Hi! I'm Ollie. I’ve been tutoring for 4 years and I love it.
Not that credentials matter, but I have a few of those as well: I graduated in the Class of 2021 with an ATAR of 99.95. I was also Dux of Hale School and a School Prefect, Captain of Philosophy, and Captain of Debating. Ultimately, in my final exams I was awarded a General Exhibition and placed 5th statewide.
I also placed #2 in WA for Literature.
I will not only explain concepts clearly and intuitively, but will help students develop the key organisational, analytical, and reasoning skills which will enable them to perform at their best.
Contact About me
✉️ Email: contact@olliecheng.me
So... what do I think I can offer as a tutor?
In the delivery of tuition sessions, I will systematically break down difficult topics and explain clearly how to maximise marks, but also demonstrate the intuition behind them. They're not "lessons" as such - more a collaborative process, and I often even ask my students to explain ideas to me to test their knowledge! As a result, my students often are equipped with both a deeper understanding of why, not just how, which prepares them for future learning which build on this intuition. I try to structure these sessions on key areas which students either find difficult intuitively or struggle to execute, instead of focusing on rote-memorisation of how to do a question. For example, while it's easy to recite the core principles of Faraday and Lenz's Law, or recall the formula for the turning point of a parabola, you'll never be asked to define these terms in an exam. Instead, you'll have to apply these principles in more complex questions. As a successful student myself, I've come to learn that intuition is key, and so I work with students to develop these key conceptual understandings.
Not only have I used them myself to achieve great results, but I'm known in the school community as a great helper, which is why I'm often casually approached for help by students after school in the library. I also founded, ran, and taught at the Hale School Programming Club, assisted and taught at the Year 7/8 Maths Enrichment Club, and every Friday morning would help struggling maths students with their homework at Peer Tutoring. And my involvement with the community isn't just academic; this year, I coached a Year 7 debating team that made the semi-finals of the WA Debating League and took on various leadership roles within the school. I also voluntarily gave introductory university-level chemistry lectures over the holidays to advanced Year 11 students as enrichment, covering topics like organic mechanisms, analytical chemistry, and basic quantum theory! I do all this because I love to teach, and I'm passionate about engaging with students of all kinds and academic abilities.
Of course, I'm still learning how to teach. While I have experience working in classrooms and private tuition (for three years now), I know that every student and every situation is different, which is why I try to adapt my teaching style to suit my students. I believe that an open-minded and collaborative approach to teaching - as opposed to blindly reading from a preprepared workbook - is crucial.
I've worked with all kinds of students with varying academic abilities. This includes struggling C-grade students, who have gained confidence and seen their marks rise noticeably thanks to hard work, practice, and my help, and I've also been fortunate enough to inspire and help incredibly talented academic achievers who want to enrich their knowledge through Olympiad maths and chemistry work.
If you are looking for a passionate and academically capable educator with a good understanding of the requirements of high school, one who will teach you not only your school subjects but also how to excel at them - send me a message!
I look forward to helping you on your journey!