23rd December 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Oxford University has recently started publishing videos by its admissions tutors about the application process. One of the tutors commented that, when a student sits down at the interview, and is asked a question about their chosen subject, it’s probably the first time in that person’s life that they’ve had the opportunity to speak passionately about the subject that they love. It’s what we’ve been saying at Blue Tutors for years.
It’s so difficult for a student to speak about their subject; teachers don’t have the time to sit down with an individual and have a proper intellectual discussion, and many of a student’s classmates are likely to consider discussing school work (when they don’t have to) to be boring or ‘swotty’.
Private tuition gives students the opportunity which, otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have to speak about an academic subject, and have another person take an interest, and challenge what they say. It’s a common message that we receive from students after a few lessons with one of our tutors. The students speak about an increased confidence, not just in doing well in a subject, but speaking about it generally. Tutors also often speak about how students ‘open up’ after a few lessons, and seem happier speaking about their subject.
The willingness to speak confidently about an academic subject is something that only really develops with practice. It’s very unusual to hear someone speaking clearly and articulately about a subject when they’ve never done so before. When students arrive at university though, it’s something which they’re required to do, particularly arts students.
Returning to that Oxbridge admissions process, it’s no mystery that students who have been tutored tend to do better in the interviews than those who haven’t. The Oxbridge interview process is all about listening to what is said to you, and forming a considered articulate response. This is exactly the what our tutors encourage, and something that is very rare in the classroom.