Easter Revision Courses
Dates and syllabus
As we offer tuition to individuals or to pre-formed pairs and small groups, students may book whichever week or weeks they wish during their Easter vacation. This gets round the problem of the dates of the Easter holidays varying widely between schools: hence many students find that the rigid dates of group Easter courses do not suit their particular schedules. Secondly, we can offer a very particular focus on the individual’s syllabus in any given subject. We can, for example, always offer tuition on the specific set books of A2 Modern Language students. Revision courses which put a number of students following different syllabuses into the same group are usually unable to meet this need.
Why follow an Easter course at all?
At one level, such a course is simply an intensification of supplementary or revision tutoring which may take place at any time of the year. The key word, however, is intensification. Easter courses occur at the strategic moment just a few weeks before most public examinations take place.
School stops work for the Easter ‘holidays', but summer examination candidates cannot afford to do so; for them, the real holiday must wait until the high summer. The Easter period offers practically the last chance to remedy weaknesses or to maximize strengths; to gain a firm understanding of topics on which the student is hazy or lacks confidence; to fill in gaps in knowledge: to absorb thoroughly topics the student does basically understand; and to use this consolidation as a springboard to gain a more sophisticated and detailed insight. This can make the difference of one or two grades: the difference between a mediocre result and an excellent one.
The student therefore not only needs to continue to work, but also needs proper direction on how to do so. Many students lack the self-discipline to revise when left to their own devices with the examination deadlines looming. They procrastinate, are easily distracted, and at worst become demoralized. They cannot, in their relative isolation, put their patches of weakness or ignorance in perspective, and tend to exaggerate their seriousness. This can lead to paralysis of the will.
Even more commonly, students may imagine that they are revising conscientiously when sadly much of their effort is misdirected, even obliquely self-indulgent. Their revision may be too passive: endless amorphous poring over notes instead of drawing on them actively to answer specific questions on past papers. Or else they may focus on topics which engage their interest and so build their confidence while dodging essential elements of the syllabus which they find ‘boring', usually because their grasp is weak. And, poignantly, students are sometimes sure they have a good grasp of a topic when in fact they have not.
‘Revisers' need an expert to appraise their performance, to give their revision structure and focus. This is the indispensable role of the Easter Course tutor at a time when the regular school is shut.
Applications for the Easter course
These may be made at any time. Naturally we prefer reasonable notice, but our tailor-made and individualized approach enable us to respond flexibly to late applications: for example, even those made when the student’s Easter holidays have already started. For specific details, see How to enrol
Age-range
Traditionally, Easter courses have recruited A-level and GCSE students. Common Entrance and Scholarship candidates, however, whose examinations will occur in May will also find intensive tuition at this period useful.