30th July 2010 9:00
By Harriet Boulding
I recently received a leaflet delivered to my house advertising tutoring services tailored for A* grades and Oxbridge entrance. One of the promises made by the leaflet was that they would help students to memorise material to ensure top exam performance, which presumably would lead to a greater chance of entry to Oxbridge. Now, I imagine most dedicated private tutors would say that being taught to memorise exam answers, especially in the arts, is actually a ticket to rejection from the country’s top universities. Further, it is saddening that our school system leaves students thinking that memorising answers is the best chance they have. This is hardly education.
In the current educational climate in which a fistful of A* grades is no longer uncommon, much more is needed in order to gain places at top universities. Exams often fail to weed out the students who memorise material from the students with deeper understanding of their subjects, and universities have to do this for themselves. In order to prepare for this, private tuition can certainly be a good idea, both to work towards gaining top results and also enabling the student to gain a deeper understanding of their subject. It is this latter point which universities are looking for; they want students who have not only done well within the curriculum, but have also shown a wider interest and have a solid understanding.
Naturally good exam results and school record are reassuring to universities not least because it tells them that students are attentive and hard working, traits which are required to excel at university. However, in order to go beyond this, tutoring should be tailored towards nurturing a real understanding and appreciation for the subject, rather than tuition purely designed to achieve top grades any way possible. Private tuition is an investment, and if memorising the relevant material is all that matters I suggest that buying a revision guide for £8.99 is a less costly place to start.
The reality is that tuition is about much more than achieving good grades, although this is a positive outcome which comes from having a deep understanding of the subject in question. It is about developing an appreciation for the student’s chosen subject which will ultimately be a better tool for university entrance than if they had simply memorised a revision guide.