A-Level Tutor.

In England A-levels are linear: every exam comes at the end of Year 13. Each subject also rewards a skill GCSE barely tested, which is why students with strong GCSEs still come unstuck in the first term — and why sixth forms set a GCSE grade for each A-level.

In maths the jump shows up fastest — is A-level maths hard? explains what changes — and whether to take further maths is worth deciding on evidence. For the sciences, see our revision guides to biology, chemistry and physics.

Two students taking A-level maths can sit quite different papers: AQA pairs pure maths with mechanics on paper 2 and statistics on paper 3, OCR's Mathematics A swaps them round, Edexcel puts statistics and mechanics together on paper 3, and OCR's MEI specification adds a comprehension section. In history and English literature, the board and option decide the periods and set texts.

Tell us the specification code — usually on the school's course page, and on the front of every past paper — and the grade your child needs, and within 24 hours we come back with tutors who teach it. Every tutor is safeguarding-trained with qualifications verified, and DBS-checked tutors are marked on their profiles. Meet them free, as many as you like.

The first lesson is a diagnosis. Beforehand the tutor asks for the latest marked test or essay. In the session they set a past-paper question on a shared whiteboard and watch your child work: where they stall, whether marks go on the content or on reading the question, whether the time runs out. In an essay subject they read a marked essay first and rewrite a paragraph with your child on screen, showing where the evaluation marks were won and lost.

Afterwards you get a plain summary: what is secure, the two or three things holding the grade down, and a plan for the half term ahead. The lesson is recorded, so your child can rewatch a derivation or an essay plan, and you can see what the hour was spent on without sitting in.

Year 12 is about the jump. Early topic tests often come back well below GCSE grades, which is normal; the warning sign is a low mark your child cannot explain. Sixth forms usually allow a change of subject only in the first few weeks (typical — check yours), and at many schools the Year 12 summer exams are the biggest single input to predicted grades. When an A-level student needs a tutor covers the four moments families usually get in touch.

Year 13 runs to fixed deadlines. UCAS applications for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses close on 15 October 2026 at 18:00; the equal-consideration deadline for everything else is 13 January 2027 at 18:00, and predicted grades go in with the application — see how predicted grades are set. Mocks usually fall between November and January (typical — check your school). The first exam on the JCQ timetable is 10 May 2027, the last A-level paper is on 22 June, and results come out on 12 August 2027.

From September a tutor can still teach; from January the job is triage — the three weaknesses costing the most marks. For admissions tests and interviews, see Oxbridge preparation.

A-levels with the UK boards are sat once a year, in May and June — there is no November series, as there is for GCSE English and maths. To resit in summer 2027 a student goes back to their school or college, or enters as a private candidate at a centre willing to take them; the JCQ entry deadline is 21 February 2027, and centres usually want entries earlier. Sciences and coursework subjects are harder as a private candidate, because the centre must supervise the practicals or mark the coursework, so arrange the centre first. A tutor gives the year its structure: a weekly slot from the autumn, weak topics rebuilt, then timed papers from January. Our 2027 A-level resit guide covers the routes.

Sometimes the honest advice is not more lessons. If your child chose a subject for a friend and has no use for it, a tutor can prop up the grade but not the motivation, and early in Year 12 a change of subject may be the better call — check first that it does not close a door, using our guide to the subject combinations universities want. And if all three subjects are slipping at once, the cause may be workload or wellbeing, which three tutors will not fix. We will tell you if we think tutoring is not the best use of your money.

Lessons run from £18 an hour, pay as you go, with no contracts, no registration fee and no minimum block. Tutors set their own rates, from £18 to £40 an hour, according to experience and specialism. You are paying for a specialist hour planned around your child's specification and gaps, plus the recording and the tutor's notes.

A group revision course costs less per hour and suits a student who is broadly on track. What it cannot do is spend four weeks on mechanics, or on evaluation paragraphs, because that is what is costing your child the grade. Cancel free up to 24 hours before a lesson, and stop whenever you like. Our tutor cost guide compares the options.