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Octavian
- Rate R481
- Response 9h

R481/h
1st lesson free
- Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Civil engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Electrical systems
Engineering Tutor — Oxford-Trained, BEng | Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electromagnetism, AI — College Level and Beyond
- Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Civil engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Electrical systems
Lesson location
Recommended
Octavian is a respected tutor in our community. He is highly recommended for his commitment and the quality of his lessons. A trusted partner on your learning journey.
About Octavian
I am a full-time private Engineering tutor with a BEng from Toulouse and a research background at the University of Oxford, specializing in college- and graduate-level Engineering. In the UK, I built my practice around students at Imperial College, UCL, King's College London, Oxford, and Glasgow; the engineering core is the same on either side of the Atlantic, and I now bring that experience to students at New York's engineering programs — Columbia, NYU Tandon, Cooper Union, City College, Stevens, and beyond. I have been tutoring Engineering privately since 2009 — more than 4,500 hours across Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics, Structural Mechanics, Electronics, and Quantitative Methods.
My background is not purely academic. My Oxford research applied advanced mathematical optimization to physical engineering problems in Medical Physics, which means I understand Engineering the way a practicing engineer does — not as a set of procedures to memorize, but as a body of principles that must be understood deeply enough to apply to problems you have never seen before. That distinction matters enormously at the college level, where exams are designed to test exactly that.
My students' outcomes reflect this. A third-year Engineering student at Glasgow had failed multiple exams before we worked together — after our sessions he passed all of them and graduated. A student at King's College London raised his course marks to between 60 and 95% — in the British system, where 70% is first-class work. A student at Imperial College passed a Mechanics retake through targeted preparation after previous attempts had failed. One student summarized it well: I broke down concepts he had previously found very challenging in a simple, direct way, and rather than simply explaining, I asked questions — which is what builds real understanding rather than surface familiarity.
I cover the core Engineering curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate level: Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Structural Mechanics, Electronics, and Quantitative Methods for Finance. I am equally effective at rescuing students in crisis before a retake or final and building the foundations that take a student from passing to excelling.
I work with a small number of students at a time and take on only those who are committed to genuine improvement. Get in touch to discuss your specific courses and timeline.
About the lesson
- Primary
- Secondary
- Matric/GCSE
- +7
levels :
Primary
Secondary
Matric/GCSE
AS Level
A Level
BTech
Adult education
Masters
Doctorate
MBA
- English
Languages in which the lesson is available :
English
Engineering at the college level fails students in a very specific way: they learn to follow procedures without understanding why those procedures work. This produces students who can solve textbook examples but collapse when the question is slightly unfamiliar — which is precisely what college exams are designed to test.
My approach is diagnostic first. Before covering any material, I identify exactly where the understanding breaks down — not just which topics the student finds difficult, but why. Is it the underlying mathematics? A missing physical intuition? A gap in a prerequisite course? The answer to that question determines everything that follows.
Sessions are demanding. I use the explain-then-question method: after working through a concept, I ask the student to explain it back and apply it to an unfamiliar problem. This is uncomfortable at first, but it is the only reliable way to build the genuine understanding that college exams require.
For students in crisis before a retake, final, or qualifying exam, I work intensively on the highest-yield material — past exam analysis, awareness of how graders award points, and closing the specific gaps that are costing them. For students building from a solid base, I develop the deeper understanding that separates a B-plus student from an A student.
Within 24 hours of every session, I send the student fully typed notes of what we covered, theoretical refreshers on the concepts that need further attention, and a written summary of where they stand and what to focus on before next time. Parents are copied in as standard. This is part of every lesson I teach, without exception.
I teach online and in person throughout New York City. Minimum one hour per session. I have a strict cancellation policy: lessons canceled with less than 24 hours' notice are charged in full.
Recommendations
Recommendations are written by the tutor's friends, family, and acquaintances.
Octavian has been extremely helpful with my 2 boys. He worked with Jonah, my eldest on College Physics and Engineering and Jeremiah was so happy to score an almost perfect 1580 on the SAT! Hiring him saved us hundreds of thousand in tuition fees. I highly recommend him.
Octavian helped my daughter Sandra overcome her dyslexia and be among the best in her class. She scored 780 on the Math portion of the SAT. Sandra now actually thinks and no longer learns formulas by heart without understanding their meaning. Her fear of Math is gone and she is now doing very well, majoring in Economics.
My son Jerry worked with Octavian throughout high school, and I saw firsthand the impact he had. Jerry always put in the effort, but math never came easily to him. Octavian helped him develop a much deeper understanding of the material instead of just showing him how to get through homework problems.
Over time, Jerry earned A's in both Algebra and Calculus and scored a perfect 800 on the SAT Math section. He was also admitted to Columbia University, which meant he could receive an outstanding education without having to move across the country.
What I appreciated most was that Octavian treated tutoring as more than preparing for the next test. He expected Jerry to think, explain his reasoning, and really master the concepts. That approach paid off.
I would recommend Octavian to any student who is willing to work hard but finds math more difficult than other subjects. He has a way of making challenging ideas much more approachable, and in Jerry's case, the results spoke for themselves.See more recommendations
Rates
Rate
- R481
Package rates
- 5h: R2405
- 10h: R4809
free lesson
The free first lesson with Octavian allows you to get to know the tutor and discuss your needs and expectations.
- 1h
online
- R481/h
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