Jacob - University entrance tutor - Cambridge

1^st lesson free

Jacob

Rate R1972
Response 3h
Students
Number of students Jacob has accompanied since joining Superprof
2
Number of students Jacob has accompanied since joining Superprof

R1972/h

1^st lesson free

University Entrance

OXBRIDGE ADMISSIONS: Cambridge PhD researcher and triple-prize First Class Natural Sciences graduate offering Oxbridge admissions coaching: ESAT, interviews and personal statements, online and in Camb

University Entrance

Lesson location

- online

About Jacob

I grew up in Carlisle and went to the local state comprehensive. When I decided to apply to Cambridge, nobody at my school had been through the process, so I worked most of it out on my own. I got in, and I came out with a First and three university prizes, including one for the top ranked research project in my cohort. That experience is the reason I tutor, and it is why I treat admissions coaching as something worth doing properly rather than as a sideline.

My own research is on Antarctic fish. I look at how the proteins inside a species living in water close to freezing manage to keep working at temperatures that would shut down almost anything else. It sits somewhere between biochemistry, machine learning and climate science, and it is the kind of question with no textbook answer, which is exactly the sort of thinking an Oxbridge interview is designed to find. From October 2026 I begin a funded PhD in Cambridge's Engineering Department, working on how natural systems can be properly valued inside infrastructure decisions. So I have now been through Cambridge admissions twice, in two different faculties, and I teach and am taught in the supervision system every week.

Outside the lab I captained my college hockey team and coached university players, from complete beginners upwards. That is where I learned that explaining something well is a completely different skill from knowing it, and that patience matters more than cleverness. In 2026 I won first place out of sixty speakers at a national research conference, awarded for the clearest talk of the meeting.

I also do outreach with an underperforming state school, giving admissions guidance to students whose schools cannot provide it. I know what it is like to apply to Cambridge without anyone around you who knows how it works, and I take that part of the work seriously.

I hold a current DBS check, I am registered as self-employed in the UK, and I am happy to provide references from current tutoring families and from my academic supervisors at Cambridge. I reply to messages quickly and I commit for a full academic year rather than a few sessions before an exam.

About the lesson

HOW I TEACH

Cambridge supervisions work by making a student defend their reasoning aloud, in real time, to someone who keeps asking why. That is exactly what an Oxbridge interview tests, so my sessions run the same way. I set problems slightly beyond where a student currently is, ask them to think aloud, and I do not rescue them too early. It is uncomfortable for the first two or three sessions and then it stops being uncomfortable, which is the point. Students finish able to handle a question they have never seen before, which is the only skill that reliably transfers into an exam hall or an interview room.

For examined subjects this is paired with the unglamorous work that actually moves grades. Full specification coverage, mark scheme literacy, timed past paper practice, and an honest diagnosis of where marks are really being lost, which is rarely where the student thinks it is. I set work between sessions and give parents clear feedback on progress.

LESSON LENGTH

Standard lessons run 60 minutes. I recommend 90 minutes for mock interviews and for timed ESAT practice, because both need time to run the exercise properly and then unpick it afterwards. I start with every new student with a free consultation to work out where they actually are and agree a plan before any teaching begins.

MY EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

I have been tutoring since 2022. I am a Cambridge PhD researcher and a First Class Cambridge Natural Sciences graduate, awarded the Alkis Seraphim Prize for the top ranked research project in my cohort, the Duncan McKie Prize for overall performance, and a Jesus College Scholarship. My own A-Levels were A star in Maths, Biology and Physics with an A star EPQ, and I took a Grade 9 in every GCSE subject.

Alongside private tutoring I lead journal club sessions for MSci students at Cambridge and deliver research training to postdoctoral researchers, and I was elected Natural Sciences Course Representative during my degree. I hold a current DBS check.

WHO THESE LESSONS ARE FOR

Students aged 14 to 18, at GCSE, A-Level and university application stage. Year 12 and Year 13 students preparing for Oxbridge Natural Sciences or Engineering, including the ESAT, interviews and personal statements. A-Level and GCSE students in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths across AQA, OCR and Edexcel. Students taking an EPQ or an independent research project. Lessons are online, or in person if you are near Cambridge.

Rates

Rate

R1972

Package rates

5h: R9859
10h: R19718

free lesson

The free first lesson with Jacob allows you to get to know the tutor and discuss your needs and expectations.

30min

online

R1972/h

OXBRIDGE ADMISSIONS: Cambridge PhD researcher and triple-prize First Class Natural Sciences graduate offering Oxbridge admissions coaching: ESAT, interviews and personal statements, online and in Camb

Lesson location

About Jacob

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Package rates

free lesson

online

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OXBRIDGE ADMISSIONS: Cambridge PhD researcher and triple-prize First Class Natural Sciences graduate offering Oxbridge admissions coaching: ESAT, interviews and personal statements, online and in Camb

Lesson location

About Jacob

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Package rates

free lesson

online

Similar University Entrance tutor profiles

Zita

Maxwell

Lorraine

Bontle

Promise

Tumishang

Mokgaetsi

Boitumelo

Adrika

Mandla

Tsakane nthabiseng

Nondumiso

Naveela

Palesa

Courtney-Yogis

Felicia

Erin

Ursula

Lesego

Lerato

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