through any challenges. I would advise having a browse through the website to find a specific course to what you are looking for. www.justincraig.ac.uk/

We have had good experiences with Justin Craig. They have some very good and experienced tutors, and use feedback to ensure it remains that way. A very good one-to-one tutor could be better but one question is how do you ensure similar quality.

It also depends what you want any additional help to achieve.

DD is dyslexic but works reasonably hard and listens in class. Her exam performance can be some way below her performance in class. She is also at a very academic private school where she has been well taught. At GCSE we used Justin Craig for her weakest subject, hoping to ensure she secured at least a B. What she got was:

1. Confidence. Her school did not set for that subject so she inevitably rattled along the bottom. At JC she was at the top which really helped her.
2. Mark grubbing. Like it or not this is how you get the grades. DD discovered she already knew what she needed to know. JC gave her much better clarity about what she needed to get down in order to get a top grade.

She came out with a very surprising A so we were very happy, not least because she recently received an offer from a medical school who expect an A in that subject. In our case the group classes worked better. However if the problem had been gaps in teaching or understanding, individual tutoring might have been more fruitful.

She did a couple of JC courses before AS, as well as some one-to-one at a tutorial college in a third subject. I don't think I would have bothered except that as a dyslexic, she learns a lot better by listening, than by reading. She prefers revising that way and it gives reassurance that she has covered the piste. Plus some important coaching in exam technique, something she struggles with.

I have a friend whose two DC went to a Justin Craig course in London, one to do A Level maths and the other GCSE Spanish. She said the DC were taught very well, and got a lot out of it. They enjoyed exchanging different points of view with the other students, and she felt that the "commute" to get there put them in the right frame of mind for a day's work!

My friend said the only problem was the inflexibility, in that the DC had to do just Maths or Spanish all week when sometimes they wanted to do a different subject.

Def go for a private tutor instead. My DD was booked in for 2 Justin Craig courses for iGCSE; huge variation in ability (D grade basic igcse to A/A* higher level igcse, all different boards). She only did the first day of the English course (not v good teacher in her opinion) and only chemistry out of the 3 day science course, All luck as to who your teacher is and the levels/exam boards of the other students.
The phone no of the course tutor was incorrect, both times. An absolute waste of a large amount of money.